Golden horn
The Golden Horn (in Turkish, Haliç; in Greek, Khrysokeras or Chrysoceras or Χρυσοκερας) It is a historic estuary at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait, which divides the Turkish city of Istanbul. Forming a spectacular natural harbour, this site has protected Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman ships and other ships for thousands of years. It was first built by Greek colonists to form the city of Byzantium and under the Byzantine Empire naval stonemasons built a wall along the coast to protect the city from naval attacks.
This is a scimitar-shaped estuary that joins the Bosphorus just where the strait enters the Sea of Marmara, forming a peninsula at the tip of which is Old Istanbul (the ancient Byzantium and Constantinople). Its name, in Greek and Spanish, mean the same thing, but what the name "gold" refers to is still unclear today. It has witnessed many tumultuous historical incidents and its spectacular views have been the subject of countless works of art.
Description
The Golden Horn is an estuary. It is 7.5 kilometers long and 750 meters wide. Its maximum depth, where it joins the Bosphorus, is about 35 meters. It is located right at the beginning of the Bosphorus or Strait of Istanbul, the strait that connects the Sea of Marmara with the Black Sea, on the European shore of the strait.
Today it is crossed by 4 bridges, which are, from upstream towards the mouth of the Bosphorus, the following:
- Haliç bridge, literally the Golden Horn bridge (Kali Köprüsü 1974, 1996);
- Galatian bridge, literally old Galatian bridge, when the old Galatian bridge moved here into pieces, was re-assembled and restored after a fire in 1992 damaged it (the current Galatian bridge, which replaced it, was completed in 1994);
- Atatürk Bridge (Atatürk Köprüsü), former Hayrat Bridge which became the Atatürk Bridge in 1939;
- Galatian Bridge (Galatian Köprüsü 1845, 1863, 1875, 1912, 1994).
A fifth bridge is currently under construction to connect the underground lines of the Istanbul Metro to the north and south of the Golden Horn.
History
The Golden Horn is a deep natural harbor formed by the peninsula that separates it from the Sea of Marmara. The Byzantine Empire had its naval headquarters there, and walls were built along the coastline to protect the city of Constantinople from attacks by sea. At the entrance to the horn, there was a great chain, stretched across Constantinople from the ancient Galata Tower (which was known to the Byzantines as Megàlos Pyrgoss, in Greek, the Great Tower). on the north side, to prevent the passage of unwanted ships. This tower was largely destroyed by the Latin Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade (1204), but the Genoese rebuilt a new tower nearby, the now famous Galata Tower (1348), which they named Christea Turris (the tower of Christ).
The chain was broken or bypassed three times:
- In the 10th century, the Rus of Kiev carried his ships from the Bosphorus to refresh them in the Horn around the Galatian: the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire.
- In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the ships of Venice were able to break the chain with an ariet.
- In 1453, the Ottoman sultan Mehmet II, the ConquerorHe copied the tactics of the Rus of Kiev during the siege of Constantinople, with his ships around the Galatian afloat in the estuary.
After the capture of Constantinople on May 29, 1453 by Mehmet the Conqueror, Greek citizens, the Greek Orthodox Church, Jews, Italian merchants, and other non-Muslims began to live along the Horn in the districts of Fener and Balat. Today, the Golden Horn is on both sides, and there are parks on each side. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce is also located along the coast, as are the Muslim, Christian and Jewish cemeteries. The Galata Bridge connects the districts of Galata and Eminönü. Two other bridges, the Atatürk Bridge and the Halic Bridge, lie upstream of the Golden Horn. Until the 1980s its waters were polluted by industrial waste, but it has since been cleaned up and is a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul due to to its history and beauty.
Leonardo da Vinci's Bridge
In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci made a drawing of a bridge over the Golden Horn with a single span of 240 m, in the context of a civil engineering project for Sultan Beyazid II. His vision was resurrected in 2001 when a small Leonardo da Vinci bridge was built near Ås, Norway.
On May 17, 2006, it was announced that Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Istanbul Mayor Kadir Topbaş had decided to reactivate Leonardo da Vinci's bridge project. Feasibility studies and planning of the project had already begun at the beginning of 1999. After five centuries, Leonardo da Vinci's bridge project to cross the Golden Horn would become the first architectural project of the Renaissance genius realized in real size, not mockup
The Turkish architect in charge of the construction is Bülent Güngör, known for the restoration of Çırağan Palace, Yildiz Palace and Sümela Monastery. The bridge will be an exact copy of Leonardo da Vinci's design, with a single span of 240m, a width of 8m and a height above the Golden Horn of 24m, as shown in the sketches.