Mertim, an acronym for ''Mersin Ticaret Merkezi'' (Mersin Trade Center), is a 52-story skyscraper in

Mersin Mersin (), also known as İçel, is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is the provincial capital of Mersin Province, Mersin (İçel) Province. It is made up of four municipalities and dis ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It was the tallest building in Turkey between 1987 and 2000, until the completion of the İş Bankası Towers in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

. It is also the tallest hotel building in Turkey.

History

The

Port of Mersin The Port of Mersin ( tr, Mersin Limanı), is a major seaport located on the north-eastern coast of Mediterranean Sea in Mersin, southern Turkey. As one of the largest harbors in the country, it is Turkey's main gateway to the Mediterranean Sea. ...

, which is the largest seaport in Turkey and the main port for international trade with the

Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus Northern Cyprus ( tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs), officially the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC; tr, Kuzey Kıbrıs Türk Cumhuriyeti, ''KKTC''), is a ''de facto'' state that comprises the northeastern portion of the island of Cyprus. Recog ...

, had been declared as a free trade zone and a series of buildings were constructed in the city to be used in business and commerce, which included the Mertim Tower.

The construction

The architect of the complex was

Cengiz Bektaş Cengiz Bektaş (26 November 1934 – 20 March 2020) was a Turkish Architecture, Turkish architect, engineer, poet and writer for Evrensel, ''Evrensel'' newspaper. Education Bektaş was born in Denizli. He attended Istanbul State Academy of the F ...

who designed the building in 1985. The tower was constructed during the second half of the 1980s by the Üstay Corporation. The tower was completed in 1987 and the entire complex entered service in 1993. Immediately after its opening in 1993, a part of the building was used by the University of Mersin for several years during the 1990s.

Building

The complex at includes a shopping center of 1100 stores and a 52-floor skyscraper which is popularly known as ''Metropol'' or the ''Tower''. The total height of the building is and it is claimed that the building was the highest skyscraper between

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

and

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

as of the early 1990s. Sixteen floors of the building are used as a hotel and the rest are reserved for offices. At present, the hotel is operated by the Radisson Hotel Group.Page of Taksim International
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References

External links

Emporis: Mertim Tower
{{Mersin Province Economy of Mersin Province Mersin Office buildings in Turkey Skyscrapers in Turkey Skyscraper hotels Skyscraper office buildings in Turkey