Fotos

Istanbul and Maiden's Tower (Leander's tower),
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Maiden's Tower is one of the major landmark of Istanbul. The tower known to the Turks as Maiden's Tower and in English as Leander's Tower. As well as featuring in many postcards, it was the setting for the hideout of the villainous Elektra in the James Bond film "The World Is Not Enough".
The tower was first built by Alkibiades in the 6th century BC and around 350 BC a Macedonian admiral built a splendid mausoleum for his dead wife here.
The French name Tour de Leandre and Turkish name Kizkulesi both originate from legends. According to the first (which was actually set on the Dardanelles rather than the Bosphorus) the mythological hero Leander used to meet here with his beloved Hero, but one night he was drowned while swimming to the Tower and Hero committed suicide. The second refers to a story about a king of Scutari (Uskudar) who kept his beautiful daughter locked up here.
The Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnenus (1143-1180) had towers built both here and at the headland south of the Golden Horn, and chains fixed between the two, which prevented ships entering the Bosphorus without permission. Diplomatic talks between the Ottoman Sultan Orhan Gazi (1326-1360) and the Byzantine Emperor Cantakuzenus (1347-1354) are known to have taken place in this tower.
Following the Turkish conquest of Istanbul the tower was used to imprison those being sent into exile. When the wooden tower built in 1726 was destroyed by fire it was replaced by a masonry tower with a lead dome. The present baroque form of this tower dates from repairs carried out in 1830. In the past it served variously as lighthouse, quarantine station, prison and artillery emplacement.
Another story concerning the tower, according to which a Byzantine fortuneteller predicted that the beautiful daughter of the Emperor Constantine would be killed by snakebite. Her father first concealed his daughter in a coffin at Hagia Sofia, and then had this tower built for her to live in. However, a poisonous snake concealed in a basket of grapes sent to her caused the girl's death. In some versions of the story the emperor becomes a sultan, and the 17th century Turkish writer Evliya Celebi relates a version whose heroes are Battal Gazi and the Byzantine emperor. Now let us turn from legend to fact. The Byzantine emperor Manuel Comnene(1143-1180) had two towers built, one on the shore near where Topkapi Palace was later constructed, and the other where the Maiden's Tower stands today. Chains were drawn across the mouth of the strait between these two towers when Istanbul was attacked by enemy fleets.