Located just to the north of the junction of Golden Horn with the Bosphorus, the cone-capped cylinder of the Galata Tower is one of the most iconic visuals of Istanbul, overlooking Beyoglu and Karakoy, while the colourful lights of the tower can be seen at night from all over the city.

It is said that the tower was built to replace the original Byzantine tower named Megalos Pyrgos or the Great Tower which controlled the northern end of the massive sea that closed the entrance to the Golden Horn. However, that old tower was located on a different site and was mostly destroyed in 1203, during the Fourth Crusade. However, it is now commonly agreed that the Romanesque style Galata Tower, known as Galata Kulesi in Turkish, was built as the tower of Christ or Christea Turris, as part of the defensive wall surrounding the district of Galata, during an expansion of the colonies of the Republic of Genoa in Constantinople.

It was also used for the surveillance of the Harbor in the Golden Horn, as the Genoese were involved in trade with the Byzantines. During that time, the Galata Tower with its height of 219`5 feet (66`9 m) was the tallest building in Istanbul. Much later, after the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, it served to detect fires in the city.

Since its inception, the Galata Tower had to face different catastrophes in different ages. It was successfully restored by the famous Ottoman architect, Hayreddin when it was severely damaged due to a devastating earthquake in 1509. During the reign of the Ottoman Sultan Süleiman the Magnificent, it was used as a penitentiary to house the prisoners sentenced to work at the Kasımpaşa Naval Dockyard. After that, it was again used as a prison during the reign of Sultan Murat III between 1546 and 1595.

During the reign of Sultan Selim III, the roof of the Galata Tower was made of lead and wood in 1794. However, in the same year, a savage fire severely damaged the stairs of the structure, which was consequently restored and a bay window was also added. Following another disastrous fire in 1831, the tower was once more restored, when two more floors were added to the structure along with the conical tip.

Unfortunately, the conical roof on the top of the building was destroyed during a violent storm in 1875, and it had to stand without its conical tip for the rest of the Ottoman period. It was reconstructed many years later, during the restoration works between 1965 and 1967.

During its final restoration in the 1960s, the wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure, when the Galata Tower was commercialized and opened to the public. Today, the tower serves as a touristic attraction. An elevator takes visitors up seven floors, from where the visitors are required to climb the last two floors by negotiating a spiral stairway to reach the top for a spectacular 360-degree view of Istanbul from the balcony. It is also equipped with a restaurant of doubtful reputation.