t was built in place of another tower b)' Genoese
who started settlin~ Galata from 13th century ill 1348 . It serves as a head tOl\ler , form¬ing the verge of Galata walls in this section whi~h guards Genoese . Along wllh the rais¬ing of the walls in 1446 the
tower was also raised . It was collapsed ti II level of the brick bands that can be seen on the body during the

intense earthquake in 1509 . Architect Murat bin Hayrettin renovated the tower , therefore upper parts from 13th meter belongs to Turkish period . Galata Tower which served as a dungeon in the reign of Kanuni (1520-66) and a watch tower in the reign of Murat 1\1 (1574-95) , wit¬nessed an interesting happen¬ing in Murat IV (1623-40); Hezarfen Ahmet ~elebi flied from the Tower to Dogancdar in Osklidar by using the wings he made .
Height of the tower is over 60 m and its base diameter IS 16 , 45 m . Thickness of the b9dy wall which was built by rubble stones is 3 , 75 m .

Top floor started to servc as a restaurant after the addi¬tion of an clevator during thc renovation in between 1964¬67 . Nowadays many domc , tic and foreign tourists visit thc Tower becausc of both the historical importance and iI , position dominating the panoramic views of Goldcn Horn . Bosphorus and Marmara