SIMEON OF POLAND (1608)
We saw many marvelous buildings, old and new, and palaces with a beauty fit for kings, reserved for viziers, pashas, aghas and feoffees. The city has 24 gates, eighteen on the coast and six on land. Since the city is surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the waves are constantly smashing to the walls. One of the gates is Yedikule, a very firm castle. Great princes, barons and khans who were detained and captured were imprisoned in this castle. Many large human figures made of white marble are placed on the castle gate.
MICHEL BAUDIER (1632)
This place is under the guard of 250 soldiers. After the conquest of Istanbul, early sultans would put their treasures in the towers here.
One of the towers was filled with gold bullion and gold coins, and the other with silver bullion and silver coins. In another tower were various weapons and war equipment, horse suits inlaid with gold, silver and jewels; the fifth tower contained ancient armor, medals and valuables from ancient times; the sixth tower housed various war instruments; and in the seventh tower, there were the official documents of the empire. In a gallery adjacent to the seventh tower was placed the precious loot that Selim I had brought from Tehran after the Persian Victory.
All these treasures remained in Yedikule until the reign of Selim II. Murad, the son of Selim II, transferred the treasure to the palace and Yedikule became a prison for the dignitaries whose execution was not approved by the government.
GUILLAUME-JOSEPH GRELOT (1681)
In the past, it was one of the entrances to the city and consisted of four towers. It was known as the Golden Gate, both because it was decorated with gold ornaments and because it displayed the city’s splendor as one of the most beautiful entrances to Istanbul. This gate was for official entrances to the city.
Above the Golden Gate are two large bas-reliefs made of white marble. One shows a sleeping man on his arm and a goddess descending from the sky with a torch in her hand. These figures may be Endimion and Selene, the Goddess of Moon, who came to see him. The other, unless I miss my guess, depicts nine muses and the winged horse Pegasos.
EREMYA CELEBI KOMURCIYAN (1681)
Bitinia remained on our right; on our left are the city walls, that is, the Yedikule, which was built by the saint Emperor Constantine. In ancient times, barley and wheat were put in the barns here for the people of the city in winter. Now, sultans, grand viziers and Tatar khans are imprisoned in towers that were built separately. Sultan Osman was also killed here.
GUILLAUME ANTOINE OLIVIER (1790)
“On our way to Yeşilköy, we saw the double embankments and double walls built to defend the city of Istanbul. We observed that these walls, which were built on various dates, remained in good and solid condition despite many attacks. On our way back, we wanted to see the walls that were built for the coastal defense of Istanbul, extending from one end of the harbor to the other, all the way to Eyüp. The next day we got on a boat and in an hour and a half we arrived in front of the small, round castle called Yedikule, located at the south end of the city. Today, this place is no longer a castle, it has become a dungeon where foreign state ambassadors and other representatives who are at war with the Ottoman Empire are imprisoned.”
