Istanbul, Turkey 2017
Read MoreThe Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome (At Meydanı) was a horse-racing track. But during the Byzantine Empire, the hippodrome was not only used for chariot races but also for Court ceremonies, coronations and parades, making it the sporting and social center of Byzantine life for over 1000 years. It was a circus that was the sporting and social center of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultan Ahmet Square. The Obelisk of Thutmose III was erected by the Roman emperor Theodosius I in the 4th century AD.
The Sultanahmet Mosque or The Blue Mosque
The Sultanahmet Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) was built between 1609 and 1617 and is also known as the Blue Mosque because of the blue tiles used to decorate the walls of its interior.
The construction was commissioned by Sultan Ahmet I. The only mosque in it's time to have 6 Minarets.The Blue Mosque and it's six minarets
According to the most obvious urban legend, this whole issue was the result of a misunderstanding between the sultan and his architect. The sultan supposedly had asked to have altın minare (minarets in gold) and the architect understood altı minare (which means six minarets). A second, less plausible legend is that the architect decided that gold minarets were too expensive and therefore decided to make six of them.
Whatever the true story behind the six minarets is, the sultan overcame the problem by paying for a seventh minaret at the mosque in Mecca.Entrance to The Blue Mosque from Hippodrome
Only the sultan was allowed to enter the court of the mosque on horseback. The chain was put there, so that the sultan had to lower his head every time he entered the court in order not to get hit. This was done as a symbolic gesture, to ensure the humility (smallness) of the ruler in the face of the divine.
Hagia Sophia
Known as the “Great Church” or “Magna Ecclesia” in Latin, the first church was built at the same location where there had been a pagan temple before. It was Constantius II who inaugurated Hagia Sophia on 15 February 360. From the chronicles of Socrates of Constantinople, we know that the church was built by the orders of Constantine the Great.
This first church was a wooden-roofed basilica with a nave flanked by two or four aisles, each carrying a gallery storey. It was preceded by an atrium. This church was largely burned down in 404 during riots since patriarch John Chrysostom was sent into exile by the Emperor Arcadius.
Sophia means Wisdom in Greek Language. When we translate the full name of Hagia Sophia to English it is Shrine of The Holy of God.The Dome of Hagia Sophia
Many consider Hagia Sophia the supreme masterpiece of Byzantine architecture. A lofty central dome, 102 feet in diameter and 184 feet in height, spans its spacious nave. That dome sits on pendentives – or supporting arches at the corners of a square – that make the transition to a circular plan possible.
Hagia Sophia is famous for the light that reflects everywhere in the interior of the nave, giving the dome the appearance of hovering above. This effect was achieved by inserting forty windows around the base of the original structure
The enormous disks are inscribed with calligraphy bearing the names of important Islamic prophets and leaders, and hang near the second floor gallery.Deesis is a traditional representation of Virgin Mary and Saint John the Baptist, imploring Christ the salvation of man.
It is widely considered the finest in Hagia Sophia, because of the softness of the features, the humane expressions and the tones of the mosaic. The style is close to that of the Italian painters of the late 13th or early 14th century, such as Duccio. In this panel the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist (Ioannes Prodromos), both shown in three-quarters profile, are imploring the intercession of Christ Pantocrator for humanity on Judgment Day. The bottom part of this mosaic is badly deteriorated. This mosaic is considered as the beginning of the Renaissance in Byzantine pictorial art.Seraphim's face
There are 4 seraphim mosaics ( God's protector angels with 6 wings) on the 4 pendentives that carry the dome. The 4 seraphims' faces were covered with 6-7 layers of plaster for almost 160 years during the sovereignty of Ottomans. The last person who saw the faces of the Seraphims was the Swiss architect Gaspare Fossati while he was holding the restoration at Hagia Sophia in 1840s. With a 10 day hard work, experts managed to take off the 7 layers of plasters and reveal the face of one of the seraphims.
The 16 years old scaffold that was standing on the southeast quarter of the dome for reconstruction purposes has been unstitched to be set up to northeast quarter.
The certain age of the mosaics is unclear however they are known to be older than 700 years.Apse Mosaic
Located at the east end of the church, at a high point in the apse, it depicts Virgin Mary sitting on a backless throne decorated with jewels, and holding child Christ on her lap. On 29 March 867, patriarch Photius inaugurated the mosaic. The image was possibly damaged and destroyed before and restored heavily in the 14th century.
Restoring the Hagia Sophia
The pieces from pagan temples were incorporated into the Hagia Sophia as a means of incorporating cultural memory of its past and showing it now under the control and authority of the Christians; “a political statement of Christian hegemony.
The restorers have a difficult job in trying to balance the Christian and Muslim features in the Hagia Sophia so that it stands as a museum that testifies to its entire history. As Christian icons are uncovered and restored, it is done at the expense of destroying Islamic Art.View of the Bosphorous Strait and Asia from Topkapi Palace
Bosphorous Strait, is a narrow, natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in northwestern Turkey. It forms part of the continental boundary between Europe and Asia, and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey. The world's narrowest strait used for international navigation, the Bosphorus connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara, and, by extension via the Dardanelles, the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. In the background of the picture above you can see the Çamlıca Republic Mosque, a new mosque that is the largest mosque in Asia Minor.
Basilica Cistern
The enlarged cistern provided a water filtration system for the Great Palace of Constantinople and other buildings on the First Hill, and continued to provide water to the Topkapi Palace after the Ottoman conquest in 1453 and into modern times.
The Cistern is capable of holding 80,000 cubic meters of water.
The majority of the columns in the cistern appear to have been recycled from the ruins of older buildings.Dolmabahce Palace
Dolmabahce Palace grounds.
In Dolmabahce Palace the last 6 sultans and Caliph Abdulmecit lived and after him most of the subsequent sultans preferred to live in the smaller palaces that they had built on their own along the Bosphorus. This palace was used also by Ataturk with the declaration of the republic. When Ataturk visited Istanbul, he used Dolmabahce Palace as his residence. On 10th of November 1938 Ataturk passed away in this palace after a long period of sickness and then it was converted in to a museum.The Palace is one of the most fascinating palaces in the world built in 19th century, Ottoman architecture and it was located in an area of 110 thousand squaremeters. It is located along the European shore of the Bosphorus between the ports of Besiktas and Kabatas. the plan arrangement of Dolmabahce Palace is an adaptation of traditional Turkish house in grandeur scale, constructed with brick internal walls, stone external walls and timber floors.
Taksim Square
The 11 m (36 ft) high monument portrays the founders of the Turkish Republic, prominent are depictions of Kemal Atatürk, who commissioned the work, his assistant İsmet İnönü, and Fevzi Çakmak. The monument has two sides, the side facing northward depicts Atatürk at an earlier period and the other one facing Istiklal Caddesi has Atatürk and his comrades dressed in modern, western-European clothing, symbolizing him in both his roles, as military commander-in-chief and as statesman.
Istiklal Street
Primary pedestrian thoroughfare in the Beyoğlu district is visited by millions of people daily. It houses innumerable hookah bars, restaurants, independent and chain shops, cafes, night clubs and restaurants.
It is the longest pedestrian avenue of Istanbul, lined with 19th century Ottoman architecture, consulate buildings, historical passages, cinemas, art galleries, music stores, libraries, theatres, bars, pubs, restaurants and shops. There are some stunning examples of Neo-Classical, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau and the First Turkish National Architecture.Döner – this tightly packed meat roasted on a large vertical skew
Döner – this tightly packed meat roasted on a large vertical skew is the basis for fast-food snacks (or even full meals) such as Pilav Üstü Döner, İskedender and Dürüm. Although you can find these half-outside/half-inside eateries almost anywhere, for the biggest concentration head to the beginning of Istiklal Caddesi in Taksim.
Nargile or Turkish Water Pipe
The Turkish water pipe or nargile (sometimes also called a hookah or hubble-bubble or shisha) has been around for centuries. Although the water pipe is an established feature of Turkish culture, it originated in India by emptying a coconut and dipping in a straw a 1000 years ago.
Galata Bridge at Night
The Galata Bridge was a symbolic link between the traditional city of Istanbul proper, site of the imperial palace and principal religious and secular institutions of the empire, and the districts of Galata, Beyoğlu, Şişli and Harbiye, where a large proportion of the inhabitants were non-Muslims and where foreign merchants and diplomats lived and worked.
Galata Tower
Might have been built during the reign of Byzantine Emperor Justinian around 507 CE. Back then, the tower was known as the ‘Christea Turris,’ or the Tower of Christ, by the Genoese, while the Byzantines referred to it as the ‘Megalos Pyrgos,’ or the Great Tower. But it was during the Genoese period the tower took on its current shape, when the Galata neighborhood was inhabited by the colonies of the Republic of Genoa, which served as a series of economic and trade posts in the Mediterranean and Black Seas.
Turkish Tea
The most commonly consumed hot beverage in Istanbul, tea is a relatively recent development in modern Turkish culture. Although, of course, tea itself is ancient, it was not a particularly popular drink among the Turkish people until the twentieth century. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, coffee became an extremely expensive import. Tea, meanwhile, could actually be grown domestically, along the coast of the Black Sea. A kind of black tea, Turkish çay is also brewed in a specific manner that is unlike traditional western-style or eastern-style brewing.