The Fatih tower stands in Manisa, where Ottoman princes were sent to learn to govern. The practice began with Süleyman Çelebi, son of Bayezid I, in 1390, and continued until Mehmed III took the throne in 1595; over those two centuries a palace, the Saray-ı Amire, was built here piece by piece. When the custom of sending princes to the provinces ended, the palace was gradually emptied and began to disappear, and what was left of it burned during the Greek occupation.
Fatih Kulesi is what survived — the single building left of the whole palace, in a city that otherwise keeps its princely past only through mosques, medreses, hans, baths and tombs. Old photographs show it clearly; later alterations changed its appearance, and thick plaster was applied over the walls. It passed from the Treasury to the Turkish Red Crescent on 11 November 1955 and served for many years as the society's local branch, which is a large part of why it is still standing.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Manisa as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.7 °C in January to 28.1 °C in July; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in April, May, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (137 mm) and lightest in August (9 mm). Long-term means for 1930-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
