Galata Galata Galata (in Greek was known as Galatas (Γαλατᾶς, "Galatás")) was a neighbourhood opposite Constantinople (today's Istanbul, Turkey), located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn, the inlet which separates it from the historic peninsula of old Constantinople. The Golden Horn is crossed by several bridges, most notably the Galata Bridge. The medieval citadel of Galata was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel. At present, Galata is a quarter within the borough of Beyoğlu
Galata descends to the Bosphorus. "Galata" has subsequently been re-adopted by the city of Genoa in the naming of its naval museum "Galata Museo del Mare." In historic documents, Galata is often called Pera, which comes from the old Greek name for the place, Peran en Sykais, literally "the Fig Field on the Other Side." The quarter first appears in Late Antiquity as Sykai or Sycae. By the time the "Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae" was compiled in ca. 425 AD, it had become an integral part of the city as its 13th region. According to the "Notitia", it featured public baths and