Sultan Bath - Galata Bath Bridge History

Our Galata Bath Bridge Collection was inspired by the famous and historical Galata Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey. The Galata Bridge is one of the popular historical landmarks of Istanbul, which has a construction history of different stages and locations. The Galata Bridge was a symbolic link between the traditional city of Istanbul, the imperial palace, the principal religious and secular institutions of the Ottoman Empire with the districts where a large proportion of the inhabitants were foreign merchants and diplomats who lived and worked in Istanbul. In this respect, the bridge bonded these two distinctive cultures together and it was said that a person who went from one side of the bridge to other would set foot in a completely different civilization.

The oldest bridge over the Golden Horn was built in Constantinople during the reign of Justinian the Great in the 6th century AD near the Theodosian Land Walls at the western end of the city. In 1453, during the fall of Constantinople, the Turks assembled a mobile bridge by putting their ships next to each other and used it for transporting their troops from one side of the Golden Horn to the other. In the years 1502-1503, plans to construct the first Galata Bridge in the current location were discussed. Sultan Bayezid II solicited a bridge design and Leonardo da Vinci utilizing three well-known geometrical principles, the pressed-bow; parabolic curves and keystone arches, designed an unprecedented single span bridge which would become the longest bridge in the world of that period if constructed. However, the ambitious design did not meet with the Sultan's approval so another Italian artist by the name of Michelangelo was invited to design the bridge. Michelangelo rejected the proposal and the idea of building a bridge across the Golden Horn was shelved until the 19th century. The newest and fifth edition of the Galata Bridge was completed in December 1994. It is a bascule bridge, ranking first of its type in the world.

A smaller scale version of Leonardo da Vinci's Golden Horn Bridge was brought to life in 2001 near Oslo, Norway by the contemporary artist Vebjorn Sand, the first civil engineering project based on a Leonardo Divinci sketch to be constructed.

The Mostar Bridge was a very famous and historical bridge before its destruction in 1993 during the war in Bosnia and Hercegovina. The elegant bridge spanned the River Neretva and was designed by the Ottoman architect Mimar Hayruddin. It was completed in 1566 after nines years of building and the surrounding town became a thriving trading centre. The bridge is a classic example of a single span, stone arch bridge.