The Basilic or Basilica cannon, i.e. 'royal gun', as the Greeks called it, also known as Urban's cannon or the Ottoman Cannon was a very large-calibre cannon designed by Orban or Urban, a Hungarian cannon engineer, at a time when cannons were still new. It is one of the largest cannons ever built.
The cannon was first offered in 1452 to Byzantine emperor Constantine XI, who was not able to bring up the sum required for its construction. It was then offered to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, who ordered the cannon built after learning that it could smash through walls using a large projectile. Huge amounts of scrap bronze were needed in order to cast the 27 ft (8.2 m) long cannon, with 8 in (200 mm) thick walls. When it was completed, the cannon was used by the Ottoman Army during the 1453 siege which led to the fall of Constantinople, and played a key role in damaging the city walls. It was one of a total of some 70 guns built by Orban for Mehmed.
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