Eirene Tower - The Byzantine Tower Hidden Behind the Grand Bazaar
- Martin
- Jul 11
- 4 min read
Between the Grand Bazaar and the busy streets leading down towards the Golden Horn in Eminönü lies Sağır Han. Its rather modest entrance gives no hint of what awaits on the other side. I barely have time to wonder whether the building might collapse on top of me before I find myself in a maze of narrow passageways filled with small workshops, artisans and shops selling jewellery and handicrafts. I have to admit that I never quite realised how I got in there.
If you enjoy the blog, you can support it by buying me a virtual coffee
Istanbul E-Pass - Is It Worth It for Visitors to Istanbul? New Album: The Miklagard Project: The Immersive Istanbul
Small workshops sit side by side. Drilling, grinding and polishing echo from every direction, and for a brief moment a series of mental images of dentists’ chairs flashes through my mind. It doesn’t take long, however, before I realise the sounds are coming from coppersmiths, silversmiths and other craftsmen who continue to keep traditional trades alive. In one workshop, coffee pots are mass-produced. In another, jewellery is carefully assembled by hand.
Behind yet another doorway stands an artist in the middle of a tall domed room, adding what may well be the final brushstrokes to a new painting. I spend a few minutes watching him work while my eyes wander around the beautiful space. Thanking him for the experience, I continue deeper into Sağır Han’s labyrinth of narrow passageways.
A few signs reading “Eirene Tower →” lead me through the han, and before long I find myself standing in front of an open doorway set into a thick wall. I stop almost automatically. It feels like one of those rather special moments. In just a few seconds, I will be climbing the steep stone steps into a Byzantine building that has probably stood here for around a thousand years - perhaps even longer - surviving empires, countless earthquakes, fires and alterations. Yet its history is still debated by historians.
I have to be honest. The first two floors do very little for me. For a moment, I feel as though I’m standing in front of one of those racks of framed prints tucked away in the corner of an IKEA store rather than inside a thousand-year-old Byzantine tower. Not because there is anything wrong with the artwork, but because the building itself disappears behind the exhibition. I came here to experience Eirene Tower, and on the first two floors it is the exhibition that steals the attention.
It is only on the third floor that everything finally falls into place.
Here, the building once again becomes the main attraction. The enormous dome opens up the space, the raw brickwork emerges, and for the first time I truly get a sense of the Byzantine building I had come to experience.
The artwork is still there, but now it feels like a guest inside the building rather than the other way around. A portrait of Atatürk, for example, has been placed inside what appears to be an old window niche, accompanied by an elegant floor lamp.
I remain beneath the dome for quite some time. Not only because the room is beautiful, but because the building itself fascinates me. I don’t know the architectural terminology, nor am I practical enough to identify the techniques used by the builders some thousand years ago. But I know what I see. A building that, without being grand or ostentatious, is still standing after around a thousand years. Perhaps it’s just a feeling, but it honestly seems more solid than several of the much younger buildings and passageways I had just walked through in Sağır Han.
My thoughts inevitably drift back to Kadıköy, where apartment buildings only forty or fifty years old are regularly demolished because they are no longer considered structurally safe. Here I am standing inside a Byzantine building that has stood here for around a thousand years, surviving earthquakes, fires, empires and countless alterations. It certainly puts things into perspective.
When I get home, I assume the history will be fairly straightforward. Who built the tower? When? And what was it actually used for?
The more I read, however, the clearer it becomes that Eirene Tower is something of a mystery. While most of Istanbul’s major Byzantine buildings are well documented, there is surprisingly little reliable information about this particular tower.
One thing appears consistently across almost every source: the building is Byzantine and was most likely constructed sometime between AD 900 and 1100. After that, the picture becomes much less clear. There are no contemporary descriptions of its purpose, no inscription explaining why it was built, and no reliable evidence identifying who commissioned it.
The next question almost asks itself: what was it actually built for?
There are many theories. Some historians believe the building served as an administrative office or formed part of an imperial complex. Others suggest it functioned as a watchtower or observation tower. There are even theories that it was once used as a prison or a warehouse.
The problem is that none of these theories can be proven. Perhaps that is exactly what makes Eirene Tower so fascinating. After around a thousand years, the building is still standing, while its original purpose has been lost to history.
Its later history, however, is much better documented. When Sağır Han was built in 1651 as part of the vast Büyük Valide Han caravanserai, this old Byzantine tower was simply incorporated into the new commercial quarter. It continues to serve that role today, surrounded by workshops, craftsmen and small shops.
As I walk back down the steep stone steps and into Sağır Han’s maze of narrow passageways once again, it strikes me just how unlikely this place really is. Less than a minute’s walk from the Grand Bazaar stands a Byzantine building that most people walk straight past. Not because it is hidden, but because very few expect to find a thousand years of history tucked away among silversmiths, coffee pots, artisans and tiny workshops. Drag with your finger or mouse to explore the 360° photo.
Find it
