Bursa Surları

The Bursa Walls are the historic fortifications that encircle Hisar, the core of the city, and bear the hand of every period from Bithynia to the Ottomans. The Culture Portal gives the total length of the walls as 3.38 kilometres. According to Wikipedia the walls were built as a single line on the high travertine slopes to the north, east and west, and as a double line, inner and outer, on the southern flat where defence was difficult. From Prusa to Byzantium The Bithynian king Prusias is generally accepted as the founder of the city. According to the TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Carthaginian Hannibal, who had taken refuge with Prusias, is also recorded as having a part in the foundation, and an older settlement is said to have stood on the site of the citadel. The Bursa Museums Directorate traces the walls back to the 2nd century BC, the reign of Prusias I. Beneath the rock there is an underground passage about 79 metres long, thought to have been used for storing provisions and as a secret exit. During the Roman and Byzantine periods the frontiers moved far away and the fortress lost its importance for a long time. Most of the walls standing today belong to the defences built after the Gothic raids of the 3rd century AD. After the 6th century Bursa again became a Byzantine frontier fortress, and the Byzantine historian Pachymeres counts Bursa among the three fortified cities still in Byzantine hands in western Anatolia in the 1300s. The Ottoman period After a long siege and blockade the city surrendered to Orhan Gazi on 6 April 1326 and became the first Ottoman capital. Orhan Gazi strengthened the fortress with towers, had the monastery inside the walls converted into a mosque and built the palace known as the Bey Sarayı. The Greek population was moved to the quarters below the fortress, and only Turks were settled in Hisar. The walls, ruined in Timur's invasion of 1402 and the Karamanid siege, were repaired by Hacı İvaz Paşa on the orders of Çelebi Mehmet. In this repair columns, capitals and block stones taken from Roman buildings were reused as spolia. The angular tower east of the Zindan Gate was built by Çelebi Mehmet in 1418 and still stands undamaged. Bertrandon de la Broquière, who came to the city in 1432, counted about a thousand houses in the fortress, and Evliya Çelebi in 1640 recorded two thousand households and seven quarters in the inner citadel. In the earthquake of 1855 part of the walls and gates collapsed, and other parts were removed during road-building works. Gates and towers The sources count five or six main gates. The Saltanat Gate, also called the Hisar Gate, is the grandest entrance and was the main gate of the pre-Ottoman city. It was demolished in 1904 and rebuilt in the 2000s. The Yer Gate stands at the end of Kavaklı Street inside Hisar, near the Üftade Mosque, and opens into the city from between the two walls. The Culture Portal writes that this street carries traces of the Hellenistic grid plan. The Fetih Gate, also known as the Water Gate, is a narrow passage and today opens onto the ceremonial ground at Pınarbaşı where the conquest celebrations are held every year. The Kaplıca Gate stood on the west side and has not survived. Fourteen towers are counted between Tophane and Çakır Hamam. The Surüstü Mansion, set on top of a tower on Osmangazi Avenue in the second quarter of the 20th century, has been used for social and cultural purposes since its reconstruction in 2008-2011. One of the best panoramic views of Bursa is seen from here. Tophane, inside Hisar, with the tombs of Osman and Orhan Gazi, is described in a separate entry. The Zindan Gate The dungeon at the southern end, where the double wall ends, is like a small inner citadel protected by three large towers and high walls. The Zindan Gate opens into a courtyard, and a flight of six steps leads down to the dungeon proper. Tradition has it that corporal punishments were carried out at the "bloody well" by the entrance. The building was used as a prison until the end of the 19th century. The Bursa Metropolitan Municipality began the restoration of the walls in 2015, and Zindankapı opened as an exhibition space on 17 October 2021. The ground floor tells of the Bithynian period and the origin of the city's name, the first floor covers the Roman and Byzantine periods with replica weapons and animations, and the second floor presents the Ottoman period with war equipment and a janissary display. From the third floor you pass to towers 9 and 10, and tower 9 is entirely a digital exhibition space. Zindankapı is closed on Mondays. Check the current situation on bursamuze.com. How to explore The best way to see the walls is to enter through the Saltanat Gate and walk west through the streets of Hisar towards the Zindan Gate. Look closely at the brick and stone texture of the gate arch, the battlements of the towers and the reused ancient stones in the walls. Bus 4/A from Kent Meydanı and bus 4/İ from Çakır Hamam reach Zindankapı. It is also possible to turn from Atatürk Avenue into Osmangazi Avenue and walk up the slope. Morning light falls on the southern walls, afternoon light on the Saltanat Gate.