İstanbul is mixture of old and new. This includes some Roman structures, Byzantine Churches and Islamic Mosques. The İstanbul Archaeological Museum has lots of very interesting artifacts.
The Historic Areas of İstanbul are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Basilica Cistern was built in 532 CE by Emperor Justinian. Its roof is supported by 336 columns arranged in 12 rows. It once held 80,000 m³ (2,825,000 cubic feet) of water. It was constructed by using columns and capitals from ruined buildings. A couple of nice examples are columns supported by upside-down Medusa heads.
The Obelisk of Theodosius was carved in Egypt around 1450 BCE. It was erected in Heliopolis (today's Cairo) to commemorate the victories of Thutmosis III.
The Aya Sofya was built as a Byzantine church by Emperor Justinian (527-565). It reigned as the greatest church in Christendom till the conquest in 1453. Mehmet the Conqueror converted it into mosque. In 1935 Atatürk proclaimed it a museum.
Another Byzantine church is Küçük Aya Sofya Camii. It too was build by Emperor Justinian, just before the Aya Sofya. It is one of the city's most beautiful. Its dome is noteworthy for being an irregular octagon.
The Blue Mosque was build by Sultan Ahmet I (1603 - 1617) to rival Aya Sofya in beauty and grandeur.
Rüstem Paşa Camii is another beautiful mosque, this one decorated with beautiful ıznik tiles.
All pictures are © Dr. Günther Eichhorn, unless otherwise noted.
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Page last updated on Tue Sep 24 18:19:03 2019 (Mountain Standard Time)
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