Istanbul City Walls

Istanbul City Walls

The walls of Istanbul were first built and expanded throughout history when there is a small village called Ligos in Sarayburnu.
The land walls we see today in Istanbul were built in the Byzantine period. First, Theodosius built a city wall in the 5th century and then in the 6th century due to the expansion of the city during the Justinian period.
The city wall is divided into 3 parts: Marmara Sea walls, Golden Horn walls and Land walls. There were more than 300 large towers (20-25 meters in height) and 55 gates to the city for the defense of the walls; Of these, 19 were on the Sea wall, 25 on the Golden Horn wall and 11 on the Land wall. The walls were a total of 22 kilometers, 9-12 meters high and 2-5 meters thick. There was a water channel in front of the land walls. Because to stop a climb with a ladder or to avoid digging a tunnel underneath.
These city walls were strong enough to stop attacks in the 7th and 8th centuries. But in 1453 it could not stop the Ottoman army. In the Ottoman period, city walls would not work. Because Istanbul was in the middle of a great empire. It worn over time and mostly collapsed due to earthquakes.

Today, the city walls are restored by the municipality of Istanbul, reminding of magnificent times. We recommend you to visit and see the walls of Istanbul.

Some of the prominent doors of Istanbul land walls are:

Golden Gate (Aura Porta)
Yedikule Gate (Pentapirgi)
Belgrade Gate (Xylokerhos)
Silivrikapi (Pege)
Mevlenakapi (Region)
Yenikapi
Topkapi (Romanos)
Sulukule Gate (Aya Kiriaki)
Edirnekapi
Egrikapi (Kaligaria)
Aya Kalinkos (no more)
Cirkoporta (no more)