Galata Bridge

Galata Bridge, built over the Golden Horn in Istanbul, connecting Karaköy and Eminönü and one of the symbols of Istanbul, was completed in December 1994 and is still in service. It is a bascule bridge that is 490 meters long and 80 meters of which can be opened.

Many bridges have been built to connect the two sides of the Golden Horn to date, but the first bridge was built by Justinianus I between Eyüp and Sütlüce in the 6th century. Fatih Sultan Mehmet also had a mobile bridge built during the conquest of Istanbul so that the armies could pass from one side of the Golden Horn to the other. Galata Bridge and its fishermen, which have an important place in terms of symbolism, have been an inseparable part of the city and Eminönü-Karaköy have been connected by bridges 5 times throughout its history and projects have been made to connect them. The world-famous Leonardo da Vinci presented a bridge design for this place, and Michelangelo was invited… At the beginning of the 20th century, the bridge called the Historical Galata Bridge, the construction of which took two years to meet the need for a new bridge, was opened in 1912 and served until 1992.

The Galata Bridge, which we have been using since 1994, meets expectations with a 42-meter-wide road with 3 lanes in each direction and a pedestrian path. As a result of the extension of the tram line to Kabataş, the two lanes in the middle of the bridge were separated for the tramway and it became one of the rare bascule bridges in the world where trams pass, along with the Trowse Bridge in Norwich and a few bridges in the United States.

Today, the Galata Bridge, which has become one of the traditional icons of Istanbul, carries the symbolism of ‘the bridge connecting two cultures’ in terms of connecting the New Istanbul - Karaköy, Beyoğlu, Harbiye - and the Old Istanbul - Sultanahmet, Fatih, Eminönü.