| After Bebek habor the Bosphorus quickly diminishes to its
narrowest point, about 700 meters. The village of Rumeli hisar
is dominated by and takes its name from the Castle of Rumelia
built by Fatih Mehmet in 1452, the year before he corquered the
city.It is a splendid late medieval fortification, the object of
which was, in coorperation with the older castle on the other
side. Anadolu Hisar, to cut the city off from communication with
and possible aid from the Black-sea; hence the castle was
originally called Bogaz-kesen, a sort of pun which means
"cutter of the strait".In this object it was perfectly
successful, but after the fall of the city it had no further
military funtion, and the north tower was used as a prison,
especially for the members of foreign embassies.The castle spans
a steep valley with two tall towers on opposite hills and a
third at the bottom of the valley at the water's edge, where
stands the sea gate protected by a barbican.A curtain wall,
defended by three smaller towers, joins the three major ones,
forming an irregular figure some 250 meters long by 125 broad at
its maximum.Fatih himself selected the site, drew the general
plan of the castle, and spent much time in supervising the work
of the 1000 skilled and 2000 unskilled workmen he had collected
from the various provinces of his empire. |
He entrusted each of the three main towers to one of his vezirs, the
north tower to Saruca Pasa, the sea tower to Halil Pasa, his Grand
Vezir, and the north one to Zaganos Pasa, with the three of them
striving with one another to complete the work with speed and
efficiency.Over the door to the south tower an Arabic inscription
records the completion of the castle in the month of Recep 856 (july
1452); it had been begun just four months previously.The idea that the
plan of the castle present in Kuffic letters the name Muhammed appears
to be an invention of Evliya Celebi; infact its plan was determined by
the nature of the site.
Source boun.edu. |
