Buit on a small rocky island in the middle of the sea near Uskudar, where the Marmara sea meets the Bosphorus, the Leanders Tower - also called as Maidens Tower - has been used for a variety of purposes since its first construction. First, this small island was used to control the navy traffic and as a customs office in 411 B.C.. In the 12th century, the Byzantines used to protect the Bosphorus and they built a defence tower on the island. Although the Ottoman Empire continued to use it for the same reason after the conquest of Istanbul, Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror replaced the old tower with a new one.

During the golden years of Ottoman Empire, the tower was used as a light house, and on special occasions, was used to salute the guests of the Sultans with gun shots.

The tower was completely destroyed by a fire in 1716. The Prime Minister Nevsehirli Damat Ibrahim Pacha built today’s tower in 1725.

With its white color and its sliced Baroque dome with a flagstaff on the top of the dome, it’s a very striking spectacle.

It has become symbol of Istanbul, and is one of the first things which comes to one’s mind about this city and has been subject of many paintings and pictures. It has recentyl been renovated and opened for sightseeing.

Legend

There are many legends about the construction of the tower and its location. According to the most popular Turkish legend, a sultan had a much beloved daughter. One day, an oracle prophetised that she would be stung to death by a venomous snake's bite on her 18th birthday. The sultan, in an effort to thwart his daughter's early demise by placing her away from land so as to keep her away from any snakes, had the tower built in the middle of the Bosphorus to protect his daughter until after her 18th birthday. The princess was placed in the tower, where she was frequently visited only by her father.

On the 18th birthday of the princess, the sultan brought her a basket of exotic sumptouous fruits as a birthday gift, delighted that he was able to prevent the prophecy. Upon reaching into the basket, however, an asp that had been hiding amongst the fruits bites the young princess and she dies in her father's arms, just as the oracle had predicted. Hence the name Maiden's Tower.

The older name Leander's Tower comes from another story about a maiden: the ancient Greek myth of Hero and Leander. Hero was a priestess of Aphrodite who lived in a tower at Sestos, at the edge of the Hellespont (Dardanelles). Leander (Leandros), a young man from Abydos on the other side of the strait, fell in love with her and would swim every night across the Hellespont to be with her. Hero would light a lamp every night at the top of her tower to guide his way.

Succumbing to Leander's soft words, and to his argument that Aphrodite, as goddess of love, would scorn the worship of a virgin, Hero allowed him to make love to her. This routine lasted through the warm summer. But one stormy winter night, the waves tossed Leander in the sea and the breezes blew out Hero's light, and Leander lost his way, and was drowned. Hero threw herself from the tower in grief and died as well. The name Maiden's Tower might also have its origins in this ancient story.

Due to the vicinity and similarity between the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, Leander's story was attributed to the tower by the ancient Greeks and later the Byzantines.

The tower today

Today, there is a restaurant in the first floor and a café at the top of the tower. It is a popular tourist destination.

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