The Galata Bridge (Turkish: Galata Köprüsü) is a bridge that spans the Golden Horn in Istanbul, Turkey. From the end of the 19th century in particular, the bridge has featured in Turkish literature, theater, poetry and novels.
The first bridge on the Golden Horn, built by Justinian the Great, can be seen near the Theodosian Land Walls at the north-eastern end of the city in this rendering of old Constantinople.
The first recorded bridge over the Golden Horn in Istanbul was built during the reign of Justinian the Great in the 6th century, close to the area near the Theodosian Land Walls at the western end of the city.
In 1453, during the Fall of Constantinople, the Turks assembled a mobile bridge by placing their ships side by side across the water, so that their troops could move from one side of the Golden Horn to the other.
In the years 1502–1503, there were plans to construct the first bridge at the current location. Sultan Bayezid II solicited a design and Leonardo da Vinci, However, the ambitious design was not approved by the Sultan.
Another Italian artist, Michelangelo, was also invited to design a bridge for Istanbul but rejected the invite and the idea of building a bridge across the Golden Horn was shelved until the 19th century.
Hayratiye bridge
In the early 19th century, Mahmud II (1808–1839) had a bridge built a bit further up the waterway, between Azapkapı and Unkapanı. This bridge, known as the Hayratiye (Benefaction in English), was opened on September 3, 1836.
Cisr-i Cedid bridge
The first Galata Bridge at the mouth of the waterway was constructed in 1845 by Valide Sultan, the mother of Sultan Abdülmecid (1839–1861) and used for 18 years. It was known as the Cisr-i Cedid or New Bridge to distinguish it from the earlier bridge further up the Golden Horn, which became known as the Cisr-i Atik or Old Bridge. This bridge was built of wood. Toll-collecting started on opening on November 25, 1845 and a toll was collected until May 31, 1930 by officials in white uniforms standing on both ends of the bridge.
The second bridge
This bridge was replaced by a second wooden bridge in 1863, built by Ethem Pertev Paşa on the orders of Sultan Abdülaziz (1861–1876) during the infrastructure improvement works prior to the visit of Napoleon III to Istanbul.
The third bridge
In 1870, a contract was signed with a French company, Forges et Chantiers de la Mediteranée for construction of a third bridge, but the outbreak of war between France and Germany delayed the project, which was given instead to the British firm G. Wells in 1872. This bridge, completed in 1875. It was used until 1912, when it was pulled upstream to replace the old Cisr-i Atik Bridge.
The fourth bridge
The fourth Galata Bridge was built in 1912 by the German firm Hüttenwerk Oberhausen AG for 350,000 gold liras. This floating bridge was 466 m (1,529 ft) long and 25 m (82 ft) wide. It is the bridge, still familiar to many people today, that was badly damaged in a fire in 1992 and towed up the Golden Horn to make way for the current bridge.
The fifth (current) bridge
The fifth Galata bridge was built by the Turkish construction company STFA just a few meters away from the previous bridge, between Karaköy and Eminönü, and completed in December 1994. Tram tracks were recently re-added to it, allowing the Istanbul Tram to run from Zeytinburnu, in the suburbs near Atatürk International Airport, to Kabataş, a few blocks before Dolmabahçe Palace. The rest of the bridge, including the market area on the first floor, opened to common use in 2003.