A structure rumored to bear both love and war, located on an islet at the southern entrance of Bosporus, off the shore of Istanbul, on the Asian side, Kiz Kulesi and its legends are astounding. A very romantic, fancy restaurant graces its first floor (live musicians and everything) and a café is present upstairs to chill. As one sits to take in the beautiful view and watch ships as they pass by, all legends come to mind that surround this wonderful antiquity.

There is considerable evidence that it was first constructed by the Greeks some 2500 years ago and used as a watch tower with a near-complete view of the Black sea. Legend has it that an oracle prophesized death of the emperor’s beloved daughter from a venomous snake bite on her 18th birthday. To fight this fate, he sent her off in seclusion to live at the tower, where she would be kept safe until the time of the prophecy passed. When the day came and she was very much alive, the emperor, joyous as never before, took a basket of fruits to celebrate his daughter’s life. Alas, a snake had snuck into the basket and bit her, leading to her demise. This is how the Maiden’s tower got its name. 

It is also known as Leander’s tower over a Greek myth that fascinates visitors. This popular legend claims that a priestess of Aphrodite, called Hero lived in the tower to stay pure and Leander, her spellbound lover, was a boy who lived across the strait. She’d lit fire (in some versions - a lantern) on top of the tower every day and Leander would swim through the water, light guiding his way towards his love. A fateful day came when winds were so strong that they blew out her fire. Misguided and lost, Leander drowned. And when Hero came to know about this, she jumped off the tower to meet him eternally.

The Byzantine emperor Komnenos converted this tower into a fortress in the 12th century. Practically securing the strait of Bosporus, it was used as a station to collect custom duties from ships that sailed inside and anchored in the land. During this period, it was evidently converted into a prison as well and then back to a watch-tower. The Turks came over and took charge of it, by the time it needed renovation so they erected a wooden structure that unfortunately caught fire. Present- day stone masonry was built during the reign of Ahmet III in 1719.