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The Valens Aqueduct (Turkish: Bozdoğan Kemeri, meaning “Aqueduct of the grey falcon”; Greek: Άγωγός του ὔδατος, Agōgós tou hýdatos, meaning simply “aqueduct“) was the major water-providing system of medieval Constantinople (modern Istanbul, in Turkey). Restored by several Ottoman Sultans, it is one of the most important landmarks of the city.

Location

The aqueduct stands in Istanbul, in the quarter of Fatih, and spans the valley between the hills occupied today by the Istanbul University and the Fatih Mosque. The surviving section is 921 meters long, about 50 meters less than the original length.^[1] The Atatürk Bulvarı boulevard passes under its arches.

Today it is usually called the Aqueduct of Valens, since it was finished in 368, during Valens’s reign, but there is reason to assume that it was already planned and begun in Constantine’s time.39 As mentioned above, the aqueduct runs parallel to one of the streets in the old part of Byzantium. Also, its southeastern
prolongation would exactly meet the main entrance of the courtyard in the Great Palace that is now the Mosaic Museum. It is obvious that the aqueduct  was planned in a clear relationship to the street system of the old town of Byzantium. Arches 26/27 and 52 are wider than the others in the aqueduct and were certainly
intended to serve as passages for streets.40 At other points where we would expect similar wider arches, the original construction is lost, for example, at the northwestern end close to the church of the Holy Apostles, where the aqueduct was completely rebuilt in Ottoman times.

History

Roman period

The construction of a water supply system for the city (then still called Byzantium) had begun already under the Roman emperor Hadrian.^[2] Under Constantine I, when the city was rebuilt and increased in size, the system needed to be greatly expanded to meet the needs of the rapidly growing population.^[3]

The Valens aqueduct, which originally got its water from the slopes of the hills between Kağıthane and the Sea of Marmara,^[4] was merely one of the terminal points of this new wide system of aqueducts and canals – which eventually reached over 250 kilometers in total length, the longest such system of Antiquity – that stretched throughout the hill-country of Thrace and provided the capital with water. Once in the city, the water was stored in three open reservoirs and over a hundred underground cisterns, such as the Basilica Cistern, with a total capacity of over 1 million cubic meters.^[5]

“Aqueduct of Valens (in the City)” (Istanbul) engraved by J.C.Bentley after a picture by W.H.Bartlett, published in The Beauties of the Bosphorus, 1838. Steel engraved print with recent hand colour. Good condition. Size 18 x 14.5 cms including title, plus margins. Ref G3331

The exact date that construction on the aqueduct began is uncertain, but it was completed in the year 368 during the reign of Roman Emperor Valens, whose name it bears. It lay along the valley between the third and fourth hills of Constantinople, occupied respectively at that time by the Capitolium and the Church of the Holy Apostles.^[6] According to tradition, the aqueduct was built using the stones of the walls of Chalcedon, pulled down as punishment in 366 after the revolt of Procopius.^[6] The structure was inaugurated in the year 373 by the urban prefect Klearchos, who commissioned a Nymphaeum Maius in the Forum of Theodosius, that was supplied with water from the aqueduct.^[6]a[›]

After a severe drought in 382, Theodosius I built a new line (the Aquaeductus Theodosiacus), which took water from the northeastern region known today as the “Belgrade Forest”.^[3]

East Roman (Byzantine) period

Other works were executed under Theodosius II, who decided to distribute the water of the aqueduct exclusively to the Nymphaeum, the Baths of Zeuxippus and the Great Palace of Constantinople.^[3] The aqueduct, possibly damaged by an earthquake, was restored under Emperor Justinian I, who connected it with the Cistern of the Basilica of Illus^b[›] (identified today either with the Yerebatan or with the Binbirdirek (Turkish: Turkish): “thousand and one columns”) cistern, and was repaired in 576 by Justin II, who built a separate pipe.^[6][7]

The aqueduct was cut by the Avars during the siege of 626, and the water supply was reestablished only after the great drought of 758 by Emperor Constantine V.^[6] The Emperor had the whole water supply system repaired by a certain Patrikios, who used a large labour force coming from the whole of Greece and Anatolia.^[6]

Other maintenance works were accomplished under Emperors Basil II (in 1019) and Romanos III Argyros.^[4][8]

The last Byzantine Emperor who took care of the aqueduct was Andronikos I Komnenos.^[7] Neither during the Latin Empire nor during the Palaiologan period were any repair works executed, but by that time the population of the city had shrunk to about 40,000 – 50,000 inhabitants, so that the water supply was no longer a very important issue.^[4] Nevertheless, according to Ruy Gonzáles de Clavijo, a Castilian diplomat who traveled to Constantinople en route to an embassy to Timur in 1403, the aqueduct was still functioning.^[6]

Ottoman period

After the Fall of Constantinople (1453), Sultan Mehmet II repaired the whole water supply, which was then used to bring water to the imperial palaces of Eski Sarayi (the first palace, built on the third hill) and Topkapı Sarayi, and connected it with a new line coming from the northeast. The great earthquake of 1509 destroyed the arches near the Mosque of Şehzade, which was erected some time later. This gave rise to the popular legend that they were cut, in order to allow a better view from the nearby mosque. The repairs to the water-supplying net continued under Beyazid II, who added a new line.^[8]

Around the middle of the 16th century, Suleyman I rebuilt arches (now ogival) 47 up to 51 (counted from the west) near the Şehzade Mosque, and commissioned the Imperial Architect Sinan to add two more lines, coming from the Forest of Belgrade (Belgrad Ormanı).^[4] The increased flow allowed the distribution of water to the Kιrkçeşme (“Forty Fountains”) quarter, situated along the aqueduct on the Golden Horn side, and so called after the many fountains built there under Suleyman.^[4]

Under Sultan Mustafa II, five arches (41-45) were restored, respecting the ancient form. An inscription in situ, dated 1696/97, commemorates the event.^[8] His successor Ahmed III repaired again the distribution net.^[8]

In 1912, a 50-meter-long part of the aqueduct near the Fatih Mosque was pulled down.^[4] In the same period, a new modern Taksim (“distribution plant”, lit. ‘division’) at the east end was erected.^[4]

Description

The Aqueduct of Valens

The Aqueduct of Valens had a length of 971 meters and a maximum height of ca. 29 meters (63 meters above sea level) with a constant slope of 1:1000.^[6] Arches 1-40 and 46-51 belong to the time of Valens, arches 41-45 to Mustafa II, and those between 52 and 56 to Suleyman I.^[9] Arches 18-73 have a double order, the others a single order.^[6][9]

Originally the structure ran perfectly straight, but during the construction of the Fatih Mosque – for unknown reasons – it was bent in that section.^[10] The masonry is not regular, and uses a combination of ashlar blocks and bricks.^[6] The first row of arches is built with well-squared stone blocks, the upper row is built with four to seven courses of stones alternated with a bed of smaller material (opus caementitium) clamped with iron cramps.^[10] The width of the aqueduct varies from 7.75 meters to 8.24 meters.^[6] The pillars are 3.70 meters thick, and the arches of the lower order are four meters wide.^[10]

The water comes from two lines from the northeast and one coming from the northwest, which join together outside the walls, near the Adrianople Gate (Edirne Kapı).^[1] Near the east end of the aqueduct there is a distribution plant, and another lies near Hagia Sophia. The water feeds the zone of the imperial palace.^[10] The daily discharge in the 1950s amounted to 6,120 cubic meters.^[10] During Byzantine times, two roads important for the topography of medieval Constantinople crossed under the eastern section of the aqueduct.^[10]

CISTERN of AETIOS

This open cistern in the northwest of the city was built in 421 and filled with water from the supply line leading to the Aqueduct of Valens. In the middle byzantine time, it was probably already used as a garden.

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Back in 1871, when this Gothic Revival cast-iron church was constructed from pieces shipped down the Danube and across the Black Sea from Vienna on 100 barges, the idea was novel to say the least. It’s hard to say which is the more unusual: the building and its interior fittings – all made completely of cast iron – or the history of its congregation.

During the 19th century, ethnic nationalism swept through the Ottoman Empire. Each of the empire’s many ethnic groups wanted to rule its own affairs. Groups identified themselves on the basis of language, religion and racial heritage. This sometimes led to problems, as with the Bulgars.

Originally a Turkic-speaking people, the Bulgars came from the Volga in about AD 680 and overwhelmed the Slavic peoples living in what is today Bulgaria. They adopted the Slavic language and customs, and founded an empire that threatened the power of Byzantium. In the 9th century they were converted to Christianity.

The Orthodox Patriarch, head of the Eastern church in the Ottoman Empire, was an ethnic Greek; in order to retain as much power as possible, the patriarch was opposed to any ethnic divisions within the Orthodox church. He put pressure on the sultan not to allow the Bulgarians, Macedonians and Romanians to establish their own religious groups.

The pressures of nationalism became too great, however, and the sultan was finally forced to recognise some sort of religious autonomy for the Bulgars. He established not a Bulgarian patriarchate, but an ‘exarchate’, with a leader supposedly of lesser rank, yet independent of the Greek Orthodox patriarch. In this way the Bulgarians would achieve their desired ethnic recognition and would get out from under the dominance of the Greeks, but the Greek Patriarch would allegedly suffer no diminution of his glory or power. St Stephen’s functioned as the main church of the Bulgarian exarch.

Architectural historians believe that the cast-iron building, based on a design by the Ottoman architect Housep Aznavour (1853-1935), replaced an earlier timber church on the site. Its interior, which features screens, a balcony and columns all cast from iron, is extremely beautiful, with the gilded iron glinting in the hazy light that filters in through stained-glass windows.

If the church isn’t open, see if you can find the caretaker who lives on the grounds – he’s usually happy to open the gate and let you in exchange for a tip.

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http://www.turkeytravelplanner.com/go/Istanbul/Sights/GoldenHorn/BulgarChurch.html

Though it looks like stone, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church of St. Stephen of the Bulgars, on the Golden Horn in Balat, is made of cast iron.

It was was cast in Vienna, floated down the Danube on 100 barges, and bolted together here in Istanbul in 1871.

This was the cathderal church of the Bulgarian Exarch, a title and position invented by the Ottoman sultan when, in the later 1800s, the sultan’s Bulgarian subjects demanded to be emancipated from the authority of the Greek Orthodox Patriarch.

At this time of ethnic nationalism, the Bulgarians claimed, with justification, that the patriarch favored Greeks over Bulgars even though both were orthodox Christians.

The “palace” of the Bulgarian Exarch was the building right across the street from the church. It’s hardly palatial, especially today.

The church is still used for services by Istanbul‘s small, dwindling community of Bulgarian orthodox residents.

To visit the church interior you must find the caretaker, not an easy task as there are no formal visiting hours. Sunday morning, when services are held, may be the best time

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_St._Stephen_Church

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History of the Pantokrator Monastery – Zeyrek Djami

above: The Pantokrator from an early 20th century picture showing the three churches with their respective apses.

Many people date the beginning of the Byzantine Empire to the year of the founding of Constantinople of “New Rome” by the Emperor Constantine in the year 324 AD. The name “Byzantine Empire” is a recent creation, the inhabitants of this empire identified themselves as Romans or just Christians. Throught the years this empire grew and retreated in size as it was attacked by outside enemies east and west. In 1017 this empire suffered one of its worse setbacks when the Emperor Romanos Diogenes was defeated in battle by Turkish armies which had broken through the eastern frontiers. This setback allowed the penetration into the heartland of the Empire, Anatolia, by Islamic warriors who spearheaded the emigration of Muslim nomadic tribes.

above: Panel from Hagia Sophia showing John II and his wife Irene flanking the Virgin and Child. John and Irene, a blond Hungarian Princess, were the founders of the Pantokrator.

This crisis ended a long period of domination of Byzantium by a civil adminstration and lead to the overthrow of the current Emperor in Constantinople by Alexis Comnenos who placed his own provincial military aristrocratic family, the Comneni, in control with him as Emperor. The dynasty he created ruled the Empire from 1081-1204.

This period saw a broad economic regeneration and the recovery of a great part of Anatolia from the Muslim invaders. This recovery was not to prove lasting and the seeds of the destruction of the Empire and the Fall of Constantinople in 1453. Artistically and culturally the Comnenian period was marked by acceptance of outside influences – particularly from the west – and a renaissance of centuries-old traditions. Increasing prosperity and self-confidence lead the Comnenian Emperors to build new palaces, churches and other builkdings in the capital city of Constantinople

above: View looking into the apse of the south church. The Muslim minbar – pulpit – can be seen on the right had corner of the apse. This pulpit was made from the original canopied altar of the church.

One of their chief foundations was the complex of Monastery of the Pantokrator (Ruler of all), which was dedicated to Chist and stood on a hill overlooking the ancient aqueduct of Valens near the geographical center of the city. There are three interconnected churches. The first building was constructed by the Empress Irene between 1118 – 1124. This was the largest church and it was richly decorated with mosaics and rare marbles. Shortly thereafter a large church was built alongside the first one to the South and it was dedicated it to the Vigin Eleosa – “Mercy”. Finally, a wide space between the two churches was vaulted over by two domes and transformed into an Imperial mausoleum dedicated to St. Michael the Archangel.

above: Looking northward from the large south church, through the mausoleum into the Church of the Virgin of Mercy.

The large south church is one of the largest churches built during the middle ages in Constantinople with a nave 52 feet square and a dome 23 feet across. The survivial of so many huge cathedrals in the capital, like Hagia Sophia and Holy Apostles, made the further construction of big churches unnecessary. The pietism of the time and the preference for smaller, community monastic churches also dictated a more intimate size.

above: Northwestern view from the Masoleum into the Church of the Vigin of Mercy

The splendid interiors of all three churches were must remarked upon in the Middle Ages. The Comnenian Emperors and their wives lavished money and gifts on the monastery, which was covered in golden mosaic, rich marble veneer, precious metals and semi-precious stones. Even the floor was inlaid with a fantastic opus sectile rinceau carpet of carved, colored marbles depicting mythological scenes, hunters and animals. Fragments of stained glass set in lead found in the church indicate the windows of the apse were set with figures of Christ, the Virgin and possibly other saints.

above: Plan of the three churches, The Church of the Virgin is on the left, the Mausoleum of St. Michael and the Pantokrator Church is on the right.

The mausoleum church contained many relics, including the stone upon which, it was claimed, Christ had been annointed after his crucifixion. This mausoleum was filled with the marble tombs of Emperors and Empresses and it’s iconostasis was said to have been encrusted with gold enamels and gems.

The church was founded as a hospital and their were many beds along with nurses and doctors attached to the monastery. It was also a center of learning and art. The founding document for the monastery – its Typicon – survives and outlines all its social functions in detail.

In 1204 the city of Constantinople fell to the soldiers of the Fourth Crusade after a series of vast and horrible fires set by the Crusaders. These conflagrations leveled large swaths of the city and consumed art treasures and books created and gathered over 900 years by the Byzantines. This included some of the greatest works of antiquity and a vast part of Western civilization went up in flames. Catholic looters spread throughout the city to snatch what was left and the booty was thought to be the greatest ever seen.

The soldiers from France, Italy, and all across Europe did not spare the churches of their brother Christians, they stripped them bare of their valuables. The Pantokrator was attacked and looted. The tombs of the Emperoros and Empresses were opened and their bodies were stripped. Monks and nuns were murdered and raped. Tens of thousands perished.

above: The Pala d’Oro from St. Mark’s in Venice. Many of the enamels and gems from the huge altarpiece are siad to come from the Pantokrator Monastery.

The Venetians claimed the Pantokrator as part of their booty and occupied the complex until the latins were ousted from the city by the Byzantines in 1261. Towards the end – when it became apparent they could not hold on to Constantinople it is said the Venetians removed the enameled panels from the iconostasis of the Pantokrator and shipped them to Venice, where they became the centerpiece of the famous Pala d’Oro.

After the recovery of the city of Constantinople by the Byzantines the monastery of the Pantokrator was restored and once again became a spiritual and cultural center. In 1453 the advancing Muslim Turks stormed the walls of Christian capital of the East. The city was looted, its citizens slaughtered and enslaved. The Pantokrator was looted once more and converted into a mosque – and renamed the Zeyrek Djami.

above: View of the apse of the south church. During Ottoman times the backwall of the apse was flattened and the mosaics were scraped off. The arch is a mithrab – it indicates the direction of Mecca for Muslim prayer. This view shows what remains of the magnificent marble paneling of the church.

Like many Byzantine churches that were converted into mosques the altar, iconstasis and portable ikons were removed, which the mosaics and wall paintings were curiously left exposed. This may have continued until the 18th century when the walls were scraped of their mosaics, leaving just a few fragments. At some point the valuable large columns of the north and south churches were removed and replaced with piers. The marble veneer of the walls was also stripped – leaving only the plackage of the apse to attest to the former glory of the Imperial church.

Today the church is undergoing restoration.

Bob Atchison

The Zeyrek Church Mosque, formerly the Church of the Monastery of Pantocractor, was built by Byzantine Emperor John II Comnenus (1118-1143) and his wife, Empress Irene. Built on the forth hill of the city overlooking the Golden Horn, the famous Middle Byzantine foundation had a triple-church, a hostel, a hospital, a hospice for the elderly, a medical school and a library. Copies of the Typikon, or the monastery calendar describing services and ceremonies, provide details of the monastery’s social and religious functions. The imperial founders endowed the monastery with numerous properties, including other monasteries in the Marmara region, Thrace, Macedonia, Western Anatolia and the Aegean Islands. Only the church, used as a mosque since the Ottoman conquest, and the cisterns of the monastery have remained.

The church consists of three joint churches built successively in the 12th century. The church to the south was built first and dedicated to Christ the Pantocrator, or “He who reigns over all, the Almighty”; hence the name of the monastery. A smaller church, built ten meters north of the earlier structure was consecrated to Panagia Eleousa or Merciful Mary. The two churches were subsequently united with a funerary chapel fitted in between, honoring St. Michael the Archangel. Converted to a mosque after temporary use as a madrasa after the Ottoman takeover, the church was named “Zeyrek” after Molla Zeyrek Mehmed Efendi, a resident of the neighborhood who taught at the madrasa. The mosque, repaired after a fire in mid 18th century, fell into disrepair by the 1950s. The library of the monastery burnt in 1934.

Archaeological studies by the Byzantine Institute of America in the mid 1950s have revealed floor mosaics of the period. The central church was re-opened for Islamic prayer during this time and the Directorate of Religious Endowments restored the northern church in 1966. The current restoration work, begun in 1997 by Professors Robert Ousterhout, Zeynep Ahunbay and Metin Ahunbay, is funded by the Kress Foundation/World Monuments Fund, University of Illinois Research Fund, Istanbul Technical University and Dumbarton Oaks Project Grants. The Zeyrek Church Mosque was included in the annual list of the World Monuments Watch “100 Most Endangered Sites” in 2002.

The triple-church is entered from the west, through the outer narthex of the southern church, which opens into an inner narthex that spans the entire length of the church and gives access into the three naves. The outer narthex, composed of five cross-vaulted bays, has ablution spigots at its north end. Five brick archways, with a rose marble frame set inside each arch, lead into the inner narthex. The central archway between the narthexes is distinguished with its taller frame crowned by a triple arch, across from the entry into the southern church, embellished similarly with marble frames. The inner narthex also has an upper level. Unlike the dim atmosphere of the lower level, the upper level is brightly lit with clerestory windows and windows pierced into the central bay’s dome.

The southern church, oldest among the three, has a cross-dome plan. It consists of a domed nave at the center, flanked by vaulted aisles on three sides, and a deep apsidal sanctuary to the east. The aisles and sanctuary, in other words, form the four arms of the Greek cross in plan. The aisles here are separated from the nave with four columns symmetrically placed around the nave, which support the weight of the roof along with piers embedded in side walls. The side aisles terminate in narrow miniature chapels with apses, linked with the central sanctuary. The space is lit with sixteen windows on the dome, windows inside the four barrel-vaults, and sanctuary windows placed at two levels. The southern church also has windows to the upper level of the inner narthex, which projects into the space with an ornate bay window. The capitals of the four central columns, the bay window, the mihrab and painted decoration of the interior date from renovations performed at the height of Ottoman baroque. The fine mosaic floor of the southern church, discovered underneath its wooden floor by the Byzantine Institute, provides clues to the original decoration of the interior. Archaeological studies by the Institute have recovered fragments of colored glass, believed to belong to original windows. The marble revetments of the sanctuary have remained intact, while marble parts of the iconostas were used in the minbar.

A wall, placed midway between the southern and northern churches, partitions the inner narthex into two sections. The funerary chapel joining the two churches is entered from either section, as well as from the individual churches, although the connecting archways are boarded up. Narrow and deep, the funeral chapel consists of a nave, covered by two oval domes, and a semi-domed apsidal sanctuary. It is dimly lit with windows on its two domes. The crypt underneath the chapel was used for years as the burial ground of the Palaeologan family, including the imperial founders Comnenus I and Irene. Also used as a mosque, the chapel has a mihrab, a minbar and a preacher’s lodge today. The church to the north, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, is smaller than but identical to the southern church. It also lacks an exterior narthex, but has a separate side entrance in addition to two doors on the inner narthex and archways that link it to the funerary chapel to its south. The northern church and its narthex were restored by the Ministry of Religious Endowments in 1966-67.

On the exterior, the ensemble is animated by the undulating cornice line, which follows the profile of the barrel vaults. Beside the outer narthex, capped at a lower level with a sloping roof, the three churches have a continuous roof cover from which the five domes rise to varying heights reflective of their size and importance. A minaret, added during the conversion, is located at the northwest corner of the exterior narthex, to the right of the main entrance. The stone foundations remain to the south, where a building as large as the northern church was attached to the narthexes. A wooden takiyya (tekke), built on these foundations during Ottoman times, is seen in older photographs along with housing that was built along the southern wall of the churches.

Dünden Bugüne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi. 1993. Istanbul: Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih Vakfi, vol. 7, 555-557 and vol.6, 218.

Ahunbay, Metin and Zeynep Ahunbay. 2001. “Restoration Work at the Zeyrek Camii, 1997-1998.” Byzantine Constantinople: Monuments, Topography, and Everyday Life (ed. N. Necipoglu). Brill: Leiden, Boston, 117-32.

Mathews, Thomas. 1976. The Byzantine Churches of Istanbul: A Photographic Survey. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 71-102.

Müller-Wiener, Wolfgang. 2001. [Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls.Turkish]. Istanbul’un Tarihsel Topografyasi: 17. yüzyil baslarina kadar Byzantion-Konstantinopolis-Istanbul. (translated by Ülker Sayin). Istanbul: Yapi Kredi Yayinlari.

Ousterhout, Robert, Zeynep Ahunbay and Metin Ahunbay. 2000. Study and restoration of the Zeyrek Camii in Istanbul: First report 1997-1998. Dumberton Oaks Papers 54, 265-270. http://www.doaks.org/DOP54/DP54ch15.pdf>. [Accessed May 31, 2006]

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Byzas (seventh century B.C): Greek colonist who founded a namesake city on the Bosphorus: Byzantium.

Constantine the Great (r. 306-337): Roman emperor who legalized Christianity and moved the capital of his vast empire from Rome to Byzantium (which became known as Constantinople).

Justinian (r. 527-565): Byzantine emperor who expanded the empire to its greatest extent, codified law, and built Hagia Sophia.

Rumi, a.k.a. Mevlana (1207-1273): Great Selçuk philosopher and mystic who inspired the order of Whirling Dervishes.

Osman I (1258-1326): Founder of a small Anatolian principality that eventually grew into a 600-year-long empire, which bore a modified version of his name—”Ottoman.”

Sultan Mehmet II, the Conqueror (r. 1451-1481): Successfully laid siege to Constantinople, putting the Ottoman Empire on the map as a world power.

Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (r. 1520-1566): With his wife Roxelana, vastly expanded Ottoman territory and financed many fine buildings.

Mimar Sinan (1489-1588): Süleyman’s magnificent architect, whose grand but tastefully restrained buildings and monuments still rank among Istanbul’s best.

Kösem (1590-1651): “Favorite” of Sultan Ahmet I, who ran the empire through her sultan sons as the most significant figure in a 150-year-long “reign of the ladies.”

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881-1938): The “Grand Turk” who liberated his people from Western invasion at the end of World War I, founded the modern Turkish Republic, and enacted sweeping reforms that made Turkey more European than Asian.

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Grand Palace Mosaics Museum is located in the south of Sultanahmet Mosque, within the complex of buildings of the mosque. The museum was built in a way to accommodate the mosaics which is partially intact in the northeastern part of the courtyard of the Grand Palace. While Grand Palace Mosaics, dating back to 450-550 A.D. were masterfully woven, no religious themes can be seen in the mosaics. The themes are from daily life and nature, and there are scented depicting gryphon eating a lizard, fight of an elephant and a lion, breeding of a mare, children feeding a geese, man milking a goat, child feeding his donkey, young girl carrying a jug, bears eating apples and fight between a hunter and a tiger.

This museum, opened to the public in 1953 behind Sultanahmet Mosque, consists of the remains of the Great Palace of the Byzantine Empire built by Constantine the Great (324-337). These remains consists of mosaics, columns and other architectural pieces which had once been part of the Great Palace. They show scenes with human figures, daily life in Byzantium, hunting incidents, landscapes and animal figures.

Open daily between 09:00-16:30 except Mondays
Tel: (212) 518 12 05

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The Hippodrome, on the square next to Sultan Ahmet Mosque, was built 480 meters long by 117 meters wide and could contain 100,000 people. This massive amphitheater occupied a very important place in Byzantine life. In Roman times, the chariot races were major social events. In Ottoman times, the hippodrome hosted polo games as well as circumcision ceremonies of the crown princes.

Built in the third century C.E. during the reign of the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in the provincial town of Byzantium, the Hippodrome – an arena for chariot racing – became the sporting and social centre of the Eastern Roman Empire. In 324 CE the emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinople.

One of his major projects was renovating the Hippodrome: the arena was expanded to 1,500 by 425 feet (450 by 130 metres), with room for 100,000 spectators. Constantine and his successors then marked the site’s importance with works from around the empire, some of which remain; the area is now a park.

The Hippodrome remained a focal point throughout the Byzantine period. Huge amounts of money were bet on chariot races, and rivalry often spilled over into politics and religion, leading to riots. After the Sack of Constantinople in 1204, the Hippodrome fell into disrepair. The Ottoman Turks, who captured the city in 1453 and made it their capital, had no interest in chariot racing.

“It was a locus for monuments whose form embodied ideas appropriate to Constantinople.” Sarah Guberti Bassett, art historian

The chariot races in the hippodrome started from this building at its western end, of which nothing is visible today. It had twelf boxes, one for each chariot, with doors that were opened all at the same time by a mechanical device when the race begun. The famous horses that are now at San Marco in Venice until 1204 stood on the outer facade of the hippodrome boxes.

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Quadriga horses. (I think the city of Venice should produce four more replicas of the horses and present them to people of Istanbul.).

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ISTANBUL ARCHEOLOGY MUSEUM

Address: Osman Hamdi Bey Yokusu Gulhane – Istanbul
Tel: (212) 520 77 40
Fax: (212) 527 43 00

The Directorate of Istanbul Archeology Museums that is dependent on the General Directorate of Monuments and Museums of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Turkey is on the Osman Hamdi Bey Ascent that opens to the Topkapi Palace Museum from the right of the Gulhane Park Entry which is in the Sultanahmet district.

Istanbul Archeology Museums consist of three museums. Those are Archeology Museum, Old Eastern Works Museum and Enameled Kiosk Museum.

Istanbul Archeology Museums, which were established as Muze-i Humayun (Empire Museum) by the famous artist and museum director Osman Hamdi Bey at the end of the 19th century, were opened to public on June 13, 1891. Besides its importance as the “first Turkish museum”, it has an importance and specialty being one of the museum buildings that are constructed as a Museum in the World. Today, it still protects its outstanding place in the World’s biggest museums with its works more than a million belonging to various cultures.

In the museum collections, there are rich and very important works of art belonging to various civilizations from the regions from Balkans to Africa, from Anatolia and Mesopotamia to Arab Peninsula and Afghanistan that were in the borders of the Ottoman Empire.

The Archeology Museum consists of two separate buildings.

I) MAIN BUILDING (OLD BUILDING)

Its construction was started in 1881 by Osman Hamdi Bey and with the additions in 1902 and 1908 it gained its latest form. Its architect is Alexander Vallaury. The outer face of the building was made by inspiring from the Iskender Tomb and Crying Women tombs. It is a beautiful example of neoclassical buildings in Istanbul.

On the upper floor of the two-flat building there are small stone works, pots and pans, small terracotta statues, the Treasure Department and approximately 800.000 Ottoman coins, seals, decorations, medals and Non-Muslim and Muslim Coin Cabinets, in which coin moulds were kept, and a Library with approximately 70.000 books.

On the bottom floor saloons of the building, famous tombs are displayed such as Iskender Tomb, Crying Women Tomb, Satrap Tomb, Lykia Tomb, Tabnit Tomb that are in the Sayda king graveyard.

On the bottom floor, besides the display of tombs, there is Old Age Statuary display in which statues and relieves from important antic cities and regions take place. In this display, the development of the art of statuary from Archaic Period to the Byzantium Period is displayed in chronological order with outstanding examples.

II) ADDITIONAL BUILDING (NEW BUILDING)

The additional building attached to the southeast of the main building is of 6 stories. There are depots in the two stories under the ground floor.

The four stories of the building are arranged as exhibition saloons. There is “Istanbul for Ages” on the first floor of the building, “Anatolia and Troia for Ages” on the second floor and “Surrounding Cultures of Anatolia: Cyprus, Syria-Palestine” on the top floor. There is Infant Museum and architectural works display on the first floor of the additional building. The Thrakia-Bithynia and Byzantium display saloon, which was opened in August 1998, can be visited on the floor under the first floor with the name of “Surrounding Cultures of Istanbul”.

The museum has received the European Council Museum Award in 1991, which is its 100. establishment anniversary, with the new arrangement made in the lower floor saloons and the Additional Building display.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293974-d294552-Reviews-Istanbul_Archaeology_Museum_Arkeoloji_Muzesi-Istanbul.html

http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/BelgeGoster.aspx?17A16AE30572D3137A2395174CFB32E1BBA8C0B2D99C76C6

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