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Istanbul is an old city, that was founded as Lygos and since then called both Byzantion, Constantinople, Miklagård, Tsargrad and Istanbul. The many names are a sign of Istanbul’s magnificent history and significance over time, and this is something that you can clearly see today during a visit to the big city.
The meeting with Istanbul is a mixture of European and Asian culture, architecture and atmosphere. The mysticism of the Middle East is never far away, and at the same time there are visible traces or buildings all over the city from the Romans and Byzantines that ruled here before the Turks.
Hagia Sophia, Topkapi, the Blue Mosque and the Great Bazaar are just some of the many buildings and experiences that await in the cityscape. Atmosphere is everywhere, and it’s just about exploring; among others, in some of the new palaces of the Ottoman Sultans, which are very beautifully situated down towards the Bosphorus.
With Istanbul’s location on the border with Asia, the city is beautifully reflected in the Bosphorus’ water, which in itself should be enjoyed aboard a boat trip between Turkey’s European and Asian parts. Several bridges connect the continents, each offering a unique atmosphere.
Hagia Sophia is probably Istanbul’s most famous building and one of the most impressive structures in the world. The former church has been a museum since 1935, and its name comes from the Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, which means holy wisdom and which leads to God.
The first church on the site was the Great Church/Megálē Ekklēsíā (Μεγάλη Ἐκκλησία), consecrated in 360 under Emperor Constantius II as a Greek Orthodox, patriarchal cathedral. As such, it was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the center of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The name of this first church was due to the fact that its dimensions were already larger than those of the city’s other religious buildings.
Emperor Theodosius II ordered a replacement for the Great Church built, and it was consecrated in 415. However, during the Nika Revolt in Constantinople in 532, the building was burned to the ground. Among other things, some marble reliefs of the Lamb of God, representing Jesus’ disciples, have been preserved from this second church.
The month after the fall of the second church, Emperor Justinian I decided to have a new and more powerful cathedral built, and it became the Hagia Sofia, which still stands. For the construction, a physicist and a mathematician were chosen as architects, and the emperor had distinguished materials come from all over the kingdom; among other things, columns were taken from the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus.
After just over five years of construction, Hagia Sophia was consecrated on 27 December 537. However, the interior mosaics were not completed until the 560-570s, and the dome had to be reconstructed after it collapsed as a result of an earthquake in 558. The earthquake destabilized the dome’s sub-optimal dimension, and during the reconstruction it was built 6.5 meters higher than the original.
Hagia Sophia’s architecture is perhaps the most beautiful example of Byzantine style, and its dimensions are impressive. In the over 7,500 m² church space, there are 55 meters up to the large dome, which is 33 meters in diameter. Hagia Sofia was also the world’s largest cathedral for almost 1,000 years, until the cathedral in Seville, Spain, was completed in 1520.
Hagia Sophia was the most important church in the Byzantine Empire, and from 641 virtually all the empire’s emperors were crowned here, just as important ecclesiastical events also took place here with the emperor’s participation. In the church room you can see a marked circle on the floor. It marks the place where the imperial coronations took place.
Until 1453, Hagia Sophia was the patriarchal seat of the Orthodox Church; except for the period 1204-1261, when the Crusader conquest of the city made the church Catholic.
On 27 May 1453, the last service took place in Hagia Sophia. Orthodox and Catholic priests performed the ceremony together because of the Muslim armies that were ready to plunder and conquer the city. Two days later it spread over both the city and Hagia Sophia, which were ravaged after the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II’s troops. Along with the fall of the city, the sultan turned Hagia Sophia into a mosque.
The Ottomans destroyed Christian symbols and decoration in Hagia Sophia from 1453 and replaced them with Islamic crescents, carpets, inscriptions etc. Four minarets were also built around the now former church.
In 1934, a council of ministers in Turkey decided to turn Hagia Sofia into a museum, and in that connection they tried to a certain extent to bring as much of the original church room to light as possible; however, newer Islamic furnishings were retained due to local protests.
Today you can enjoy many beautiful mosaics, columns, ceilings and other details in the impressive church building, which since 1453 has been a model for many large mosques. Here, among other things, there are also beautiful mosaics of biblical figures and depictions, which originate from Hagia Sophia’s Christian era. You can also go up to the height of the first floor and enjoy the view of the church and its many details.
The Topkapi Palace was built by the Turkish sultans on the same site as the foundation of Istanbul, at the mouth of the Golden Horn in the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara. The palace was built in the Ottoman style, and the palace is an expression of the Sultans’ Ottoman culture in both their political and domestic life. In Greek and Byzantine times, the city’s acropolis was located here.
The palace is divided into many areas, which in certain places are like a labyrinth to move around and go exploring in. There are four central courtyards, around which, among other things, are residences, mosques and the famous harem. On the round trip you come from the oldest parts from the 5th century to the Ottoman buildings that were built from the time of Sultan Mehmet in 1459.
After the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the sultans had ruled from a Byzantine palace, where the city’s university is now located. Topkapi was ordered to be built and was named the New Palace/Yeni Sarayı until the 19th century, when a cannon gate gave it its current name.
The palace was continually remodeled and expanded. This happened, among other things, after the earthquake in 1509 and a fire in 1665. From the end of the 17th century, Topkapi was used less and less by the sultans, who had built new palaces along the Bosphorus, and in 1856 Sultan Abdül Mecid I officially transferred the residence to Dolmabahçe. The Ottoman Empire fell in 1921, and three years later Topkapi Palace was turned into a museum of the defunct empire.
The entire Topkapi Palace was surrounded by high walls, partly reused from the Byzantine acropolis. At the entrance you come to the Imperial Gate/Bâb-ı Hümâyûn, which was the sultans’ official entrance to the palace. It was built in 1478 and covered with marble in the 19th century.
The gate is the entrance to the first inner courtyard of the palace, and from here you can go from courtyard to courtyard to the fourth and last, which was the Sultan’s private courtyard. All the way through the complex are the countless buildings, rooms and halls, of which there is access to the most important of them.
The first farm environment (I. Avlu) is the largest and functioned, among other things, as a park. In the area is the church of Hagia Irene/Aya İrini, the Istanbul Archaeological Museum/İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri and the Ottoman Empire Mint/Darphane-i Âmire from 1727. The area is green and beautiful, and close to the entrance there is a nice view of the Sea of Marmara.
The entrance to the second courtyard (II. Avlu) is through the double-towered Salutport/Bâb-üs Selâm. In both Byzantine and Ottoman times, only the emperor and sultan could ride through such a gate, while everyone else had to dismount. The farm was laid out in the 15th century and changed in the 1520s. It was mainly used by the Sultan for audiences and for dealing with legal matters.
Among other things, the palace’s hospital, kitchens, stables, bakery and the royal council, Dîvân-ı Hümâyûn, met here in its form of the kingdom’s administration. In the second courtyard you will also find the Tower of Justice/Adalet Kulesi, which is the highest building in the palace, by the halls of the Royal Council. The tower dates from the 15th and 16th centuries, and by it is the entrance to the famous harem, which is otherwise connected to the inner quarters of the palace.
The harem was built in 1574-1595 by Sultan Murad III, and at its peak in the early 1800s, the buildings housed approximately 500 inhabitants. Here is an elegant interior from the time of the Ottomans, and you can see, among other things, the sultan’s mother’s chambers and where the sultan’s concubines lived. Note that the exit from the harem occurs in Topkapi’s third courtyard.
The Gate of Happiness/Bâbüssaâde forms the entrance to the third court (III. Avlu), which is considered the first inner court, around which the Inner Palace/Enderûn Avlusu is located. The structure of the gate represents the sultan in the palace, and one could only pass it with the sultan’s permission, and that rule applied to everyone including the country’s grand vizier. The gate was built in the 15th century, but rebuilt in Rococo under Sultan Mustafa III in 1774.
Immediately behind the Gate of Happiness is the Audience Hall/Arz Odası, where the sultans sat on the throne and received viziers, ambassadors and other guests. The hall was built in noble Ottoman style with decorated arcades and columns. Just behind the Audience Hall is Sultan Ahmed III’s Library/III. Ahmed Kütüphanesi, which is a fine example of Ottoman 18th century building style.
In the courtyard to the east is first the Imperial Costume Collection/Seferli Koğuşu Kostümler, where you can see many examples of the sultans’ clothing. Right next to the costume collection is the Conqueror’s Pavilion/Fatih Köşkü, which is now set up as a museum for the kingdom’s treasury. To the west is the palace’s largest mosque, Ağalar Camii, which was built in the 15th century.
On the way to and around the fourth and most private yard (IV. Avlu) there are a number of pavilions and halls, most of which are beautifully and richly decorated. The area was the Sultan family’s most private, with, among other things, a garden and several terraces. Some of the most famous pavilions are Yerevan Kiosk/Revan Köşkü, Bagdad Kiosk/Bağdad Köşkü, İftar Kiosk/İftariye Köşkü and Terrace Kiosk/Sofa Köşku.
Mecidiye Kiosk/Mecidiye Köşkü was the last major building to be built in Topkapi. Sultan Abdül Mecid I had the beautiful pavilion built in 1840 for reception and recreation, which is understandable given the good location on the far side of the Bosphorus.
In the time of Byzantium and Constantinople, hundreds of cisterns were established, which as water reservoirs were part of the city’s water supply. The largest of them all was the Basilica Cistern, which was built in the 5th century under Emperor Justinian I. The name came from the basilica that previously stood on this site.
The Basilica Cistern is an impressive underground space with a ground surface of approximately 140×65 metres. The cistern’s 336 marble columns, which mainly follow the Ionic or Corinthian order, were placed in 12 rows of 28 columns. The columns are 9 meters high, and due to their varying appearance, they are believed to have been brought here from different places in the kingdom. A familiar sight is Medusa’s face, which can be seen on the base of two different columns in the cistern.
80,000 cubic meters of water could be stored in the cistern, and it came from the northwest and was, among other things, led here via the preserved Valensakväduct/Valens Kemeri. In the past, small tour boats sailed around the cistern, but after a renovation, the site was opened to walking visitors in 1987.
The hippodrome was built as the city’s Roman circus, and the place was the scene of many of the big sporting events and social events of the time. The impressive Eastern Roman arena was built at the beginning of the 200s under the emperor Septimius Severus. It happened during the time of the city as Byzantium.
When Constantine I the Great moved the administration of the Roman Empire to Byzantium in 324, he also chose to expand the Hippodrome considerably. There could be 100,000 spectators in the 450 meter long and 130 meter wide arena.
The shape of the hippodrome was like a u, and the emperor’s lodge was on the south-east side with immediate access from the Great Palace. Towards the northeast end of the arena were the horse boxes, where copper statues of four horses adorned. After looting in 1204 during the Fourth Crusade, the statue was taken as booty, and the horse statues came to be put up in St. Mark’s Church in Venice after a few years. The original horses stood there until the 1990s, when they came to the museum and were replaced by copies.
In the centuries following the 1204 Crusade, the Hippodrome fell into disrepair, and the Ottomans’ lack of a horse racing tradition meant that they did not use the arena regularly after their conquest of the city in 1453.
Today, the Hippodrome itself has disappeared, but you can see the shape of the structure by broadly following the elongated ground plan of Sultan Ahmet Meydanı Square. However, there is now construction on the south-western part of the Hippodrome, where the swing in the arena was located.
In the center of the Hippodrome you can see two obelisks and a column. To the northeast is the German Fountain/Alman Çeşmesi, which was built as a gazebo. The fountain was established in memory of the German Emperor Wilhelm II’s visit to Istanbul in 1898.
The Sultan Ahmet Mosque is also called the Blue Mosque, and it is one of the largest buildings in the center of Istanbul. It was built in the years 1609-1616 under Sultan Ahmet I, and the complex came to house, among other things, a madrassa, a hospice and the sultan’s mausoleum.
Sultan Ahmed decided to build the mosque as a result of the Peace of Zsitvatorok in 1606. The peace was concluded between the Ottomans and the Austrian Habsburgs, and it stipulated that the advance of the Ottoman Empire should build. It was seen as a geopolitical defeat for Istanbul, and as compensation the mosque was initiated.
The mosque was built on an area where the emperors’ Great Palace was historically located, and part of the foundation from the palace was reused for the mosque construction. Parts of the Hippodrome were also demolished to make room for the new construction.
The Sultan chose the court architect Sedefhar Mehmet Ağa for the work. As one of the only mosques there are six minarets, and with them and countless domes, Ağa’s result was an impressive sight. The ground plan is 72×64 metres, and there are 43 meters to the top of the dome. The mosque is considered a classical mosque with inspiration from highlights of both Byzantine and Ottoman architecture.
The mosque’s forecourt is surrounded by arched arcades and there is a central fountain. At the sultan’s western entrance a chain was hung up, to which the sultan had to bow when he came riding. It was the symbol of man’s relationship with the divine.
Inside, more than 20,000 hand-painted tiles were used for the beautiful and lavish decoration. And it is the blue shades in the mosque that have inspired the name The Blue Mosque.
Istanbul’s famous Grand Bazaar is a fascinating throng of traders, and in the approximately 60 covered streets with thousands of stalls and shops, you truly experience the Middle Eastern atmosphere at its best.
The bazaar was established in the years 1455-1461, and was expanded significantly in the 16th century. Today you can wander around under the fine shop arcades in the many buildings that together form the bazaar.
There are two main streets and a multitude of side streets in the Grand Bazaar, which is known for ceramics, carpets, spices and jewels, among other things. In the bazaar there are also mosques, Turkish baths and many places to eat.
In the district of Beyoğlu, north of the Golden Horn, you can see the Galata Tower as a distinct feature. The tower was built in 1348 by the city-state of Genoa, which in those years expanded its trading colony in the area with several buildings. The Galata Tower was part of the defense of the colony. The Genoese had come to the city in 1261 with permission from the Byzantine emperors.
The Galata Tower is a good 62 meters high, and it stands 35 meters above sea level, which means that the total height above the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn is almost 100 meters. At the top of the tower there is a restaurant from which there is an impressive view of Istanbul.
It was from the top of the Galata Tower that aviation history was reportedly written in the 17th century. Here, Ahmed Çelebi is said to have thrown himself out with homemade wings and made a flight over three kilometers long to the other side of the Bosphorus. The difference from takeoff to landing at the Doğancılar meydanı square was 85 meters in height.
Dolmabahçe Palace is a palace that is beautifully situated on a 600 meter stretch right next to the Bosphorus. The palace was built on the initiative of Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1843-1856 in a mixture of various European styles and traditional Ottoman architecture. It served as the Sultan’s residence from 1856-1922; however discontinued under Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
Before Dolmabahçe, the sultans lived in the Topkapi Palace, which gradually lost some of the luxury that the 19th century could offer. Abdülmecid I had the Beşiktaş Palace/Beşiktaş Sarayı demolished to make way for the large and elegantly decorated palace that Dolmabahçe was to be. The location of the palace on the Bosphorus is a gem, and further beauty is added by the beautifully landscaped palace garden.
The palace itself has 285 rooms and 46 halls. The interior is ostentatious despite the already beginning decline of the Ottoman Empire when the building was constructed. No expense has been spared in the decoration of the many rooms and halls, and only a few palaces in the world can match Dolmabahçe.
Among the halls are the Ambassador Hall/Süfera Salonu and the Ceremonial Hall/Muayede Salonu. In the halls there is a famous crystal staircase, and one of the world’s largest Bohemian crystal chandeliers hangs here. It was a gift from Great Britain’s Queen Victoria.
Like Topkapi Palace, Dolmabahçe also had its own area for the harem/harēms located in the north-eastern part of the palace. On a tour you can see the sleeping quarters where the sultan, the sultan’s mother and other women in the palace lived. These parts of the palace are less ornate than the great ballrooms.
There are a number of facilities in the Palace area. Farthest to the southwest you can see the Dolmabahçe Mosque/Dolmabahçe Camii, which was built in 1853-1855. North-east of the mosque and as the entrance to the palace complex itself stands the Sultan Gate/Saltanat Kapısı, followed by the garden complex Selamlık and the 27-metre high bell tower Saat Kulesi, which was erected in 1890-1895. By the bell tower is the Main Gate/Hazine Kapısı, the palace’s most prestigious entrance.
When the Caliphate was abolished in 1924, Dolmabahçe Palace became the property of the newly formed Turkish Republic. Kemal Atatürk then used the palace as the presidential residence in Istanbul. It was here in the palace that Atatürk died on November 10, 1938.
Today, Dolmabahçe is a museum where you can tour the beautiful grounds and the palace’s lavish interior. You can also see the bedroom where Atatürk died. The clocks read 9:05 to mark the time when death occurred.
This Sultan’s Palace was built 1863-1867 by Sultan Abdülaziz. The design was carried out by the well-known Armenian palace architect Nigoğayos Balyan. The exterior was in marble, while the interior was wood. The rooms and halls were completed in 1872.
The Sultan lived here until his death in 1876, and his successor Murad V ruled from here for just 93 days before being abdicated. However, he remained under house arrest in the palace until 1904.
In late 1909, Çırağan Palace briefly served as the country’s parliament building, and on January 19, 1910, a fire destroyed the interior. The place lay as a ruin until the end of the 1980s, when it was renovated and set up as a hotel. It still has that function.
Hagia Irene means Holy Peace and was the first Orthodox church built in Constantinople. It happened at the beginning of the 4th century under Emperor Constantine I at a place where there had previously been a temple.
In 381 the First Council of Constantinople was held in Hagia Irene. The council was a church meeting with the participation of 150 priests, which discussed Arianism and the Nicene Creed. At the Council, Constantinople was manifested as the capital of the Eastern Churches.
The church was the seat of the patriarchate before Hagia Sofia was completed. It was destroyed in 532, but rebuilt in 548 under Emperor Justinian I. In the 7th century, an earthquake caused damage, and today’s Hagia Irene is the result of the restoration after that event. In the 1000-1100s, the church was expanded to a ground plan of 100×32 metres. The dome is 15 meters in diameter and 35 meters high.
After the Ottoman invasion of Constantinople in 1453, Hagia Irene was used by infantry forces as a weapons depot, and in the 18th century the site became a weapons museum. Until 1978, changing museums were located here, the most recent being a military museum. Today, Hagia Irene is, among other things, a concert hall, and thereby listeners have the excellent opportunity to enjoy the acoustics in the old church space.
Constantinople has had several walls over time, which were continuously built further and further to the west in line with the city’s development. The inner walls were the walls of Byzantium, which surrounded the acropolis and immediate surroundings of the early city. The largest and most impressive works are the defensive works that were built from the 4th century under Emperor Theodosius II. This construction stretched nearly seven kilometers from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn and was the westernmost of the many walls.
Theodosius’ walls enclosed seven mounds on which Constantinople spread. The walls consisted of a high, inner wall and a terrace against the lower, outer wall. The inner wall was 5 meters thick and 12 meters high with a solid core behind the stones. A total of 96 towers were built into the walls, and they stood 55 meters apart and were up to 20 meters high. The outer wall was 2 meters thick and with a corridor at the top at a height of 8.5 metres. Outside the walls there was a 20 meter wide moat 20 meters away. The moat was 10 meters deep and formed the first line of defense. Nine gates formed entrances to the city.
Many attacks were repelled over time due to the walls’ solidity, size and manning, which overall made the defense one of the most successful of its kind throughout the ages. Only in 1204 were the walls breached by the Crusaders, and in 1453 the already greatly weakened Byzantine Empire fell with the fall of the walls to the Ottoman conquerors.
Until the 19th century, the walls were largely intact, but urban development meant that several sections were demolished. However, a large part still stands today, and they have been restored in recent decades. There are now 5,630 meters of the walls left, and there is a lot to see all the way along the walls, such as some of the old city gates.
Chora Church is a fine Byzantine structure whose name refers to the fact that it was built outside Emperor Constantine’s city walls from the 4th century. The first Chora Church was built in the 4th century, while the current one stems from an extensive rebuilding in the years 1077-1081.
The beautiful interior dates from 1315-1321, when the imperial adviser Theodore Metochites had it decorated with mosaics. Chora Church was converted into a mosque in the 16th century, and in that connection the mosaics in the church room were painted over, which has meant that they have been preserved.
In 1948, the church was secularized and converted into a museum. The Byzantine style is exciting to see, and in addition there are the elegant mosaics and frescoes which, among other things, dress the church’s domes.
Istanbul’s fantastic history and atmosphere come not least from the meeting between Europe and Asia. The division itself takes place at the Bosporus strait, which runs from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, from where there is further passage towards the Mediterranean.
The Bosphorus is geographically bounded by the lighthouses Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri to the north and Ahırkapı Feneri and Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri to the south. The southern line goes by the center of Istanbul. The strait is 31 kilometers long and varies in width from 704-3,420 metres.
Throughout history, the Bosphorus has been of significant strategic and economic importance. The location was also decisive for Emperor Constantine’s establishment of Constantinople as the new capital in the year 330. Today, the strait is regulated as international waters through several treaties.
The best way to experience the Bosphorus is on a boat trip. Here you come down to water level and can see Istanbul’s profile, the surrounding nature and the traffic criss-crossing the water. Here you experience the diversity along the Bosphorus, where old and new meet, and how grand and simple lie side by side.
There are quite a few boats that cross the Bosphorus. For many, the easiest place to board is Eminönü Quay/Eminönü İskelesi close to the center. Many trips of different lengths sail here, and in addition to tourist boats, you can also take the public ferries, which provide transport between the districts in Europe and Asia.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul) is the seat of the Patriarch, who is the first among equals, primus inter pares, of the Christian Orthodox Churches of the world. They number more than 250 million people, most of whom live in Russia and Ukraine, and the patriarch is thus their religious head.
The bishopric of Constantinople was established by the apostle Andrew, and in the year 381 the status of the church here was raised to patriarchate. For many years the patriarch had his seat at and in Hagia Sofia, which was the main church of the kingdom and the world. With the Muslim invasion of Constantinople in 1453, the patriarch went into exile and only returned in 1601.
Today, the beautiful Saint George Church/Καθεδρικός ναός του Αγίου Γεωργίου/Aya Yorgi is the seat of the patriarch. The current church was built from 1797 as the most recent major reconstruction. Newer fittings have been made since then. Among the treasures of the patriarchal complex are the patriarchal throne from the 4th century, mosaic icons and the relics of Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom. These came back from Rome in 2004.
This mosque is not least known for its distinguished location at the water’s edge on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait. There has been a mosque here since 1721, and the current one was built 1853-1856 under Sultan Abdülmecid.
The style of the mosque is neo-baroque, and the interior is ornately decorated with, among other things, calligraphy of Sultan Abdülmecid. Sultanan himself was a calligraphy master, a so-called hattat.
The Great Palace was a large, Byzantine imperial palace located to the southeast in central Constantinople. It served as the residence and administration of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine emperors in the period 330-1081.
The history of the palace started when Emperor Constantine I made Constantinople the capital of the empire. He had the residence built between today’s Hippodrome and Hagia Sofia. Over the centuries, the palace was expanded several times, and after the Nika rebellion in 532, it had to be partially rebuilt.
From the beginning of the 11th century, the emperors began to increasingly use the palace in Blachernai by the western walls as a residence, while the Great Palace continued to function as an administration and for various ceremonies.
In the following centuries the palace fell into disrepair and the emperors had moved to Blachernai. The Great Palace could partly be used as a prison, but otherwise it was deserted when the Ottomans came to the city. They tore down most of the palace and built new homes, mosques etc. in the area.
Excavations in the 20th century revealed a number of foundations and structures for the Great Palace, and among other things, a number of floor mosaics were found. These can now be seen at the Great Palace’s Mosaic Museum. The mosaics belonged to the south-western part of the palace, where a large courtyard, a peristyle, was found, where large sections of mosaics were preserved.
The Valens Aqueduct is a structure that was built to ensure a water supply to central Constantinople and the imperial palaces. It was Emperor Valens who had the impressive aqueduct built.
When the work was completed in the year 368, the aqueduct was 971 meters long and spanned the valley between the hills, where today Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque can be seen respectively. The Valens aqueduct is nicely preserved, and 912 meters of the 29-metre-high and 8-metre-wide waterway still stand.
Establishment of a water supply had started in Byzantium under Emperor Hadrian at the beginning of the 100s. With the city’s growing population, the system was greatly expanded, and hundreds of kilometers of waterways were built. In the city there were three open reservoirs and countless cisterns.
The Valens aqueduct has been continuously maintained. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the aqueduct was shortened by 50 metres, and it is still part of the city’s water system.
Little Hagia Sofia is an originally Orthodox church, which was built 527-536 in classic Byzantine style with a large dome as a symbol of heaven.
According to tradition, Emperor Justin I’s nephew, Justinian, was accused and sentenced to death for plotting a coup against the throne, but Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus came to Justin in a dream and told of the nephew’s innocence.
As thanks from this, Justinian wanted to build a church dedicated to the saints from the dream when he became emperor, and the church was Little Hagia Sofia. The church’s name comes from the many similarities with Hagia Sofia; not in size, but in shape and layout. It is therefore believed that it functioned as a kind of model for the construction of the Hagia Sofia itself, which became the kingdom’s largest church.
After the Ottoman invasion of Constantinople, Little Hagia Sofia was converted into a mosque in the early 16th century. On the same occasion, a madrassa was built as part of the complex. The minaret was built in 1762, and after destruction in 1940, it was rebuilt in 1956. Inside, the building is equipped with a beautiful, two-story colonnade and a finely decorated dome.
A bridge over the Golden Horn was first realized in the 5th century under Emperor Justinian I. It was located close to the northern end of Constantinople’s western city wall.
In 1502-1503, Sultan Bayezid II considered building a bridge on the site where the current Galata Bridge is located, and the design at the time was by Leonardo da Vinci and conceived with a then impressive span of 240 meters. The bridge was not built, and it took until the 1800s before a permanent connection over the water came again.
In 1845, the first Galata Bridge was built. For the first three days it was free to cross, and after that it was a toll bridge with uniformed staff at both ends. The bridge was replaced by a new wooden bridge in 1863. In 1875 and 1912, respectively, the third and fourth bridges were added.
The current bridge dates from 1994. It is 490 meters long and ties Istanbul’s central districts together in terms of traffic. There is also a lot of fishing from the bridge, and from here there is a fine view of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.
Üsküdar is a district on the Asian side of Istanbul. Its location down towards the Bosphorus directly opposite the Golden Horn and the center of Istanbul makes the view worth a trip. The trip is especially beautiful at sunset, when the silhouette of towers, mosques and other buildings is unforgettable.
Üsküdar was founded in the 6th century BC. by Greek settlers from Chalcedon, and the city was then called Chrysopolis. The city was later a Byzantine outpost in the defense against the Ottomans, but due to its location, the city fell to the Ottoman Empire many years before Constantinople.
In the Ottoman era, the area was used, among other things, for many burial grounds, and large residential areas also grew up. This is still true today, where one finds a relaxed atmosphere with quick access from Istanbul’s central European districts. The boat trips across the Bosphorus are very atmospheric and with a nice view.
200 meters outside the district of Üsküdar on Istanbul’s Asian side is a small rocky island where you can see the Maiden’s Tower. The first tower was built by the Greek general Alcibiades in 408 BC and was to be a lookout post to monitor Persian ships in the Bosphorus.
A new tower was added under Emperor Comnenus in the year 1110, and under the Ottomans it was rebuilt several times. In later centuries, the tower has functioned as a lighthouse.
The name Jomfrutårnet comes from the legend of a sultan’s daughter who, according to prophecy, would die of a snakebite on her 18th birthday. The Sultan furnished the Maiden’s Tower for her stay so that she could be isolated from snakes. On the daughter’s birthday, the sultan brought her a large basket of fruit, where, unfortunately, a snake was hiding. The prophecy was thus fulfilled.
The tower was previously called the Leander tower after the Greek myth about the love between Hero and Leander. Hero lived in a tower by the Dardanelles, and Leander swam every night across the strait to see her. She lit a candle at the top of the tower to show him the way. One stormy winter night, Hero’s candle was blown out and Leander drowned. Hero threw himself from the tower to his death. The story was later connected with the present Jomfrutårn.
The Princes’ Islands are a small group of islands located in the Sea of Marmara. The group consists of four larger islands and five small ones. The trip here is made by ferries that dock at the large islands called Kınalı Ada, Burgaz Ada, Heybeli Ada and Büyük Ada.
A trip to the Princes’ Islands from Istanbul is like visiting two different worlds. On the islands there is no car traffic, so the pace is relaxed and the atmosphere is truly southern and natural.
The name of the archipelago comes from the Byzantine era, when the place was used to send princes and other nobles into exile. The location was close to the city and power and yet far away. In the Ottoman era, the exile traffic continued, and in the 1900s, Lev Trotsky stayed here for a few years after his deportation from the Soviet Union.
The largest island is Büyük Ada, which means Big Island. In addition to nature, there are various buildings such as a mosque, a church and a monastery. The island reaches a height of 201 metres, which is the highest point on the Prince Islands.
On the second largest island, Heybeli Ada, is one of the navy’s cadet schools, and here you can see a Byzantine church, which was the last to be built before the Ottoman conquest. On the island is also a well-visited Greek monastery.
Burgaz Ada was named after the fort Greeks previously built on the island. In recent times, the island became known as the home of the 20th century writer Sait Faik Abasıyanık.
Kınalı Ada means Henna Island, and it got its name from the color nuance of the soil, which became evident after copper and iron mining. At approximately 12 kilometers, the island is the closest to Istanbul of all nine islands in the archipelago. The proximity meant that Kınalı Ada was the island most often used to exile people.
Sabunchani Sok
Yeniçeriler Caddesi
Kayisdagi mah
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Büyükdere Caddesi 22
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Büyükdere Caddesi 185
kanyon.com.tr
Büyükdere Caddesi
metrocity.com.tr
Kadıköy
tepenautilus.com
Kapaliçarsi Caddesi, Kücük Ayasofya Caddesi, Istiklal Caddesi
Faruk Yalçın Hayvanat Bahçesi ve Botanik Parkı
Piri Reis, Tuzla Cd. 297, Darıca/Kocaeli
farukyalcinzoo.com
İstanbul Oyuncak Müzesi
Doctor Zeki Zeren Sokak 17
istanbuloyuncakmuzesi.com
Hava Kuvvetleri Müzesi
Yeşilyurt
hho.edu.tr
Miniatürk
Imrahor Avanue Sutluce 80
miniaturk.com.tr
Rahmi M. Koç Museum
Hasköy Caddesi 27
rmk-museum.org.tr
Already around 6700 BC there was settlement in the central part of present-day Istanbul on the European side of the Bosphorus. Only later, there are findings that show human activity on the Asian side of the water.
Thracian tribes came to the area and founded Lygos somewhere in the 1200-1000 BC, and in 667 BC. founded Greek settlers from Megara Byzantion / Βυζάντιον. It happened during the reign of King Byzas during a time when Greeks from different cities colonized the region around the Bosphorus. Byzantion was named after King Byzas.
The Persian king Darius I won the dominion over the area in 512 BC, but already in 478 BC the navy of Athens won the city back, and the city became an important part of the Deli Federation. The city was subject to various Greek city states such as Athens and Sparta in the years until Macedonia’s Alexander the Great became the country’s leader.
Greek domination in the region was gradually weakened and thus also in Istanbul. The advance of the Roman Empire happened on a continuous basis and, among other things, with a siege of Byzantion in the year 1966, where extensive destruction took place. Eventually the city came fully under the control of the Roman Empire and rebuilt under Emperor Septimius Severus, who for a time christened the Augusta Antonina after his son.
In 324, Emperor Constantine the Great won a decisive battle over Licinius at Chrysopolis, ending a civil war-like battle between Roman leaders. On this occasion, Constantine decided that Byzantium should be expanded and appear as a magnificent Roman city, which after a time like Nova Roma was named Constantinople / Constantinoupolis / Κωνσταντινούπολις after the emperor.
In 330, Constantinople became the capital of the Roman Empire, and after the division of the empire into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire in 395, the city remained the capital of the eastern part. In time, a number of splendid buildings were erected, many of which can still be enjoyed today, such as Hagia Sofia and the Hippodrome. The city was the absolute leader in the entire region and was among the largest in Europe.
Unlike the Western Roman Empire, Constantinople and its kingdom flourished, mainly inspired by Greek culture. Constantinople was also the center of the Greek Orthodox Church. With Hagia Sofia as the main church, the position was cemented, and today the city remains the seat of the Eastern Orthodox Church’s patriarch.
The highlight of the empire’s reign was under Emperor Justinian, who ruled in the 500s. Here the Byzantine Empire stretched over most of the Mediterranean, and its political significance was great.
The Austrian Empire had fallen, and from the 6th century onwards the political situation of the Byzantine Empire became increasingly tense in comparison with not least European powers. An ecclesiastical disagreement between the Pope and the Byzantines over the destruction of icons in Constantinople led to a split that led to deteriorating working relationships.
From the 8th century a new kingdom developed north of Constantinople; with the center of Kiev, Kiev-Rus became a factor of power that influenced Byzantine domination, and several times over the following centuries, Kiev’s leaders militarily forced themselves to better trade agreements and conditions that at the same time weakened Constantinople.
Constantinople was on the way down from its former position and the attacks from outside appeared more frequent. Bulgarians and various Islamic empires, among others, also attacked the city, which remained until 1204, when the crusades penetrated the solid city walls.
The goal of the Fourth Crusade was to invade Jerusalem and have the area in Western Christian hands, but the crusades never reached this far. They attacked the road that weakened Constantinople, plundered the city and introduced a Roman empire that lasted until 1261, when the Byzantines regained the city and surrounding region.
Despite the re-creation of the kingdom in a smaller format, the city did not again become the formerly important metropolis of growth, political and cultural development. Instead, the government continued to weaken, and the kingdom went to its final, which came in 1453.
The Ottoman army, led by Sultan Mehmet II, took Constantinople on May 29, 1453, after a 53-day siege in which the Turkish armies could not penetrate the city’s strong defensive walls. The Byzantines had fought heroically for the existence of their kingdom, but the supremacy was too great when the Ottomans first broke through the defensive walls. Only about 30,000 inhabitants remained in the once-large city.
Mehmet II rode through the gate to the palace area with the main church Hagia Sofia, which, as the first, was ordered looted and changed into a mosque to manifest the new power. The Ottomans changed some major buildings for the new government, but also erected a number of magnificent monuments such as Topkapi Palace and several of Istanbul’s major mosques.
Just a few years after the arrival of the Ottomans, the city’s great bazaar was also established. The long downturn had reversed, the city was once again flourishing as a center of power for a kingdom, and the population was rising rapidly.
Over the centuries, the Ottomans weakened compared to primarily Europe, ahead of scientific, economic and cultural. The Ottoman Sultans had built large-scale construction and spent large sums on the military, but the lack of modern development on other fronts led to increasing stagnation in the kingdom.
From the Topkapi Palace, the Sultans could see that the kingdom continued to decline. Greece disbanded in 1832, and on the European continent, national movements in, for example, Albania, Bulgaria and Romania grew. From the east, the Sultan was also pressured by rising nationalism from the Arab territories.
Russia’s increasing power in Europe led to the Crimean War in 1853-1856, when the Ottoman Empire, however, emerged victorious from a defense of the area. This was done with the support of Western European powers that would limit the power of Russia.
In the early 1900s, the national self-understanding of the Ottoman Empire increased further, and Macedonians, Armenians, Greek Cypriots and others wanted freedom from central government as the independent peoples and territories they were. The Ottoman Empire’s alliance with Germany during World War I became fatal as English troops occupied the capital and the vast empire was divided.
Today’s Turkey is the heir to the Ottoman Empire. It was created in 1923, and for Istanbul, the new republic was the start of a time with a secondary role in the political field. The village of Ankara with about 30,000 inhabitants on the Anatolian plateau was made into the capital of Turkey.
The new Turkey would free itself from the role of Istanbul as the Sultan’s and before them the center of power of the Roman and Greek emperors. Then, after over 1,500 years as the region’s absolute center, political power was moved away from the historically mighty city.
For centuries, the Turkish Ottomans had called Constantinople for Kostantiniyye, the Arab form of Constantine’s place. However, the Greek name Istimbolin / εις την Πόλιν was also used as İstanbul in Turkish, and from the Turkish postal law in 1930 became the official name Istanbul / Istanbul.
However, the city’s extremely dominant economic role in the country continued unchanged despite no longer being the capital. Turkey, like parts of southern Europe, experienced strong growth in tourism in the latter half of the 20th century. It restarted the economy, and tourist flows have also strengthened Istanbul’s position in the area. The city is again one of Europe’s major metropolises and remains Turkey’s largest city and economic powerhouse.
Istanbul, Turkey[/caption]
Overview of Istanbul
Istanbul is an old city, that was founded as Lygos and since then called both Byzantion, Constantinople, Miklagård, Tsargrad and Istanbul. The many names are a sign of Istanbul’s magnificent history and significance over time, and this is something that you can clearly see today during a visit to the big city.
The meeting with Istanbul is a mixture of European and Asian culture, architecture and atmosphere. The mysticism of the Middle East is never far away, and at the same time there are visible traces or buildings all over the city from the Romans and Byzantines that ruled here before the Turks.
About the Whitehorse travel guide
Contents: Tours in the city + tours in the surrounding area
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Author: Stig Albeck
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Language: English
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This Sultan’s Palace was built 1863-1867 by Sultan Abdülaziz. The design was carried out by the well-known Armenian palace architect Nigoğayos Balyan. The exterior was in marble, while the interior was wood. The rooms and halls were completed in 1872.
The Sultan lived here until his death in 1876, and his successor Murad V ruled from here for just 93 days before being abdicated. However, he remained under house arrest in the palace until 1904.
In late 1909, Çırağan Palace briefly served as the country’s parliament building, and on January 19, 1910, a fire destroyed the interior. The place lay as a ruin until the end of the 1980s, when it was renovated and set up as a hotel. It still has that function.
Hagia Irene means Holy Peace and was the first Orthodox church built in Constantinople. It happened at the beginning of the 4th century under Emperor Constantine I at a place where there had previously been a temple.
In 381 the First Council of Constantinople was held in Hagia Irene. The council was a church meeting with the participation of 150 priests, which discussed Arianism and the Nicene Creed. At the Council, Constantinople was manifested as the capital of the Eastern Churches.
The church was the seat of the patriarchate before Hagia Sofia was completed. It was destroyed in 532, but rebuilt in 548 under Emperor Justinian I. In the 7th century, an earthquake caused damage, and today’s Hagia Irene is the result of the restoration after that event. In the 1000-1100s, the church was expanded to a ground plan of 100×32 metres. The dome is 15 meters in diameter and 35 meters high.
After the Ottoman invasion of Constantinople in 1453, Hagia Irene was used by infantry forces as a weapons depot, and in the 18th century the site became a weapons museum. Until 1978, changing museums were located here, the most recent being a military museum. Today, Hagia Irene is, among other things, a concert hall, and thereby listeners have the excellent opportunity to enjoy the acoustics in the old church space.
Constantinople has had several walls over time, which were continuously built further and further to the west in line with the city’s development. The inner walls were the walls of Byzantium, which surrounded the acropolis and immediate surroundings of the early city. The largest and most impressive works are the defensive works that were built from the 4th century under Emperor Theodosius II. This construction stretched nearly seven kilometers from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn and was the westernmost of the many walls.
Theodosius’ walls enclosed seven mounds on which Constantinople spread. The walls consisted of a high, inner wall and a terrace against the lower, outer wall. The inner wall was 5 meters thick and 12 meters high with a solid core behind the stones. A total of 96 towers were built into the walls, and they stood 55 meters apart and were up to 20 meters high. The outer wall was 2 meters thick and with a corridor at the top at a height of 8.5 metres. Outside the walls there was a 20 meter wide moat 20 meters away. The moat was 10 meters deep and formed the first line of defense. Nine gates formed entrances to the city.
Many attacks were repelled over time due to the walls’ solidity, size and manning, which overall made the defense one of the most successful of its kind throughout the ages. Only in 1204 were the walls breached by the Crusaders, and in 1453 the already greatly weakened Byzantine Empire fell with the fall of the walls to the Ottoman conquerors.
Until the 19th century, the walls were largely intact, but urban development meant that several sections were demolished. However, a large part still stands today, and they have been restored in recent decades. There are now 5,630 meters of the walls left, and there is a lot to see all the way along the walls, such as some of the old city gates.
Chora Church is a fine Byzantine structure whose name refers to the fact that it was built outside Emperor Constantine’s city walls from the 4th century. The first Chora Church was built in the 4th century, while the current one stems from an extensive rebuilding in the years 1077-1081.
The beautiful interior dates from 1315-1321, when the imperial adviser Theodore Metochites had it decorated with mosaics. Chora Church was converted into a mosque in the 16th century, and in that connection the mosaics in the church room were painted over, which has meant that they have been preserved.
In 1948, the church was secularized and converted into a museum. The Byzantine style is exciting to see, and in addition there are the elegant mosaics and frescoes which, among other things, dress the church’s domes.
Istanbul’s fantastic history and atmosphere come not least from the meeting between Europe and Asia. The division itself takes place at the Bosporus strait, which runs from the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, from where there is further passage towards the Mediterranean.
The Bosphorus is geographically bounded by the lighthouses Rumeli Feneri and Anadolu Feneri to the north and Ahırkapı Feneri and Kadıköy İnciburnu Feneri to the south. The southern line goes by the center of Istanbul. The strait is 31 kilometers long and varies in width from 704-3,420 metres.
Throughout history, the Bosphorus has been of significant strategic and economic importance. The location was also decisive for Emperor Constantine’s establishment of Constantinople as the new capital in the year 330. Today, the strait is regulated as international waters through several treaties.
The best way to experience the Bosphorus is on a boat trip. Here you come down to water level and can see Istanbul’s profile, the surrounding nature and the traffic criss-crossing the water. Here you experience the diversity along the Bosphorus, where old and new meet, and how grand and simple lie side by side.
There are quite a few boats that cross the Bosphorus. For many, the easiest place to board is Eminönü Quay/Eminönü İskelesi close to the center. Many trips of different lengths sail here, and in addition to tourist boats, you can also take the public ferries, which provide transport between the districts in Europe and Asia.
The Patriarchate of Constantinople (Istanbul) is the seat of the Patriarch, who is the first among equals, primus inter pares, of the Christian Orthodox Churches of the world. They number more than 250 million people, most of whom live in Russia and Ukraine, and the patriarch is thus their religious head.
The bishopric of Constantinople was established by the apostle Andrew, and in the year 381 the status of the church here was raised to patriarchate. For many years the patriarch had his seat at and in Hagia Sofia, which was the main church of the kingdom and the world. With the Muslim invasion of Constantinople in 1453, the patriarch went into exile and only returned in 1601.
Today, the beautiful Saint George Church/Καθεδρικός ναός του Αγίου Γεωργίου/Aya Yorgi is the seat of the patriarch. The current church was built from 1797 as the most recent major reconstruction. Newer fittings have been made since then. Among the treasures of the patriarchal complex are the patriarchal throne from the 4th century, mosaic icons and the relics of Gregory of Nazianzus and John Chrysostom. These came back from Rome in 2004.
This mosque is not least known for its distinguished location at the water’s edge on the shores of the Bosphorus Strait. There has been a mosque here since 1721, and the current one was built 1853-1856 under Sultan Abdülmecid.
The style of the mosque is neo-baroque, and the interior is ornately decorated with, among other things, calligraphy of Sultan Abdülmecid. Sultanan himself was a calligraphy master, a so-called hattat.
The Great Palace was a large, Byzantine imperial palace located to the southeast in central Constantinople. It served as the residence and administration of the Eastern Roman and Byzantine emperors in the period 330-1081.
The history of the palace started when Emperor Constantine I made Constantinople the capital of the empire. He had the residence built between today’s Hippodrome and Hagia Sofia. Over the centuries, the palace was expanded several times, and after the Nika rebellion in 532, it had to be partially rebuilt.
From the beginning of the 11th century, the emperors began to increasingly use the palace in Blachernai by the western walls as a residence, while the Great Palace continued to function as an administration and for various ceremonies.
In the following centuries the palace fell into disrepair and the emperors had moved to Blachernai. The Great Palace could partly be used as a prison, but otherwise it was deserted when the Ottomans came to the city. They tore down most of the palace and built new homes, mosques etc. in the area.
Excavations in the 20th century revealed a number of foundations and structures for the Great Palace, and among other things, a number of floor mosaics were found. These can now be seen at the Great Palace’s Mosaic Museum. The mosaics belonged to the south-western part of the palace, where a large courtyard, a peristyle, was found, where large sections of mosaics were preserved.
The Valens Aqueduct is a structure that was built to ensure a water supply to central Constantinople and the imperial palaces. It was Emperor Valens who had the impressive aqueduct built.
When the work was completed in the year 368, the aqueduct was 971 meters long and spanned the valley between the hills, where today Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque can be seen respectively. The Valens aqueduct is nicely preserved, and 912 meters of the 29-metre-high and 8-metre-wide waterway still stand.
Establishment of a water supply had started in Byzantium under Emperor Hadrian at the beginning of the 100s. With the city’s growing population, the system was greatly expanded, and hundreds of kilometers of waterways were built. In the city there were three open reservoirs and countless cisterns.
The Valens aqueduct has been continuously maintained. At the beginning of the 20th century, however, the aqueduct was shortened by 50 metres, and it is still part of the city’s water system.
Little Hagia Sofia is an originally Orthodox church, which was built 527-536 in classic Byzantine style with a large dome as a symbol of heaven.
According to tradition, Emperor Justin I’s nephew, Justinian, was accused and sentenced to death for plotting a coup against the throne, but Saint Sergius and Saint Bacchus came to Justin in a dream and told of the nephew’s innocence.
As thanks from this, Justinian wanted to build a church dedicated to the saints from the dream when he became emperor, and the church was Little Hagia Sofia. The church’s name comes from the many similarities with Hagia Sofia; not in size, but in shape and layout. It is therefore believed that it functioned as a kind of model for the construction of the Hagia Sofia itself, which became the kingdom’s largest church.
After the Ottoman invasion of Constantinople, Little Hagia Sofia was converted into a mosque in the early 16th century. On the same occasion, a madrassa was built as part of the complex. The minaret was built in 1762, and after destruction in 1940, it was rebuilt in 1956. Inside, the building is equipped with a beautiful, two-story colonnade and a finely decorated dome.
A bridge over the Golden Horn was first realized in the 5th century under Emperor Justinian I. It was located close to the northern end of Constantinople’s western city wall.
In 1502-1503, Sultan Bayezid II considered building a bridge on the site where the current Galata Bridge is located, and the design at the time was by Leonardo da Vinci and conceived with a then impressive span of 240 meters. The bridge was not built, and it took until the 1800s before a permanent connection over the water came again.
In 1845, the first Galata Bridge was built. For the first three days it was free to cross, and after that it was a toll bridge with uniformed staff at both ends. The bridge was replaced by a new wooden bridge in 1863. In 1875 and 1912, respectively, the third and fourth bridges were added.
The current bridge dates from 1994. It is 490 meters long and ties Istanbul’s central districts together in terms of traffic. There is also a lot of fishing from the bridge, and from here there is a fine view of the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.
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