Episode 7: Stories of the Galata Tower
Hosted by Özlem Yıldız
Release date: January 27, 2022
The Galata Tower in Istanbul stands as one of the most iconic monuments in the city’s skyline. It was recently reopened as a museum after several months of restoration. Producer Özlem Yıldız traces the many lives of the tower through the centuries, from a fire station to an astronomical observatory. By following the recent change in its status and speaking with different stakeholders about the restoration process, we touch on wider debates about politics and cultural heritage in today’s Turkey.
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About this episode of Monument Biography
Özlem Yıldız is a Ph.D. student in Art History at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University. Her work focuses on cross-cultural exchanges in Ottoman and Safavid illustrated manuscripts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. She holds an M.A. in History of Art and Architecture of the Islamic Middle East from SOAS University of London. Previously, she studied History and Political Sciences at Sabancı University in Istanbul. Özlem was born and raised in Istanbul, and the Galata Tower is one of her favorite places in the city.
About the guests:
K. Mehmet Kentel is an urban and environmental historian of late Ottoman Istanbul, and the research projects manager at Istanbul Research Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Washington in 2018 with his doctoral dissertation, “Assembling ‘Cosmopolitan’ Pera: An Infrastructural History of Late Ottoman Istanbul.
Hasan Karakaya is an art historian, and the director of the Galata Tower Museum.
Yaşar Adnan Adanalı is an urbanist, researcher, and academic. He is the co-founder and director of the Center for Spatial Justice.
Want to learn more about the topics covered in this episode?
Sibel Acar, “‘Konstantinopolis Nasıl Görülür?’: On Dokuzuncu Yüzyıl Seyahatnamelerinde ve Rehber Kitaplarında İstanbul.” İdealkent 8, no. 22 (2017), 665-691.
Nur Akın, 19. Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında Galata ve Pera. İstanbul: Literatür Yayınları, 2011.
Beyond Istanbul 9: Mekanda Adalet ve Beyoğlu (periodical by Center for Spatial Justice), 2020.
Center for Spatial Justice website
Edmondo De Amicis, Constantinople. Translated by Maria Hornor Lansdale. Henry T. Coates & Co., 1896.
«Demolition in İstanbul’s iconic Galata Tower in the name of restoration.» Bianet, August 12, 2020.
Semavi Eyice, Galata ve Kulesi. Istanbul: Türkiye Turing ve Otomobil Kurumu, 1969.
Brendan Freely and John Freely. Galata, Pera, Beyoğlu: A Biography. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2016.
Koca Mehmet Kentel, “Assembling ‘Cosmopolitan’ Pera: An Infrastructural History of Late Ottoman Istanbul”, Ph.D. dissertation, University of Washington, 2018.
Doğan Kuban, Istanbul, an Urban History: Byzantion, Constantinopolis, Istanbul. Istanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 1996.
“Restoration of Galata Tower paused out of concerns for swift birds.” Bianet, July 7, 2020.
Music Credits for this episode of Monument Biography:
“Sombra” by Ze Trigueiros
“Song of the Highest Tower” by Cut Worms
“Beyoğlu’nda Gezersin” by İstanbul Girls Orchestra