Kız Tower

Kız Tower, locally known as Kız Kulesi, but sometimes also as Kız Kalesi, stands west of the town of Pazar, in the province of Rize in Turkey.

Not much is known about the history of Kız Tower. Based on its architecture and construction method, it is concluded that it must have been built in the 13th or 14th century.

Local tradition has it that the tower was built in the 13th century by the Genoese. This could be true, as the Republic of Genoa had received extensive trading rights on the Black Sea coast, from the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, in 1261. One source, however, states that it was founded in Roman times, during the 1st century AD.

Also, according to the tradition, it was used a summer residence for the daughter of the Genoese head of state, who later fell in love with a local man. Hence its present name; kız means girl in Turkish. But I find it highly unlikely that this could be true.

In the last period of Ottoman rule, the abandoned tower had been taken into use as a hideout by local pirates. They were dislodged after the tower had been shelled by canon fire.

The badly ruined tower was restored in 2014.

The square tower stands on an isolated rock in the waters of the Black Sea, just a couple of meters from the shore.

Kız Tower is inaccessible. A beautiful tower, too bad it can not be accessed. Also, the structures of the Rize-Artvin Airport almost directly next to it partly ruin its esthetic value.

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