Built in 1458 on the commission of Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, the seven-tower complex was created by adding three new towers and fully enclosing a section of the ancient Walls of Constantinople, including the two twin towers that originally constituted the triumphal Golden Gate (Turkish: Altınkapı) built by Roman Emperors Theodosius I and Theodosius II.

The fortress came to be known as the home of a formidable royal dungeon that housed notable figures throughout its history, and the associated intrigue captured the public's imagination over the centuries in various legends, stories, and the arts.

A small domed structure, the Conqueror’s Mosque, appears as the focal point of the fortress courtyard, which also marks the midpoint of the axis of symmetry (Gabriel[2]).

During the Napoleonic Wars, the fortress was the prison of many French prisoners, including the writer and diplomat François Pouqueville, who was detained there for more than two years (1799 to 1801) and who gave an extensive description of the fortress in his Voyage en Morée, à Constantinople, en Albanie, et dans plusieurs autres parties de l'Empire Othoman, pendant les années 1798, 1799, 1800 et 1801.

A mescit (small mosque) and a fountain were built in the middle of the fort's inner courtyard, which also contained the houses of the garrison, forming a separate city quarter.