İznik Surları

The İznik Walls are the city walls, about 4,970 metres long, that completely surround the historic centre of İznik in the shape of a five-sided polygon. According to the District Governorate of İznik, the walls vary between 10 and 13 metres in height and have 114 round and square towers. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality describes them as a double-walled defence system with four main gates and twelve secondary gates. Cut stone, brick, rubble stone and Horasan mortar were used in the walls, and in places blocks and relief fragments taken from older buildings are also built into them. History Today's İznik still follows the main lines of the regular town plan of the Hellenistic period, and from the point where its two main streets cross you can see all four main gates. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the city, called the Golden City on ancient coins, was surrounded by walls with gates opening in four directions. According to the District Governorate, construction of the walls began in the Bithynian period, in the 4th century BC, and they took their present form through additions in the Roman and Byzantine periods. In the Roman period the city grew beyond its old limits and new gates were built in the walls. The city was ruined by a violent earthquake in 123 and rebuilt by the Emperor Hadrian; for this reason Hadrian is regarded as its second founder. Around 258 the Goths who overran Bithynia plundered the city, but it recovered within the following decade. An inscription known to have been at the Lake Gate records that the walls were repaired in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Claudius. In the earthquake of 368 the walls were again badly damaged. In the 8th century Arab armies besieged the city but could not break through its strong walls. When the damaged walls were repaired from the reign of Leo III onwards, stone was collected from many buildings in the city, including the Roman theatre. In the earthquake of September 1065 the walls and towers were once more heavily damaged. The city, for a time the centre of the Anatolian Seljuks at the end of the 11th century, was besieged by the Crusader armies in 1097 and handed over to Byzantium. According to TDV, the Byzantines later used gravestones left from this short period in repairing the walls. After 1204, when İznik became the seat of Byzantine government under the Laskaris dynasty, the walls were repaired and a further wall was built in front of them to strengthen the defences. At that time the city was admired for its strong walls, moats and broad streets. Osman Bey besieged the city in 1300 but could not overcome the walls, and kept up the blockade by building a siege tower called the Diraz Ali Tower nearby. After the Battle of Pelekanon in 1329, the city surrendered to Orhan Bey on 2 March 1331. When Evliya Çelebi came in 1648, he wrote that the castle had no guards, that the gates were closed only at night and that the moat had dried up. The gates The İstanbul Gate in the north consists of three separate gates, with an oval courtyard between the outer gate and the innermost one. The jambs of the first gate from outside are made of granite columns. On the jambs of the innermost gate there are two Medusa heads facing outwards; according to the District Governorate, they were placed there to protect the city from the influence of evil spirits. The Lefke Gate in the east closely resembles the İstanbul Gate, and it is highly likely that the two were built in the same period, but their exact dates have not been established. The inscriptions over the arches of the Lefke Gate mention the Emperor Hadrian. On the left side of the gate there is a reused frieze, with human figures carved closely packed together, that looks like high relief. The gate takes its name from the road to Lefke, today's Osmaneli, and according to Wikipedia 1.80 metres of it now lie below ground. Little remains of the Lake Gate in the west today; half of the right-hand tower still stands, while only the foundations of the left-hand one can be made out. The Yenişehir Gate in the south also consists of three parts, and the inner gate is reached through a square courtyard. How to visit The walls are in the open and you can walk freely around the gates. The İstanbul Gate is at the northern end of Atatürk Caddesi and the Lefke Gate at the eastern end of Kılıçarslan Caddesi, so both are a short walk from the town centre. Going all the way around the walls means a walk of about five kilometres. If you are short of time, you can get to know the different faces of the walls by seeing the İstanbul Gate in the north, the Lefke Gate in the east and the Yenişehir Gate in the south. To trace the different periods in the walls, look at the courses of brick and the old stone fragments built into them; each repair left its own layer in the fabric of the wall. Bursa Metropolitan Municipality began cleaning and restoration work on the walls in 2016, and in 2024 the AA news agency reported that the İstanbul and Yenişehir gates had also been restored. The Roman Theatre and the İznik Museum are close to the Yenişehir Gate in the south, and the Nilüfer Hatun İmareti close to the Lefke Gate, so it is easy to fit the walls into the same day as these visits. According to the Kültür Portalı, İznik is reached from the Bursa bus terminal; check current departures at the terminal or with the bus companies.