Hıdırlık Kulesi

Hıdırlık Tower stands at the southern tip of Kaleiçi, where the land walls meet the sea walls, on the corner of Karaalioğlu Park. Standing on the Antalya cliffs for two thousand years, it is the city's best preserved Roman monument. It consists of a square base and a round body resting on it; the two storey structure is about 14 metres high. Anyone looking for mortar on the facades of dressed stone blocks immediately notices the neat joints of Roman masonry. Why the building was erected has long been debated. According to the Kaleiçi inventory of the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality, the tower is a monumental tomb built in the 1st or 2nd century AD. The twelve fasces motifs, bundles of rods with an axe, on either side of the main door support this reading; in Rome the fasces symbolised high public office. The accepted view reported by the municipality is that the building was raised for Marcus Calpurnius Rufus, who served as consul in Attaleia in the 1st century AD, and his family. Other sources tie the tower to the 2nd century and the reign of Emperor Hadrian, describing it as a lighthouse or a lookout watching ships entering the gulf. Kerem Yiğit's article in the journal Bilim Armonisi places these two interpretations side by side; there is no definite answer, and that uncertainty is part of the building's appeal. You enter through the main door on the eastern facade. A long corridor leads to a small cross shaped chamber surrounded by niches. The walls of the lower room once carried frescoes; centuries of water seepage have largely erased them, yet traces of colour can still be made out if you look closely. The upper floor is a walkway running around a thick central wall mass, reached by a narrow stair from the corridor. The upper section shows signs of repairs carried out in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. In the Byzantine period the tower was absorbed into the city's defences; it was joined to the walls and used as a bastion. The Kaleiçi page of the Antalya Governorship notes that the outer walls of the city end precisely at this tower. Hesapçı Street, running from Kalekapısı to Hıdırlık, follows the main street of ancient Attaleia; remains of the Roman road have been found beneath it. So walking to the tower from Hadrian's Gate along Hesapçı Street means crossing the spine of the ancient city from end to end. The name itself carries a local trace; according to the English Wikipedia article, Hıdırlık means the place where the spring festival of Hıdırellez is celebrated. The surroundings of the tower were reread through archaeological excavations that began in 2020. The digs, run by the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality under the supervision of the Antalya Museum Directorate and KUDEB, revealed a monumental tomb, structures used as a chapel in the early Byzantine period, an inscribed mosaic with a dolphin figure, two baths, a columned building and a Roman colonnaded street thought to extend as far as Hadrian's Gate. Above these layers the foundations and walls of an ice factory from the Republican era were also uncovered. News reports date the monumental tomb differently from the municipal inventory, so it is right to leave the question of date open. The excavation area and the viewing terrace built on the cliff top opened to visitors in July 2026. The best time to visit is early morning or the hour before sunset, when the stone of the tower turns golden in the low sun. Approaching from Karaalioğlu Park you first see the square base, then the round body; this is the best angle for photographs. Do not miss the fasces reliefs flanking the door; they are the only tangible evidence for the tomb theory. From the viewing terrace you see the cliffs dropping some 40 metres to the sea, the coast stretching west to Konyaaltı and, on a clear day, the Bey Mountains. The parts of the excavation open to visitors, with the bath and mosaic remains, lie right beside the terrace. The tower is within walking distance of Kaleiçi; a fifteen minute walk from Hadrian's Gate along Hesapçı Street brings you there. If you come through Karaalioğlu Park, use the entrance on the Atatürk Caddesi side. The entry arrangements, opening hours and whether the tower interior can be entered may change; check the current information on the page of the operating body, the Antalya Metropolitan Municipality. Combining the tower with Karaalioğlu Park and the Antalya Toy Museum at the marina on the same route makes an easy half day programme.