Fortress of Europe

View looking west at the southern walls of the Fortress of Europe. Mehmet II built this fortress in 1452 in preparation for his conquest of Constantinople in 1453.  The fortress was built in only four months!

It is built at the narrowest point of the Bosphorus—where it is only 0.5 mi. [0.66 km.] wide.  From here the canons of Mehmet controlled the northern approach to Constantinople.  After the conquest, it was used as a prison.