Galata Bridge

The Galata Bridge ( tr, Galata Köprüsü, ) is a bridge that spans the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. From the end of the 19th century in particular, the bridge has featured in Turkish literature, theater, poetry and novels. The current Galata Bridge is just the latest in a series of bridges linking Eminönü in the Fatih district and Karaköy in Beyoğlu since the early 19th century. The current bridge, the fifth on the same site, was built in 1994.

The bridge was named after Galata (the former name for Karaköy) on the northern shore of the Golden Horn.

History of Bridging the Golden Horn

The first recorded bridge over the Golden Horn was built during the reign of Justinian the Great in the 6th century, close to the area near the Theodosian Land Walls at the western end of the city.

In 1453, before the Fall of Constantinople, the Turks assembled a mobile bridge by placing their ships side by side across the water, so that their troops could move from one side of the Golden Horn to the other.

In 1502–1503, Sultan Bayezid II solicited plans for a bridge in the current location. Utilising three well-known geometrical principles, the pressed-bow, parabolic curve and keystone arch, artist Leonardo da Vinci designed an unprecedented single span long and wide bridge across the Golden Horn, which, had it been constructed, would have become the longest bridge in the world. However, the ambitious design was not approved by the Sultan.

Another Italian artist, Michelangelo, was also invited to contribute a design but rejected the proposal, and the idea of building a bridge across the Golden Horn was shelved until the 19th century.

In 2001 a small-scale version of Leonardo's bridge design was constructed near Oslo, Norway by the contemporary artist Vebjørn Sand, the first civil engineering project based on a Leonardo sketch ever to be constructed.

''Hayratiye'' bridge

In the early 19th century, Mahmud II (1808–1839) had a bridge built further up the Golden Horn, between Azapkapı and Unkapanı. This bridge, known as the Hayratiye (Benefaction in English), was opened on September 3, 1836. The project was carried out by Deputy Lord High Admiral Fevzi Ahmet Paşa using the workers and facilities of the naval arsenal at nearby Kasımpaşa. According to the History of Lutfi, this bridge was built on linked pontoons and was around long.

''Cisr-i Cedid'' bridge

In 1845 the first Galata Bridge at the mouth of the waterway (i.e. on the current site) was constructed out of wood at the request of the Valide Sultan, the mother of Sultan Abdülmecid (1839–1861). It was known as the Cisr-i Cedid (New Bridge) to distinguish it from the earlier bridge further up the Golden Horn, which became known as the Cisr-i Atik (Old Bridge). The Baedeker's guidebook also referred to it as the Sultan Valideh Bridge It continued in use for 18 years

On the Karaköy side of the bridge, an inscribed couplet by poet İbrahim Şinasi recorded that the New Bridge was built by Sultan Abdülmecid I who was the first to pass over it. The first to pass below it was the French captain Magnan in his ship the ''Cygne''.

Toll

For the first three days, crossing the bridge was free. After that, a toll (''mürüriye'') was paid to the Naval Ministry. Toll-collecting started on November 25, 1845 and the following tolls were collected:
*Free: military and law enforcement personnel, fire fighters on duty, clergy,
*5 para: pedestrians,
*10 para: people with backpacks,
*20 para: load-bearing animals,
*100 para: horse carriages,
*3 para: sheep, goats or other animals

Until 31 May 1930, this toll was collected by officials in white uniforms who stood at both ends of the bridge.

The second bridge

In 1863 this bridge was replaced by a second wooden bridge, built by Ethem Pertev Paşa on the orders of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861–1876) during the infrastructure improvements that preceded Napoleon III's visit to Istanbul.

The third bridge

In 1870, a contract was signed with a French company, Forges et Chantiers de la Mediteranée for construction of a third bridge, but the outbreak of war between France and Germany delayed the project, which was given instead to the British firm G. Wells in 1872. This bridge, completed in 1875, was long and wide and rested on 24 pontoons. It was built at a cost of 105,000 gold liras and was used until 1912, when it was towed upstream to replace the old Cisr-i Atik Bridge.

The fourth bridge

The fourth Galata Bridge was built in 1912 by the German firm Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG for 350,000 gold liras. This floating bridge was long and wide. In 1992 it was badly damaged in a fire and towed up the Golden Horn to make way for the current bridge.

The fifth (current) bridge

The fifth Galata bridge was built by the Turkish construction company STFA just a few meters away from the previous bridge, between Karaköy and Eminönü, and completed in December 1994. It was designed and supervised by GAMB (Göncer Ayalp Engineering Company). It is a bascule bridge, which is long with a main span of . The deck of the bridge is wide and has two vehicular lanes and one walkway in each direction. Tram tracks running down the middle of it allow the T1 tram to run from Bağcılar, in the western suburbs to Kabataş, a few blocks away from Dolmabahçe Palace.

In 2003 a string of restaurants were added to the underside of the bridge in imitation of the more ramshackle ones that had clung to the underside of the fourth bridge.

Culture

The Galata Bridge has long acted as a symbolic link between the old city of Istanbul, site of the imperial palace and principal religious and secular institutions of the Ottoman Empire, and the modern districts of Beyoğlu, where a large proportion of the inhabitants used to be non-Muslims and where foreign merchants and diplomats lived and worked. As Peyami Safa wrote in his novel, ''Fatih-Harbiye'', a person who went from Fatih to Harbiye via the bridge passed into a different civilisation and culture.

THe bridge crops up in most late 19th-century accounts of Constantinople, perhaps most vividly in Edmondo De Amicis's ''Constantinople'' in which he describes the colourful array of characters from many races to be seen on it. The bridge also appears in Virginia Woolf's novel ''Orlando'' although it did not exist in the 16th century as the book suggests. Geert Mak's short book, ''The Bridge'', published in 2008, is entirely devoted to the bridge and the many people who make a living in and around it.

Apart from its place in fiction, the Galata Bridge's romantic appearance has made it the subject of many paintings and engravings.

It is sometimes suggested that the card game bridge acquired its name because the British soldiers who invented it used to cross the Galata Bridge on their way to favourite coffeehouses.

See also

* Atatürk Bridge
* Haliç Bridge
* Golden Horn Metro Bridge
* Golden Horn
* Galata Tower

References

External links

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{{Bridges in Turkey

Bascule bridges
Bridges in Istanbul
Ottoman bridges in Turkey
Bridges completed in 1994
Golden Horn
Fatih
Beyoğlu
Road bridges in Turkey
Former toll bridges in Turkey
1994 establishments in Turkey