İzmir Parachute Tower () is a parachute tower located within

Kültürpark Kültürpark is an urban park in İzmir, Turkey. It is located in the district of Konak, roughly bounded by Dr. Mustafa Enver Bey Avenue on the north, 1395th Street, 1396th Street and Bozkurt Avenue on the east, Mürsel Paşa Boulevard on the sou ...

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It was built in 1937 by the

Turkish Aeronautical Association Turkish Aeronautical Association () is a non-profit organization with an aim of increasing public awareness and participation in aviation related activities and the national body governing air sports in Turkey. The association was founded with ...

. It is one of the two parachute towers in the country.

History

Mayor

Behçet Uz Ömer Behçet Uz (1893 – 19 May 1986) was a Turkish physician, politician, former mayor of İzmir and government minister. Biography He was born in Buldan ilçe (district) of Denizli Province, Ottoman Empire in 1893. He studied in İzmir ...

, who saw the parachute tower in Gorky Park in Moscow, suggested that a similar tower be built in

to the

. The Turkish Aeronautical Association sent a delegation to Russia to investigate and decided to build a parachute tower in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

in addition to İzmir. The construction of the tower, whose architectural project was prepared by Bedri Tümay and Algrandi, started in 1935 within

. The tower, which cost 38,758.61

Turkish lira The lira (; Currency sign, sign: Turkish lira sign, ₺; ISO 4217, ISO 4217 code: TRY; abbreviation: TL) is the official currency of Turkey. It is also legal tender in the ''de facto'' state of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. One lira i ...

s, was completed in 1937 and opened on 9 September in the same year during the 7th

İzmir International Fair The İzmir International Fair () is the oldest tradeshow in Turkey, considered the cradle of Turkey's fairs and expositions industry, and is also notable for hosting a series of simultaneous festival activities. The fair and the festival are held ...

. The tower operates for a fee during the fair period.

Architecture

Seventy-five oak piles were nailed to the floor of the İzmir Parachute Tower, which was built using

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

. The tower, which has three terraces, is above sea level and above ground level. There is an elevator in the middle of the tower and a spiral staircase around this elevator.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Izmir Parachute Tower Parachute Tower Towers in Turkey Parachute Tower Towers completed in 1937 1937 establishments in Turkey Parachute towers Parachuting in Turkey Turkish Aeronautical Association