Ataturk Bridge

The third bridge across the Golden Horn Bay is a continuation of Ataturk Boulevard and connects it with the Galata quarter. The first bridge in this place was built in 1836 by order of Sultan Mahmud II. It was a "social" project, the bridge was built and maintained at the expense of the treasury and no toll was collected for movement on it. The Sultan personally attended the opening and was the first to cross it on horseback, and named it Hayratiye Köprüsü (the Virtue). Later, the bridge was named Unkapanı Köprüsü, after the area adjacent to the bridge. Mostly Jews lived there, so the bridge was also called the Jewish bridge (Yahudi Köprüsü).

Over time, the wooden bridge became very dilapidated and in 1775 a new bridge, already made of metal, was ordered by a French construction company. The contractor was paid 135 thousand Ottoman lira in gold, but the new bridge served even less than the wooden one-until 1912.

The next bridge, the third in a row, was destroyed in a severe storm in 1936.

The modern version of the bridge, which rests on 24 pontoons, entered service in 1940, receiving the name Ataturk Köprüsü in honor of the first President of the Republic of Turkey Kemal Ataturk.

The last major reconstruction of the bridge was carried out in 1954, in 2018 it is planned to open a tunnel under the bay, and the bridge, so short-lived and very difficult for navigation, will be dismantled. Have time to see it!