From Kalekapısı to Hıdırlık, the Layers of Kaleiçi

Begin the route in the Kalekapısı square, right at the foot of the clock tower. If you came by the nostalgic tram, the tower is in front of you as soon as you step off at the Kale Kapısı stop. First step back a few paces and look at what the tower stands on, because that is where the real story lies. The tower sits on the Kale Kapısı bastion at the northern end of the outer wall of Kaleiçi, and this bastion guarded the city's main land gate. According to the history page of the Metropolitan Municipality, the roads from the east, west and north all ended at this gate. Ibn Bibi mentions the gate when describing the sieges of 1207 and 1216, and Evliya Çelebi calls it the Varoş Gate. The names Pazar Gate, Çarşı Gate and Asitane Gate also belong to the same gate. The gate itself was demolished during the years of the First World War; what you see today is its bastion and the tower on top. Most of the walls of Kaleiçi were pulled down in the 1920s and the final demolition was completed in the mid-1930s, which is why the Governorship's page says that within the city only fragments of the walls remain, such as the Hıdırlık Tower, Hadrian's Gate and the Clock Tower.

On the date of the tower the sources divide, and it is good to look at it knowing this. The municipality's page says the tower was built by the municipality in 1921 at the initiative of people from İzmir who had migrated to Antalya after the occupation of their city. Wikipedia and the reports on the 2022 restoration give 1901, the twenty-fifth anniversary of the accession of Abdülhamid II; in this account the clock was one of the clocks presented for that anniversary. What is certain is that the bastion is old and its transformation into a clock tower dates to the early twentieth century. Look up at the four faces; each has a round dial, and these dials were later replaced with electronic clocks. At the very top today you see a lead-covered dome; old photographs show the tower with a dome until the 1940s, and this dome was rebuilt in the restoration carried out by the Governorship in 2022. During the same restoration it was found that the original clock mechanism had been stolen, only the bell was found in the tower, and the earliest photograph, dated 1930, showed a dial with Ottoman numerals. The tower was repaired in 1930 and again in 1967 because of subsidence in its lower part. Wikipedia gives its height as 14 metres above the ground and 8 metres above the wall.

For photographs, the morning light falls on the face of the tower that looks onto the square. On the other side of the square rises the Yivli Minaret; that building is a stop on the earlier Kaleiçi route and we do not go into it here, but it is nice to frame the two together. The benches in the square or the foot of the wall are enough for a short break. The street that opens into the wall at the foot of the tower takes you into Kaleiçi; from here walk south and you reach the museum on Kocatepe Sokak in a few minutes.

Source: Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Antalya Valiliği; DHA; Wikipedia.

The museum is in Barbaros Mahallesi, at number 25 Kocatepe Sokak, and occupies two registered buildings together. As soon as you enter, look at the ground; the pebble mosaic of the entrance is laid in floral and geometric patterns, a familiar craft of old Antalya houses. According to the Vehbi Koç Foundation encyclopedia, Suna and İnan Kıraç bought these buildings in a very dilapidated state, restored them between 1993 and 1995, and the museum opened to visitors with the status of a private museum. The year of opening varies between 1996 and 2000 in the sources; the foundation's own text gives 2000. Today the museum is attached to AKMED, the Vehbi Koç Foundation's research centre in Antalya. The first building is a typical nineteenth-century Antalya house, two storeys high and of the outer-hall type. Go up to the upper floor; the three rooms here are arranged with wooden lath ceilings and painted decoration inspired by the Tekelioğlu Mansion. In the rooms three scenes of a Kaleiçi wedding in the second half of the nineteenth century are recreated: the serving of coffee, the shaving of the groom and the henna night. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism describes this arrangement as an ethnographic display supported by special effects. Visit the scenes in order and look closely at the costumes of the figures and the objects in the rooms, because the wedding customs were chosen in order to document Anatolian folk culture. Do not neglect to look out of the windows at the street; the arrangement of hall and projecting bay is the inside view of the Kaleiçi house type described in the summary.

Then go out into the garden and cross to the second building. This is an old Greek Orthodox church built in the name of St George; its date of construction is not known for certain, and according to its inscription it underwent a major repair in 1863. After the population exchange of the 1920s it lost its congregation, was used for many years as a storehouse and lost its original wooden elements. In the restoration it was rebuilt faithfully in its rectangular, single-nave, vaulted form, and its ceiling is decorated with painted work in shades of blue and plaster ornament. When you go in, look first at the ceiling, then at the display cases. The main hall shows the Çanakkale ceramics of the Suna and İnan Kıraç collection; Wikipedia notes that the collection also includes a tile in the shape of a map of Türkiye. The upper floor is reserved for short-term thematic exhibitions on the cultures of the region, so ask at the entrance what is on that day. The building also hosts events such as concerts and exhibitions.

Opposite the museum stands the building of AKMED; on its lower floor is a library open to researchers, on its upper floor a section of periodicals and rare books. If you are not a researcher there is no need to go in, but the facade of the building is itself one of the restored houses of Kaleiçi. The garden is shady and quiet, so sit and rest for a while. Check the museum's official website for opening hours and admission conditions. From here you reach the Kesik Minare by a walk of a few minutes along the streets that descend southwards; on the way look at the bay windows and garden doors of the houses.

Source: Antalya İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü; Vehbi Koç Vakfı Ansiklopedisi; Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Wikipedia.

As you approach the Kesik Minare on Hesapçı Sokak, look at the minaret from a distance first, because the name and the story of the building come from it. This single structure is one of the rare places where you can read the two thousand years of Kaleiçi's history layer upon layer. According to the Governorship's page, the building elements go back to the second century, and the finds show that in the fifth century a basilica was built on top of an existing ancient temple. The municipality's page writes that the site was used as the city agora in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, and that in the early Byzantine age the Panhagia Church was built inside it. In his entry in the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, Semavi Eyice explains that the building was reworked at least four or five times: the central section with stone piers was later turned into a square tower and covered with a dome, though whether the dome was masonry or wood is unknown. The Wikipedia articles add that it was damaged in the Arab raids and repaired in the ninth century. At the end of the Middle Ages, during the Latin occupation of Antalya, it was used as a Catholic church; Wikipedia links this period to the capture of the city by the king of Cyprus in 1361. Under Turkish rule it was converted into a mosque. The Governorship and municipality pages state that the building was converted into a mosque and given a minaret by Şehzade Korkut, son of Bayezid II; Eyice, however, notes that this connection is not certain and that the Hünkar Mosque mentioned by Evliya Çelebi, who toured the city in 1671, may be this building. The local name is Kesik Minare Mosque, and the name Cumanun Mosque also appears in the sources.

The source of the name is the fire at the end of the nineteenth century. The Governorship's page says that the wooden part of the minaret burned in that fire and the name has stuck ever since; the municipality gives 1895, Wikipedia 1896. After the fire the wooden roof was lost and the building remained a roofless ruin for more than a century; in his entry written in 2002 Eyice describes it as a ruin surrounded by a protective wall. According to the same entry, foreign researchers who came to the city at the end of the nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century found the building abandoned, a small repair begun on the west side around 1960 was never completed, and a restoration project launched in 1998 made no progress for a long time. The tourism page of the West Mediterranean Development Agency adds that in the Ottoman period the building was also used for a time as a Mevlevi lodge. According to Wikipedia, in the restoration begun in 2018 the cap and balcony of the minaret were completed in 2019, and the building reopened on 5 March 2021. As you walk around the building, look closely at the walls; the reused ancient stones that Eyice points out, blocks taken from older buildings and built into the walls, can be made out with the naked eye. Find the flat-arched doorway on the west side and the stone minaret at the southwest corner; the Governorship's page describes the building as a rare remain that shows ancient, Byzantine and Seljuk building elements together under one roof. Also wander among the architectural fragments and columns displayed in the courtyard. Since it is a building open for worship today, take off your shoes when entering, keep quiet, stay in the visitors' section during prayer times and ask the attendant about the entry arrangements. For photographs you catch the sunlit face of the minaret in the afternoon. As the building lies in the grid-planned southern part of Kaleiçi, the streets here are regular; follow the same street southwards and after a few minutes, where the line of the wall ends, the cylindrical body of the Hıdırlık Tower appears before you.

Source: TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi; Antalya Valiliği; Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; BAKA; Wikipedia.

The route ends at the corner where Kaleiçi opens onto Karaalioğlu Park to the south, at the point where the land walls reach the sea. According to the Governorship's page, the Hıdırlık Tower is the southernmost starting point of the land walls; its lower part is square, its upper part cylindrical, and it dates from antiquity. First walk all the way around the tower and read its two-part body: a square base with a round drum on top. The English Wikipedia writes that the structure is thought to have been laid out on a square plan in the second century and converted into a round tower within the same century. The Governorship's page describes the structure as extremely solid and notes that it contains a large square mass inside. The municipality's page describes the structure as a monumental tomb built in the first or second century. Find the main door on the east face; the twelve fasces, the relief of bundled axes, on either side of the door are the basis for the view that the tower was built for Marcus Calpurnius Rufus, consul at Attaleia in the first century, and his family. According to the municipality, a long corridor leads from this door to a cross-shaped space surrounded by niches. Other sources list other functions. An article published on DergiPark dates the tower to the second century, says it is thought to have been built by the Emperor Hadrian, and gives its function as a lighthouse and a lookout for ships entering the gulf. The Governorship also writes that, because of its internal structure, it is thought to have served for defence or for signal fires. The question of monumental tomb, lighthouse or watchtower therefore remains open, and standing in front of the tower weighing all three possibilities is part of the pleasure of the visit.

If you can go inside, look at the small room on the lower floor; according to the article, its walls carry remains of frescoes that have been fading over the centuries because of water seepage, and some sources consider this room a hero's tomb. On the upper floor there is a space that can be walked around a thick mass of wall. In the Byzantine period the tower was incorporated into the city's defence system and joined to the walls; the English Wikipedia adds that the upper parts were repaired in the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. The height is given in the sources as about 14 metres. Since the visiting arrangements can change, find out on the spot whether the inside of the tower can be entered, and be aware that some parts may be closed depending on future excavation or repair work.

The name of the tower is linked to the tradition of Hıdırellez; the English Wikipedia writes that the name comes from the places where that spring festival was celebrated. The foot of the tower is also one of the best sunset spots in the city. Look once more at the neighbourhood behind you; according to the Governorship's page, the section from the middle wall to this tower is the grid-planned part of Kaleiçi with regular rectangular blocks, and the streets you have just walked are part of that plan. This corner of Karaalioğlu Park stands on top of the cliff; looking west you see the gulf, the Konyaaltı shore opposite and the Beydağları behind it. In the evening light the stone of the tower turns a warm colour, so take your photograph at that hour. You can sit and rest on the park benches, then, at this point where the walls of Kaleiçi end, gather up the story of the route: you started at an Ottoman clock tower, wandered through a nineteenth-century house and an old church, saw a building layered from Rome to the Ottomans, and finished at a Roman tower. For the return you can walk through the park towards Cumhuriyet Caddesi and take a bus, or walk back through the same streets to Kalekapısı and the nostalgic tram.

Source: Antalya Büyükşehir Belediyesi; Antalya Valiliği; DergiPark; Wikipedia.