After conquering Alania in 1226 after a five-year siege, Seljuk Sultan Alladin Keykubat built Kizilkule, a watchtower to protect the city's harbour. Kizilkule means Red Tower in Turkish. The tower got its name because of the distinctive red colour of the bricks used in its construction. in its construction. This tower is the main attraction of the amazingly beautiful Turkish city of Alanya. It is located in the harbour of the city. The tower is the symbol of Alanya and is even featured on the city's flag.
The walls of this Byzantine fortress are about eight kilometres long. kilometres. The tower has an octagonal shape. The diameter at its base is twenty-nine metres, and the height from the canopies between the loopholes to the barrier line to the barrier line is thirty-three metres. It is astonishing in its power to this day.
The construction was completed in 1226, and it took more than twelve years to erect the fortress walls took over twelve more years to build. Ebu Ali Reha eha eha was invited to build this tower. Ebu Ali Reha el-Kettani, an architect from Aleppo who was the author of the of the Sinop fortress. The name of the master builder and architect of the tower is inscribed in the inscription on the north side of the tower above the inscription. on the northern side of the tower. On the opposite - the southern side of the tower in an inscription of seven lines. inscription of seven lines contains a panegyric to Sultan Alladin Keykubat, in which he is praised as a muhammad. which praises him as a wise lord, ruler of all rulers, defender of of justice, sultan of the land and two seas, and patron of Muslims.
The tower could accommodate up to two thousand people. It has five floors, apart from the upper ledges above the loopholes. These loopholes are spread out over the entire of the tower. Like the observation windows, they're covered at the front. and were designed to pour boiling water and hot tar on the enemy.
One of the architectural features of the Red Tower is that the light , from the top of the tower reaches all the way down to the ground floor.
One can enter Kyzylkule from the western façade, which is closely adjacent to the fortress walls, through a narrow, discreet but tall gateway shaped like a corridor. corridor. A large underground reservoir in the centre is connected to the upper part of the drainage canal.
For several centuries, the Kizilkule Tower has reliably guarded the harbour from all sorts of attacks from the sea. This structure is so well built quality that it is one of the best examples of medieval military architecture. of medieval military architecture. The tower was restored in the 1950s. in the 1950s. But it was opened for visitors only in 1979. Every year. is visited by a very large number of tourists from all corners of the globe.
Tourists can climb to the top by stone steps, of which there are eighty-five. of which there are eighty-five. In the centre of the tower is a reservoir. Above the crenellated above the crenellated walls of the tower is a Turkish flag, as on most Turkish towers. towers. The Ethnographic Museum was opened on the ground floor of Kizilkule in 1979.
