Pera and Galata - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 411

conical headdresses of the Mevlevi. One of these marks the grave of
the famous Count Bonneval, known in Turkish as Kumbaracı Ahmet
Paşa. Bonneval was a French officer who enrolled in the Ottoman
army in the reign of Sultan Mahmut I (r. 1730-54) and was made
Commandant of the Corps of Artillery. He became a Muslim,
changed his name to Kumbaracı (the Bombardier) Osman Ahmet,
and spent the remainder of his life in the Ottoman service, dying in
Istanbul in 1747. A contemporary of Bonneval wrote of him that he
was “a man of great talent for war, intelligent, eloquent with turn and
grace, very proud, a lavish spender, extremely debauched and a great
plunderer.”
THE GALATA TOWER
We now continue on down Galip Dede Caddesi for about 250 metres
until we see on our right the huge Galata Tower. This tower was the
apex of the Genoese fortifications of medieval Galata. Originally
known as the Tower of Christ, it was built in 1348 in connection
with the first expansion of the Genoese colony. The first fortified
area, built as early as 1304, was a long narrow rectangle along the
Golden Horn between where the two bridges now stand. In order to
defend themselves more adequately on the side of the heights above
Galata, the Genoese then added a triangular wedge with the Tower
of Christ at its highest point. Later still, in 1387 and 1397, they
took in successive areas to the north-west, and finally in 1446 they
enclosed the eastern slope of the hill leading down to the Bosphorus.
The final defence system consisted of six walled encientes, with the
outer wall bordered by a moat, a short stretch of which can still be
seen beside the Tower. Bits and pieces of the defence walls and towers
still exist here and there around Galata, but none of them amounts
to very much. The Galata Tower has been restored and there is now a
modern restaurant and café on its upper levels. From the observation
deck on the uppermost level one has a magnificent view out over the
entire city and its surrounding waters.
In the little square beside the Tower, fixed against the remnants
of the barbican, is a famous street fountain. In its present form it
dates from 1732, but it was originally constructed by Bereketzade