Golden Horn

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Golden Horn

The Golden Horn (Turkish

Turkish language

Turkish is a language spoken by over 63 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Cyprus, with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo, Albania and other parts of Eastern Europe....
: Haliç or Altin Boynuz, Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
: ???s?? ???a? – Chrysón Kéras) is an inlet of the Bosphorus dividing the city of Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul is the largest city in Turkey, List of metropolitan areas in Europe by population, and List of cities proper by population in the world with a population of 12.6 million....
and forming a natural harbor.

History
It forms a deep natural harbor for the pensinsula it encloses together with the Sea of Marmara

Sea of Marmara

The Sea of Marmara , also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, and in the context of classical antiquity as Propontis , is the inland sea that connects the Black Sea to the Aegean Sea, thus separating Turkey's Asian and European parts....
. The Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire and Eastern Roman Empire are conventional names used to describe the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages, centered on its capital of Constantinople....
had its naval headquarters there, and walls were built along the shoreline to protect the city of Constantinople

Constantinople

Constantinople was the empire capital of the Roman Empire , the Byzantine Empire , the Latin Empire , and the Ottoman Empire . Strategically located between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara at the point where Europe meets Asia, Byzantine Constantinople had been the capital of a Christendom empire, successor to ancient ancient Greece...
from naval attacks.

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Encyclopedia

The Golden Horn (Turkish

Turkish language

Greek language

Istanbul

History

It forms a deep natural harbor for the pensinsula it encloses together with the Sea of Marmara

Sea of Marmara

Byzantine Empire

Constantinople

Galata Tower (old)

The old Tower of Galata was a tower which stood on the north side of the Golden Horn in Constantinople, inside the citadel of Galata. The tower marked the northern end of the great chain, which was stretched across the mouth of the Golden Horn to prevent enemy ships from entering the harbor....
(which was known as the Megàlos Pyrgos, Great Tower, in Greek

Greek language

Greek is an Indo-European languages native to the southern Balkan peninsula, the language of the Greek people. It forms an independent branch within Indo-European....
among the Byzantines) on the northern side, preventing unwanted ships from entering. This tower was largely destroyed by the Latin Crusaders during the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

The Fourth Crusade was originally designed to conquer Islam Jerusalem by means of an invasion through Egypt. Instead, in April 1204, the Crusaders of Western Europe invaded and conquered the Christianity city of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire....
(1204), but the Geneose

Republic of Genoa

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa was an independent state in Liguria on the northwestern Italy coast from the 11th century to 1797, when it was invaded by armies of First French Republic under Napoleon I of France....
built a new tower nearby, the famous Galata Tower

Galata Tower

The Galata Tower , also called Christea Turris by the Genoa and Megalos Pyrgos by the Byzantines, is located in Istanbul, Turkey, to the north of the Golden Horn....
(1348) which they called Christea Turris (Tower of Christ).

There were three notable times when the chain across the Horn was either broken or circumvented. In the 10th century the Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus' , also written as Kyivan Rus', was a medieval state which existed from approximately 880 to the middle of the 12th century. Founded by the Scandinavian traders called "Rus' " and centered in the city of Kiev , Rus' polity is considered an early predecessor of three modern East Slavs nations: Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrai...
dragged their longships out of the Bosporus

Bosporus

The Bosporus or Bosphorus , also known as the Istanbul Strait , is a strait that forms the boundary between the European part of Turkey and its Asian part ....
, around Galata

Galata

Galata or Galatae is a district in Istanbul, the largest city of Turkey. Galata is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the Constantinople....
, and relaunched them in the Horn; the Byzantines defeated them with Greek fire

Greek fire

Greek fire was a primitive incendiary device weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. The Byzantines typically used it in naval battles to great effect as it could continue burning even on water....
. In 1204, during the Fourth Crusade

Fourth Crusade

Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
ships were able to break the chain with a ram

Ramming

In warfare, ramming is a technique that was used in the air, sea and land combat. The term originated from battering ram, which is a siege weapon used to bring down fortifications by hitting it with force, of which the momentum of the ram being sufficient to damage the target....
. In 1453, Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman Empire , also known by its contemporaries as the Turkish Empire or Turkey , was an empire that lasted from 1299?1923. It was Treaty of Lausanne by the Republic of Turkey, which was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923....
Sultan Mehmed II

Mehmed II

Mehmed II , was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire for a short time from 1444 to September 1446, and later from February 1451 to 1481. At the age of 21, he Fall of Constantinople, bringing an end to the medieval Byzantine Empire....
, having failed in his attempt to break the chain with brute force, instead used the same tactic as the Rus'

Rus' (people)

Rus? are the historic population of the medieval Rus' Khaganate and Kievan Rus' whose name survives in the cognates Russians, Rusyns, and Ruthenians, and who are viewed by the modern Belarusians, Russians, and Ukrainians as the predecessors of their own peoples....
, towing his ships across Galata into the estuary over greased

Lubrication

Lubrication is the process, or technique employed to reduce wear of one or both surfaces in close proximity, and moving relative to each another, by interposing a substance called lubricant between the surfaces to carry or to help carry the load between the opposing surfaces....
logs.

After the Capture of Constantinople

Fall of Constantinople

The Fall of Constantinople was a siege in which the Ottoman Empire under the command of Sultan Mehmed II attempted to capture the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople which was defended by the army of Emperor Constantine XI....
in 1453 by Mehmed the Conqueror

Mehmed II

Jew

A Jew is a member of the Jewish people, an ethnoreligious group that traces its ancestry to the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East....
s, Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
merchants, and other non-Muslims began to live along the Horn in the Phanar (Fener

Fener

Fener, Fanar or Phanar is a neighborhood midway up the Golden Horn, within the borough of Fatih in Istanbul, Turkey . The streets in the area are full of historic wooden houses, Church , and synagogues dating from Byzantine Empire and Ottoman Empire times....
) and Balat districts. Today the Golden Horn is settled on both sides, and there are parks along each shore. The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce is also located along the shore, as are Muslim

Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
, Jewish and Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism#Christian view religion centered on the life and teachings of Jesus and interpreted by Christians to have been prophesied in the Hebrew Bible/Old Testament....
cemeteries. The Galata Bridge

Galata Bridge

The Galata Bridge 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....
connects the districts of Galata

Galata

Eminönü

Emin?n? was a district of Istanbul in Turkey. This is the heart of the Walls of Constantinople, the focus of a history of incredible richness....
. Two other bridges, the Atatürk Bridge and the Haliç Bridge, are located further up the Horn. Until the 1980s the Horn was inquinated with industrial waste, but has since been cleaned up and is a popular tourist attraction in Istanbul because of its history and beauty.

Geology

The Golden Horn is a flooded prehistoric estuary

Estuary

An estuary is a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
.

Leonardo's bridge

In 1502 Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italy polymath, being a scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, Painting, sculptor, architect, botanist, musician and writer....
produced a drawing of a single span 720-foot (240 m) bridge over the Horn as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Bayezid II

Bayezid II

Bayezid II was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1481 to 1512....
. The vision was resurrected in 2001 when a small footbridge of Leonardo's design was constructed

Vebjørn Sand Da Vinci Project

The Da Vinci Project by Norwegian painter and artist Vebj?rn Sand consists of a number of installations in Norway.The most well known of these is the reconstruction in a smaller scale of a 240 m span bridge that Leonardo da Vinci proposed in 1502 as part of a civil engineering project for Sultan Bayezid II of Constantinople The bridge serv...
near Aas in Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a constitutional monarchy in Northern Europe that occupies the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula....
.

On May 17, 2006, it was announced that the prime minister

Prime minister

A prime minister is the most senior minister of Cabinet in the Executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. The position is usually held by, but need not always be held by, a politician....
of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a Turkey Politics of Turkey, a former List of mayors of Istanbul of Istanbul and the List of Prime Ministers of Turkey of the Republic of Turkey since 14 March, 2003....
and the mayor of Istanbul Kadir Topbas

Kadir Topbas

Kadir Topbas...
had decided to resurrect the Leonardo da Vinci Bridge project. The urban planning and feasibility studies of the project had started earlier, in 1999. After five centuries, Leonardo da Vinci's bridge will span the Golden Horn, becoming the first architectural project of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe....
genius to be realized in its original scale and its planned location.

The Turkish architect in charge of the construction is Bülent Güngör, known for the restoration of the Çiragan Palace

Çiragan Palace

?iragan Palace , a former Ottoman Empire palace, is now a five-star hotel of the Kempinski chain. It is located on the European shore of the Bosporus between Besiktas and Ortak?y in Istanbul, Turkey....
, the Yildiz Palace

Yildiz Palace

Yildiz Palace is a vast complex of former imperial Ottoman Empire pavilions and villas in Istanbul, Turkey, built in the 19th and early 20th centuries....
, and the Sümela Monastery. The Bridge will be an exact copy of da Vinci's design, with a single span of 720-foot (240 m), a width of 8 metres, and a height above the Golden Horn of 24 metres, as shown on his sketches.

Literature

The Golden Horn features in many works of literature dealing with classical themes. For example, G. K. Chesterton

G. K. Chesterton

Gilbert Keith Chesterton was one of the most influential English writers of the 20th century. His prolific and diverse output included journalism, philosophy, poetry, biography, Christian apologetics, fantasy and detective fiction....
's poem Lepanto contains the memorable couplet "From evening isles fantastical rings faint the Spanish gun, And the Lord upon the Golden Horn is laughing in the sun".

Activity

The Golden Horn hosted the 4th round of the Red Bull Air Race World Series

Red Bull Air Race World Series

The Red Bull Air Race World Series, established in 2003 and created by Red Bull, is an international series of Air racing in which competitors have to navigate a challenging obstacle course in the sky in the fastest time....
for the first time on July 29, 2006.

Golden Horn

History

Geology

Leonardo's bridge

Literature

Activity

See also

External links