Maiden’s Tower lies between Europe and Asia. (Image: Getty)
There is one tiny island that’s been standing for nearly 3,000 years in waters that divide the continents of Europe and Asia.
The enchanting Kiz Kulesi, also known as the Maiden’s Tower, spanning thousands of years.
Originally erected as a customs checkpoint in 410 BCE, the tower has stood the test of time, evolving into various different things.
It’s been a defence , a lighthouse, a cholera quarantine hospital, a strategic radar station, a cyanide storage post, and even a “republic of poetry” for writers.
Nestled in the Bosphorus Strait that splits between Europe and Asia, this iconic landmark exists where two continents almost touch in Istanbul, Turkey’s capital.
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Maiden’s Tower was built as a customs checkpoint in 410 BCE. (Image: Getty)
With the strait merely 700 metres wide at its most narrow point, it offers one of the closest encounters between the European and Asian sides.
Constructed in the waters linking the , Maiden’s Tower bears nearly as much history as the storied city of Istanbul itself.
In its first role as a levy point, the tower watched naval traffic from the Black Sea, serving as a toll booth for passing vessels.
Come the 12th century, Byzantine emperor Manuel I Comnenus during his reign and stretched a chain to a nearby tower to regulate ships.
Finally, after the Ottoman conquest in 1453, the Sultan Mehmed II reinforced the structure, upgrading it from timber to stone.
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After the late 17th century, with the addition of a lantern on its northern part, the tower primarily served as a lighthouse.
For the majority of its 2,600-year history, it has been a “mystery standing in the middle of the Bosphorus,” Han Tumertekin, one of the architects responsible for its recent extensive two-year restoration, .
Now, in the 21st century, it has transformed into a tourist hotspot offering views back at the city. Following its reinforcement and renovation, the new and improved monument-museum in March 2024.