Galata Tower (old) enabling them to enter the harbor and attack the city from the sea, where the walls were more easily scaled. This tower should not be confused with the present-day Galata Tower, which is still standing. The current tower was built by the Genoese in 1348, on a different site, at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel of Galata. The Genoese named the new tower as "Christea Turris" ("Tower of Christ"). The Byzantines, however, also called this new tower with the name "Megalos Pyrgos" ("Great Tower"). Galata Tower (old) The old Tower of Galata (, meaning "Great Tower") was
Galata was built in place of a 6th-century Byzantine church in Galata. This chapel was significantly enlarged in 1325 by the Dominican friars, who officially renamed it as the Church of San Domenico, but local residents continued to use the original denomination of San Paolo. In 1407, Pope Gregory XII, in order to ensure the maintenance of the church, conceded indulgences to the visitors of the Monastery of San Paolo in Galata. The building is known today as the "Arap Camii" (Arab Mosque) because a few years after its conversion into a mosque (between 1475 and 1478) under the Ottoman Sultan