Beyazit Tower

Beyazit Tower is an 85 metre tall fire-watch tower located in the courtyard of University of Istanbul in the Beyazit neighbourhood of Istanbul, Turkey, on top of a hill of the seven in Istanbul. It was ordered by the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II (1808-1839), and built of stones by Senekerim Balyan in 1828 on the place of a burnt down wooden tower, which was constructed earlier by his brother Krikor Balyan. Initially, a fire-watch tower in Beyazit was built of timber in 1749, but burnt down during the 1756 Great Fire of Cibali. It was replaced by another timber tower on the same place, which was destroyed following the dissolution of the Janissaries and the firefighters brigade by Sultan Mahmud II in 1826. The same year, another wooden tower was erected on the place constructed by Krikor Balyan, which was set on fire by adherents of Janissaries. Finally, a tower made of stone was built in 1828 by Senekerim Balyan in Ottoman baroque style.