The Golden Gate
The first thing to notice at the Yedikule Fortress is the Porta Aurea, or the "Golden Gate." The Golden Gate, found on the southernmost wall of the fortress, was a lavish white marble gate, plated in gold and decorated with bronze statues. The gate was originally a portal the city, built in the 4th or 5th century, and used for state ceremonies, and for the ceremonious welcome of the Byzantine Emperor back into the city when he left. The towers that flank the Golden Gates date back to its conception, and were only added to over time to create the fortress that stands today. For a time, this monument was a mere portal, a pore in the border to the city representing on the one hand grandiosity, and on the other a connection to the world around.
A fortress was built during the reigns of John I Tzimiskes and Manuel I Komnenos, but the five-towered Pentapyrgion, was destroyed when Istanbul fell after the fourth Crusade. In 1350, John VI Kantakouzenos rebuilt the fort, whose five octagonal towers combined with the two Golden Gate marble towers to make the seven towers after which the sight gets its nickname, Seven Tower Fort, or the Eptapyrgion. Still, in 1391, the fort was again destroyed by John V Palaiologos when Sultan Bayezid I threatened to kill his son Emanuel if he didn't. In 1434, Emperor John VIII Palaiologos tried againt to rebuild the fort, but was unable to because of threats from Sultan Murad II. Not until after the 1453 Conquest of Constantinople did Sultan Mehmet II rebuild the fortress by adding three towers to the pre-existing four towers in 1458, to make the seven towers that constitute the "Seven Tower Fort." The ability to build a fort on this soil, one that was protected and cherished, at that could not be threatened, became a sign of strength and dominion, the fort becoming antithetical to the purpose of the porous nature of the Golden Gate, marking an anxious turn toward isolationism and ironclad protection in the struggle for long-lasting power.