Maiden’s Tower

Maiden’s Tower

This live stream shows one of the main attractions of Istanbul – the Maiden’s Tower (Kiz Kulesi). As the webcam is PTZ, you can see the famous Bosphorus and the city of Istanbul with ancient buildings.

The online camera on the Maiden’s Tower gives you the opportunity to see how beautiful the tower looks at the background of the Bosphorus. Throughout its long history, Kiz Kulesi has served as a customs point, lookout tower, lighthouse, quarantine station, and was also a restaurant.

Despite its small size, the Maiden’s Tower online, is a very popular city attraction at all times. For example, the Russian painter Aivazovsky depicted it in one of his paintings. Also, in front of the the background of the tower in the web camera, the story of the next series about James Bond was filmed.

Currently, in the Maiden’s Tower, which you see online, there is an opportunity to visit a medieval-style restaurant, climb the observation deck and buy souvenirs in the shop.

Every three seconds, the lighthouse of the Maiden’s Tower, shown in the webcam, beeps in red and white flashes.

The history of the Maiden’s Tower in the online camera began with a small fort on a rocky island at the entrance to the Bosphorus, built by the Athenian commander Alcibiades in the 5th century BC. The watchtower itself appeared in the 4th century under the Emperor Constantine. It is known that in the 15th century the tower served as a lighthouse, then it was a pier and a prison. In the 18th century, the building burned down, but was later restored by Damat Ibrahim Pasha.

Since the 1980s, the Maidens Tower, which the webcam is pointed at, has been used as an auxiliary unit for ship traffic control in the Bosphorus, and in 1992 it became a cultural center, hosting exhibitions, photo galleries and a restaurant on its territory. Today, as before, a cafe, bar and restaurant work here, art exhibitions and musical evenings are held here, and an observation deck is available at the top.

Another name for the Maiden’s Tower in the online broadcast is Leander’s Tower. It appeared thanks to ancient Greek myths: the young man Leander fell in love with the priestess of Aphrodite Hero, and every night he sailed the Bosphorus to see her. Hero lit a fire on the lighthouse, which showed young man the way to the island. But, one day the fire went out, and he drowned. Not experiencing grief, Hero rushed into the waters of the Bosphorus after the young man.

The Maiden’s Tower, well shown in live broadcast, rises to a height of 23 meters above the Bosphorus and 200 meters from the coast of the residential area of ​​the Asian part of Istanbul – Üsküdar. In its structure, the tower has three tiers: a pavilion at the base, a central floor and the last floor with an open gallery surrounding the tower. The upper tier of the capsule contains a light element that fires white and red flashes every three seconds, amplified by an octagonal prism. At the top of the tower there is a sharp spire with a Turkish flag, which you can also see online.

You should definitely go up to the observation deck of the tower: from here you can see a magnificent view of the Asian part of Istanbul and the ships moving along the Bosphorus.

At the base of the Maiden’s Tower in this webcam there is a restaurant. Turkish cuisine is served in medieval stone interiors, while the view of the strait can be admired from the windows of the restaurant.

Watch other interesting and very beautiful Baltic Live Cam live streams from Turkey: Beyazıt Square, view to Istanbul and  view of Bosporus, Denizli city panorama, Mevlana Museum in Konya, Sivas city panorama.