Saltanat Kapı
Enter Hisar through the reconstructed monumental eastern gateway that once controlled one of the principal approaches to the city.
- Also called: Hisar Kapısı
- Direction: Eastern approach
- Restoration: 21st century
The story of Bursa Castle begins long before the rise of the Ottoman Empire. The fortified settlement occupied a strategically powerful hill overlooking the plain north of Uludağ.
The ancient city became known as Prusa ad Olympum, distinguishing it as the Prusa situated below Mount Olympus, the mountain now called Uludağ.
Bursa's municipal heritage sources traditionally date the construction of the fortifications to the second century BC during the reign of Prusias I of Bithynia.
A long-standing historical tradition also associates the planning of Prusa with Hannibal, the celebrated Carthaginian general who took refuge in Bithynia after his conflict with Rome.
Because the walls were altered repeatedly during later centuries, however, visitors should understand Bursa Castle not as one perfectly preserved construction from a single period, but as a complex archaeological monument containing many historical phases.
Under Roman control, Prusa continued to develop as an important city of northwestern Anatolia. Existing fortifications were repaired, modified and incorporated into the changing urban landscape.
The defensive importance of the hill became even greater during the Byzantine period. Towers, strengthened gateways, reused ancient masonry and an internal citadel protected the administrative centre of the city.
By the beginning of the fourteenth century, Bursa was one of the most important Byzantine strongholds remaining in Bithynia.
Ottoman forces under Osman Gazi began applying sustained military and economic pressure to the city. Because the early Ottoman forces lacked the equipment required to storm such strong walls directly, the conquest developed largely through a prolonged blockade.
Fortifications established outside the city helped isolate Bursa from its surrounding countryside and communication routes. After Osman Gazi became seriously ill, his son Orhan Gazi continued the campaign.
On 6 April 1326, Bursa finally surrendered to Orhan Gazi.
The conquest represented an extraordinary turning point. The fortified Byzantine town became the political centre of the expanding Ottoman principality, and Bursa developed into the first great capital of the Ottoman state.
Initially, the Ottomans occupied and reused the fortified city. The Byzantine administrative residence in the inner citadel was transformed into the Bey Sarayı, while religious and political institutions were adapted for the new rulers.
Orhan Gazi also strengthened the defences, adding and repairing sections of the walls and towers.
The military value of the fortifications remained important during the turbulent early fifteenth century. Bursa suffered in the aftermath of the Battle of Ankara in 1402 and later regional conflicts.
During the reign of Çelebi Mehmed, major repair work was undertaken, traditionally associated with Hacı İvaz Paşa.
An inscription connected with Saltanat Kapı records repair work in 1418.
The importance of the fortress gradually changed as Ottoman Bursa expanded far beyond the old walls. Imperial külliyes, markets, hans, workshops and neighbourhoods spread across surrounding hills and valleys.
By the fifteenth century, Hisar had changed from being virtually the entire city into only one historic district within a much larger Ottoman capital.
The fortifications nevertheless survived, receiving repairs throughout the Ottoman period. They also suffered from earthquakes, changing roads, urban construction and the reuse of stone.
The devastating 1855 Bursa earthquake caused significant damage throughout the old city, including parts of the castle and several gateways.
During the twentieth century, portions of the walls disappeared behind later buildings or were damaged by modern development.
Large-scale conservation projects beginning in the early twenty-first century gradually exposed, restored and in some cases reconstructed important gates and wall sections.
Today, Bursa Castle once again forms one of the most understandable historical landscapes in the city, connecting the ancient settlement of Prusa directly with the story of the Ottoman conquest and the creation of Bursa as an imperial capital.
