What city was called Constantinople. Constantinople is now called

Constantinople I

(Greek Κωνσταντινουπολις, ancient Βυζαντιον, Latin Byzantium, old Russian folk Tsaregrad, Serbian Tsarigrad, Czech Cařihrad, Polish Carogród, Turkish Stanbol [pron. Istanbul or Istanbul], Arabic. Constantinie, Italian. colloquial and among the Levantines Kospoli) - the capital of the Turkish Empire. Natural conditions and the nature of the inner life is divided into three parts, which can be considered as separate cities: 1) the Old City, 2) the New (European) city and 3) the Asian city of Scutari (on the coast of Asia Minor).

1) Old city or Constantinople in a narrow sense, Turkish Istanbul, lies under 31 about 0 "16" sowing. sh., on the European coast of the Bosphorus, near the southwest. its exit to the Sea of Marmara, an amphitheater, on a triangular peninsula, taking the place of the most ancient settlement of Byzantium. The square of the city has the form of a trapezoid, with one very short and three almost equal length sides. The short side, the eastern one, lies against the Asia Minor coast, from which it is separated by the southern extension of the Bosphorus and the exit from it to the Sea of Marmara; to the right of it lies, along the bank of the Marble m., the southern side, almost 4 times longer than the first, and to the left is the northern side, almost 3.5 times longer than the first. This side is a part of a 3 km long bend of the sea, which in ancient times was called the "Golden Horn" (Χρυςόκερας). Finally, the fourth side, the western one - the only one through which the city is connected to the land - goes from the Golden Horn to the Sea of \u200b\u200bMarmara and is somewhat longer than the south. The valley cutting through the hilly area of the city divides it into 2 unequal halves - a large, northeastern, and a smaller, southwestern one. Since K. was supposed to represent the second, "new" Rome (Νέά "Ρώμη"), he should have been seven hills; therefore, even in Byzantine times, they tried to form these seven hills in it, using the hills of the coast from the side of the harbor. The first of these hills was the acropolis that served in ancient Byzantium, and on the seventh in the Middle Ages stood the imperial castle of Blachernae.

Istanbul is divided into many quarters, which received their name either from the name of the mosques located in them, or from the names of the gates of the city wall adjacent to them. Several suburbs adjoin the wall of Istanbul from 3, of which the largest is Eyub, named after Eyub, the standard-bearer of Mohammed, who allegedly died here during the first siege of K. by the Arabs (668). At the supposed place of Eyub's death, a mosque was erected, where Osman's sword is kept, with which each sultan, upon accession to the throne, girds himself right there. This rite corresponds to our coronation rite. This suburb is very revered by the Turks, considered by them as if sacred and serves as one of the favorite places for burial. Istanbul and Eyub are almost exclusively the Turkish part of the city; only one of the quarters, Phanar (or Fener), is almost entirely inhabited by Greeks.

2. New the city occupies the south. the tip of another (rectangular) protrusion of the European coast into the Bosporus, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn. It lies like an amphitheater on the slopes of the heights, going down to the shore; is divided into several quarters, formed from the former separate suburbs. The southernmost and at the same time the coastal quarter - Galata, connected to the old city by two bridges over the Golden Horn. In this quarter there is a customs office, offices of agencies of foreign (including Russian) ships, hotels and hospices, including three Russian Metochions on Athos: St. Andrew's Skete, Ilinskoe And Panteleimonovskoe. North of Galata and above it lies Pen. Both of these quarters are almost completely European in terms of population, and in terms of the nature of buildings and social life. Even during the Byzantine Empire, European merchants, mainly Genoese, settled here. The winter quarters of European embassies and consulates are currently located here. Behind these two quarters there are a number of quarters and suburbs of a semi-European, semi-Turkish character, in which, after the capture of K. by the Turks, many Greeks and Armenians settled, and recently the Turks began to settle, following the example of the sultans themselves, who have been living in their own countries for many decades. the Bosphorus palaces (Ildiz-Kiosk, Dolma-Bakhche, etc.).

3. Asian part of K. consists of a city Scutari and settlements Kadikioy with neighboring villages, and lies on the Asia Minor coast of the Bosphorus, at its turn into the Sea of Marmara. Scutari (in Turkish Iskudar) located like an amphitheater at the foot and foothills of two peaks, Jam-Lidzhe and Bulgurlu, on the site of ancient Chrysopolis (Χρυσοπολίς), near which Constantine the Great defeated Licinius. Kadikioy lies on the site of ancient Chalcedon, in which the fourth ecumenical council (Chalcedon) took place in 451. For Scutari and Kadikioe, see Scutari. The grove of age-old cypresses located near Scutari serves as a favorite place for wealthy and pious Turks, who expressed the desire that their body rest in their native land of Asia, and not in a foreign one - Europe.

Climate- warm and humid. The average temperature for the year is 16.3°C, in January 5.8°C, and in July 23.5°C. Winter in K. begins no earlier than December and does not differ in severity; snow, although it falls from time to time, but lasts only a few days. Summer is not too hot due to the winds blowing from the Black Sea. Autumn drags on for a long time; this is the best time of the year, thanks to the extreme mildness of the weather. All of K. is dotted with cypress groves and a whole mass of gardens. Fruit ripens here very early and is even exported abroad: in Odessa, for example, the earliest fruits are from Constantinople. These gardens, on the bright greenery of which high minarets, mosques and towers beautifully whiten, in combination with Turkish (mostly wooden) houses painted in different, mostly bright colors, give the city, at least from a distance, an extremely beautiful view, but do not relieve him from a number of diseases generated by the uncleanliness of the inhabitants. In narrow and cramped streets, in cramped courtyards, dirt and sewage, accumulating for almost generations, poison the air. Winds, often and sharply changing directions, produce significant temperature fluctuations and thus contribute to various diseases. The most common diseases here are fevers and typhoids, then diarrhea and other stomach diseases, as well as lung diseases; intermittent fevers and various epidemic diseases are especially rampant in autumn and spring.

Population the city of Istanbul (in the narrow sense) - no more than 600,000 people, and the total of K., with suburbs and suburbs - 1,033,000 people. For her own K., the census of 1885 gave the following numbers: 384910 Muslim Turks, Greeks 152741, Armenians of the Gregorian confession 149590 and Catholic 6442, Bulgarians 44377, Jews 44361, Protestants 819, Catholics-Tures 1082 and, in addition, 129243 foreign subjects, Catholics, and, in addition including some Greeks 50,000 people. K. serves as the seat of the "High Porte", that is, the Ottoman government, all the highest secular and spiritual Muslim authorities, Sheikh-ul-Islam and the ruler of the faithful, why in the official Turkish language it is called Der-i-Seadet and Asitone- i-Seadet (i.e. the gate and threshold of well-being). The Greek or ecumenical patriarch and the Bulgarian exarch (metropolitan of Lovchen) live here, as well as the Armenian patriarch and the Roman Catholic archbishop (Scutari) and the Jewish haham-bashi (great rabbi), with their council (bet-din). Main streets K. can be considered all those that are available to carriages, horses and cattle; they are almost all paved, and usually have, at least on one side, a kind of sidewalk for pedestrians. Usually, the part of the road designated for the movement of livestock runs along the very middle of the street, forming a recess in it, which also serves to drain rainwater. The width of these streets is such that two carriages or pack animals loaded with building material can hardly disperse. If this fails, then one has to turn into a parallel street. The side streets are narrow and usually unpaved; they are passed almost exclusively by locals. The streets of K. are narrow, crooked, irregular; houses in them are located without observing the front line. Next to the rich konak huddles the poor man's shack, accessible to all winds; farther on, one can see the burial ground of the dervish monastery, fenced off from the street with an iron grate, and side by side with it, a low shop selling greenery, livestock, meat and fish; in the middle of all this, tombstones, mausoleums, fountains are scattered. Taking care of the inaccessibility of his harem, the Turk builds himself a small, one-story house, in which he settles alone with his family; for the same purpose, the windows of the houses facing the street are protected by strong thick wooden bars. All this gives the house a dull, cold look. The absence of tribal nobility in K. is due to the absence of hereditary private palaces and chambers. A nobleman who has risen by chance hastily builds for himself a house of light material and without external luxury, spending money only on the interior decoration of the house, as a result of which the wretched exterior of a Turkish house is often a striking contrast to its luxury and well-being inside. The few large and good Turkish houses found in the old city house almost exclusively public or state institutions. There are more good houses in the European part of the city, and in Pera there are wards even with 5 and 7 floors. However, in Istanbul itself, lately, little by little, they began to build in a European way, obeying more or less the rules of architectural art; this was greatly facilitated by the terrible fires of 1865 and 1866, which devastated a significant part of the city. The total number of buildings in K. exceeds 200,000, including 34,200 shops and shops, 175 baths, about 320 palaces and kiosks, 280 government buildings, 198 barracks and watch houses, 673 mosques and 560 various Turkish educational institutions, 146 madrasahs (spiritual seminaries , mostly under the jurisdiction of one or another mosque), 65 libraries, 230 dervish monasteries, 16 hospitals, 169 Christian churches and Jewish prayer houses. The number of Orthodox churches reaches 60, Armenian - 40; Catholics own 10 churches and 6 monasteries.

Wonderful old and new buildings. Monuments of the ancient, Byzantine. K.'s time is generally rather poor. At the ancient "hippodrome", which the Turks call at-meydan, there are three monuments - the obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column and the pyramidal masonry pillar. Obelisk transported by Theodosius Vel. from Upper Egypt, decorated with Greek and Latin inscriptions and bas-reliefs. The serpentine column, which is the most precious monument of ancient times, represents three bodies of snakes cast in bronze, twisted in a spiral into one column, thinned from below, gradually thickening and again decreasing in thickness. Only 29 revolutions survive, ca. 3 soots. in height. This column in ancient times served as a substitute for a golden tripod, set on behalf of 31 allied Greek states that took part in the battle with the Persians at Plataea (479 BC). And until now, the inscription relating to this event is visible on the column. The serpentine column was transported from Delphi to K. by Konstantin Vel. The pyramidal pillar of masonry is the remains of a column of imp. Constantine Porphyrogenous. Other monuments of pre-Turkish times: 1) Column (with an inscription) imp. Markian, almost in the middle of Istanbul, more than 2 sazhens. height, made of solid stone (syenite), with a heavily damaged marble capital and foot. 2) Corinthian column, set under the emperor. Claudius II in memory of the victory over the Goths, in one of the gardens of the Seraglio. 3) A colossal marble stone that survived from the delivered imperial. Arkady in honor of his father Theodosius Vel. columns (401). 4) Plumbing imp. Valens and Justinian; 5) cisterns - "one thousand and one columns" (dungeon with 3 floors on columns; in one upper floor there are 224 columns) and Basilica (with 336 columns; built by Emperor Justinian). 6) Burnt Column (on the map No. 11) the charred remains of the "purple column" transported to K. imp. Constantine; 9 cylinders survived; stands at the square of the old Seraglio. Some of the surviving buildings also serve as monuments of the Byzantine period, primarily a number of churches that turned into mosques. They are led by the famous Ayasofia(see St. Sophia Cathedral in K.); then Little St. Sophia (Kucuk-Ayasofia in Turkish), converted from the church of Sts. Sergius and Bacchus; the church of the monastery of the Lord Almighty (Pantokrator) - now the Kilisse-Jami mosque; the church and monastery of St. John the Studite - now the mosque of Emir-Ahor-Jami (or Imrakhor-Jami), near the Seven-Tower Castle; Church of the Savior in Chora - now a mosque Kahrie-Jamisi, near the Adrianople Gate, remarkable for its perfectly preserved and only recently discovered Christian mosaics. The remarkable buildings of the Turkish time include a large mosque Soliman(Suleimaniye, built in 1550-1566), the mosque of Ahmed I (1609-14), with a majestic "front yard" (Haram), the huge mosque of Mohammed II (1463-69) Mahmudiya, the Mosque of Selim I (1520-23), Bayazet II (1497-1505), bearing the name "Pigeon Mosque", Nur-i-Osmaniye Mosque (1755), Shah-Sade (1543-1548), Valide (1870) and Yeni- Jami (1616-1665), with a mausoleum. Other remarkable buildings: The Great Market or Bazaar - a huge vaulted building with many passages (like streets) and with more than 3000 commercial premises and shops; the Egyptian Bazaar, with a special trade in spices; building of the "High Port" (Babi-Ali or Pasha-Kapussi, that is, the Pasha's Gate), where the office of the Grand Vizier, the Ministries of Internal and Foreign Affairs and the State Council are located; built by Sultan Abdulmejid and intended to house the university building, which now houses various ministries. Eski (Old) Serai (go Seral) stands on the square of the same name, which in Byzantine times was called Forum Bovis or Forum Tauri. The great palace of the Byzantine emperors occupied only a part of the current gardens of the Seraglio. The Eski-Seral building was built by Sultan Mohammed II the Conqueror and served as a place of residence for his successors up to Abdul-Mejid, who moved his residence to the suburb of Dolma-Bakhche; after that, the seraglio was ceded to the supernumerary sultanas. A fire in 1865 destroyed most of the buildings of the Seraglio. In one of the courtyards there is an ancient tower or column, from the top of which - the highest point of the city - a majestic view of the whole of K. the yard of the Janissaries, on which there is a mint and a museum (Janissary) of ancient weapons and weapons, converted from the church of St. Irina, built by Constantine the Great and restored after a fire by Leo the Isaurian. Right there, in one of the gardens or courtyards, there is a Chinili kiosk, with an Ottoman museum of antiquities, a school of fine arts or an academy of arts (Académie des beaux arts) and a new museum, only formed in 1892, with famous sarcophagi from Sidon, an exhibition Turkish art, architectural models, natural history collections, etc.

Phanar(Greek τό Φανάριον, Turkish Fener), on the shore Golden Horn(Greek Χρυσόκερας), with a pier Fener Kapu- a purely Greek part of the city. From among the inhabitants of the Phanar (the so-called Phanariots) came out many remarkable Turkish statesmen, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries; some of them were the founders of the dynasties of the Moldovan rulers. This quarter, in comparison with neighboring Turkish ones, is distinguished by cleanliness and prosperity: the main street is clean and well built up, glass is inserted in the windows of the houses, there are no Turkish wooden bars. Patriarchy, i.e. the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch of Constantinople is also in Phanar. Before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the patriarchal church was the Cathedral of St. Sofia. When this cathedral was turned into a mosque, the patriarchs were given the largest after St. Sofia Church of St. Apostles; but already in 1455 this temple was demolished for the construction of the Mahomet Mosque, and the patriarchs had to be content with the temple of the Most Blessed Mother of God (Παμμακαρίσι?η). In 1591, this church was turned into a mosque (Fethiye-Jami), and the patriarchs moved into the building of a small convent in honor of the Most Blessed Mother of God. The building of the monastery and the cramped church were rebuilt and, if possible, expanded in 1614 by Patriarch Timothy. In 1701, during a mob rebellion against Sultan Mustafa II, the buildings burned down and were restored 14 years later by Patriarch Jeremiah III. In general, these are low and miserable buildings, in a courtyard enclosed by a wall fence. Of the gates leading there, the middle ones, now closed up, are marked by the martyrdom of Patriarch Gregory (see). There is a bas-relief on the wall of the patriarchal house: below - Christ blessing, above - the Archangel holding an icon depicting Christ. According to the drawing of the head of Christ, this monument is dated no later than the 10th century. according to R. Chr. The time of origin of another bas-relief located here ("a young man" in the style of ancient sarcophagi) is no later than the 5th century. according to R. Chr. Near the patriarchal house is a small patriarchal church in the name of St. Great Martyr George, without a dome, only with a cross above the altar; a rich wood-carved iconostasis with icons of Byzantine writing, an ancient icon of the Most Holy Theotokos transferred from the monastery of the Most Blessed; part of the stone pillar to which the Savior was tied in prison, the relics of St. Great Martyr Euphemia, Mother of the Maccabees, St. Solomia and Empress Theophania (wife of the Emperor Leo the Wise). The sights of the church include the "pulpit", that is, a pulpit of beautiful carvings attached to one of the columns, and even more artistically interesting patriarchal throne(made of ebony, with rich carvings and inlays of mother-of-pearl and ivory), with a canopy on two elegant columns, with 6 Byzantine double-headed eagles still surviving. It belonged, according to legend, to St. John Chrysostom. Not far from the patriarchy - a mosque Fethiye Jami, converted from the Greek Church of Our Lady of the Most Blessed and representing the remnant of a huge convent built in the 12th century. Byzantine dignitary Michael Duka and his wife Maria (sister of Emperor Alex Komnenos, who was buried here with his daughter Anna). Several mosaic images survived here (in one of the side domes). To the northwest of the patriarchy is the sacred Blachernae key, with a recently built chapel, on the spot where the temple in honor of Our Lady of Blachernae used to be. At a distance of about 4 in. from Blachernae is the "Life-giving spring of Baluklia", at the Silymbrian city gates. In the southwestern corner of old K. is famous Seven tower castle(έκταπύργιον of the Greeks and Iedi-Kule of the Turks), in which, during the first Russian-Turkish war under the emperor Catherine II, the Russian ambassador Obrezkov was detained.

Golden Horn(χρυσόκερας), one of the greatest and safest ship anchorages, so deep that even the heaviest warships can come almost to the very shore. It is a deep (7 verst) gulf of the Bosphorus, which has gone into the land, a curved shape, from which it got its name, and of various widths: at its junction with the Bosphorus, it has up to 300 soots. width, towards the middle of the current it reaches almost twice its width and then constantly narrows. In zap. at its end, two streams, always full of water, Ali-bey-su (ancient Kidaros) and Kiat-khane-su (ancient Barbizes) flow into the Bosphorus. The beautiful valley of these streams is a favorite place for walks for the Turks. Two bridges are thrown across the Golden Horn, connecting the old city with the new one - the old wooden bridge of Mahmudov and the new iron bridge of the Sultana Valide, bred in its middle part for the passage of large ships. There are three harbors inside the bay: a "steamboat parking lot" - closer to the Bosphorus, in front of the new bridge, a "trading harbor" - between the bridges, and, finally, a "military harbor" - behind the old bridge, in the wide center of the Golden Horn. At the beginning of 1893, the construction of the embankment near the harbors began. Directly opposite the tip of the Istanbul Peninsula, beyond the Golden Horn, and against the buildings of the Seraglio, at the southern end of the Bosphorus, at the entrance to the roadstead lies the suburb Top Hane(i.e. cannon yard), which got its name from the cannon and projectile foundry and arsenal located here. To the north of Top-Khan, along the Bosporus, lie the suburbs Funduklu And Cabotash. Adjacent to Top Khan on the west Galata, currently inhabited mainly by Greeks. A place of warehouses for various goods, Galata is full of shops, barns with vaults and iron doors. Here are located the stock exchange, customs, the Austrian Lloyd, the Russian shipping company, the Austrian, German, French and English post offices, the imperial Ottoman bank, many purely oriental commercial hotels, as they call it. khans and caravanserais. The area of present-day Galata, called Συκαι (fig trees), is mentioned under Constantine the Great, and Justinian decorated it and gave it some city rights. Lighthouse tower Galata-Kulessi, about 20 sazhens. heights, founded in 514 imp. Anastasius, and in 1348 it was built on by the Genoese, who gave it the name "Tower of Christ". As early as 717, fortifications adjoining this tower are mentioned under the name of the castle of Galata. In 1261, Galata is mentioned among the places of permanent residence of the Genoese, who settled in K. as early as 1149 (on the site currently occupied by the station of the Rumeli railway. Dor.). In the XIV century. the Genoese fortify it with walls, towers and ditches. From that time, the remains of the palace of the "podesta", that is, the Genoese mayor, and some churches survived; one of them is now a French. monastery school, with a boarding house (in addition, there is also a Scottish missionary school in Galata). Especially rapid growth of Galata falls on the 16th and 17th centuries; at this time, the area occupied by it, increased three times. Suburb Pera[Name Pera(proper Greek adverb πέρα, on the other side) ancient, but they did not always designate this particular place: in ancient times Feather the northern coast of the Golden Horn was generally called, later this name referred to the suburb of Galata, and only after the conquest of K. by the Turks moved to the area to the N from towers of christ.] with its narrow and poorly paved streets strongly resembles an old Italian city. Only the main street of the suburbs has a new look, of a French character: purely European hotels, a theater, places of entertainment, a casino, a pastry shop, elegant shops, bookstores, a European post office, schools, breweries, a hospital, churches of foreign confessions, etc. And in In other parts of Pera, especially after the terrible fire of June 5, 1870, they began to build stone houses in a new way and pave the streets. The Turkish character held on stronger in those parts and suburbs new K., which lie at the inner bay of the Golden Horn. These are the suburbs: Kasim Pasha, San Dimitri, Has-kioy, Piri Pasha, Halydzhe-Oglu, Sukljudzhe, etc. In the suburbs Kasim Pasha, adjacent to the military harbor, there are a naval arsenal and the admiralty buildings arranged under the guidance of European engineers. Up the Golden Horn, for object. Kasim Pasha, lies the Jewish quarter Has-kioi.

City government. TO, with its suburbs, it forms a special city administration in administrative terms and is under the jurisdiction of the mayor or city prefect (Schehir Emini); The entire city government is divided into 10 districts. The government, despite financial difficulties, continues to tirelessly take care of the improvement of the city, which suffered a lot, especially during the terrible fires of 1865 and 1866. Aqueducts were built to supply a European city with water from Lake Derkos, and an Asian city (including Kadikioy) with water from the "Valley of Sweet Waters of Asia". In 1870, fire fighting in K. was completely reorganized. The city is illuminated with gas. Public peace and personal security in general are no less ensured in K. than in other large cities of Europe. The police (zaptie) consists almost exclusively of Turks; guard posts are very frequent. Foreigners in the capital of Turkey enjoy fairly broad rights and are subject to trial exclusively by the consulates of their country. education and social life. Although quite a lot was done for school education during the reign of Abdul-Hamid II, nevertheless, primary education is still in a rather sad state. There are 162 schools for young children (Subjan Mektebleri) in Constantinople for boys and 169 for girls; primary (elementary) schools (Mekiâtib-i-Ibtidâije) 18 for boys and 3 for girls; private schools 10 for boys and 5 for girls; higher city schools 19 for boys and 8 for girls; one vocational school for boys and another for girls, an art school, an orphanage, an imperial lyceum, a civil medical school, a higher school for the education of civil officials, a forestry and mining school, a language school (for translators), an engineering school, a teacher's seminary, a seminary for education of teachers, a law school, an imperial military school, a military medical school, 10 military preparatory schools, a naval school on the island of Halki. The most common type of schools are the so-called madrasah, existing usually at mosques. Muslim youth here, especially preparing for the title ulemov, i.e., Muslim jurists, learns Turkish and Arabic literacy free of charge and receives the rudiments of a scientific education. However, in all the lower educational institutions of K. teaching the law of God, reading and writing is given free of charge; there are over 8,000 boys and over 6,000 girls. Almost all non-Turkish nationalities, whose representatives live in more or less significant numbers in K., have their own schools here, partly maintained by their governments, partly by local societies. There are also private educational institutions. The Greeks in K. itself and its suburbs (including the island of Halki) have about 60 different educational institutions, with 12,000 students, including a large national school. in the Phanar under the Patriarchate, a theological seminary and a commercial school on the island of Halki, a women's school Zappion and a men's Zografion in Pera, several lyceums and higher women's schools. The maintenance of all these schools costs 5 million piastres annually. Armenians have 40 schools connected with churches, Catholic Armenians have 6. Access to European schools is open not only to representatives of the respective nationality, but also to others: for example, many, for example, Bulgarians are brought up in the Anglo-American Robert-College . Recently, a Russian school has also been opened in K. (at the embassy and thanks to the efforts and means of Mrs. Nelidova, the wife of the Russian ambassador), but it is attended mainly by Orthodox non-Russians, for example. Greeks. There are up to fifty Turkish public libraries in K. The state printing house for printing Turkish, Arabic and Persian publications, founded in 1727, was closed in 1746; reopened in 1784 already in Scutari, for a long time it was the only printing house in the entire Muslim East. Now it is located near At-Meidan. There are more than 20 private Turkish printing houses; then come the printing houses of Armenian, Greek, Jewish and various European nationalities. With the permission of the government and under strict censorship, up to 40 newspapers are published in Turkey in Turkish, Persian, Arabic, Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, Spanish-Jewish, English, French, and other languages. The more significant ones are: "Tarik" and "Saedet" (in Turkish), "Levant Herald" (in French and English), "La Turquie", "Journal de la Chambre de Commerce", "Νοαλογος" and "Κωνσταντινοπολις", "Zornitsa" and "Novini" (in Bulgarian). Public life among the native population, including Greeks and Armenians, is generally not developed: there are no clubs or societies. Turks spend their free time in baths and coffee houses, listening to storytellers over a cup of black coffee. Their favorite sight is Chinese shadows (see Karagyoz). The Greeks have only one learned society: Ελληνικος φιλολογικος σύλλογος. Among the Europeans living in K. especially the Germans, there are societies and clubs. The center of the spiritual life of the Germans and Swiss - Society. Teutonia and the craft society. The German Exkursionsklub is also important. There is also a French theater in K..

Charitable Institutions To. are very numerous. The most interesting phenomenon in this respect is the so-called. "imarets" - canteens for the poor or kitchens, from which food is given free of charge to the poor; between the latter there are many poor students ("softs") and ministers at mosques. In total, up to 30,000 people eat daily in these imarets. Then there are almshouses and shelters for the sick and homeless, a refuge for the mentally ill, three hospitals - two for the ground forces and one (in the arsenal) for sailors. Of the schools (madrasas), many are also founded and maintained on private funds and donations. Often a Turk builds a khan or a caravanserai and enrolls it in this or that mosque, school or hospital, so that the proceeds from it serve to maintain and maintain this institution. There are also institutions for the reception of the poor and the sick, founded and maintained by foreigners (English, French, Austrians, Germans, Italians and Russians), including the very comfortable Nicholas Hospital, with a department for women, in Pera.

Industry and trade. Large-scale industrial activity in China is poorly developed: several steam mills operated by European machinists; fez fabrication, tobacco production, glass and pottery factories, breweries and distilleries, oil mills and sawmills, partly in the city, partly in its environs. State-owned ironworks, cannon-casting and gunpowder factories and ship workshops operate exclusively for the needs of the army and navy. Small industry, corresponding to our handicraft industry, is in a better position; some crafts have been brought to a high degree of art. Individual crafts are practiced on well-known streets or sections of the city. Permanent bazaars for the sale of products of small industry are arranged near mosques. Craftsmen - partly Turks, partly Greeks, Armenians and Jews - work only to meet local needs, and only small arts and crafts items purchased by travelers in memory of K. go abroad. In large, wholesale trade, the Greeks, Armenians and Spanish Jews play a more important role than the Turks. Due to its position at the crossroads of two great routes - "the great route from the Varangians to the Greeks", through Russia to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea, and the caravan route from Western Asia to the East. Europe - K. has long played the role of a world market. After, however, as Syria, Arabia and South. Persia got the opportunity to enter into direct relations with the south. Europe by sea, and Russia has strengthened its position in Central Asia, a decline is noticeable in China's trade; Only the Asia Minor Railway can support it. The importance of K., as a warehouse for the entire Balkan Peninsula, is threatened with great danger by the ever-increasing competition of Thessaloniki, Dedeagach and Burgas. It is difficult to collect accurate information about K. trade, due to weak government control over trade and shortcomings in the organization of financial institutions. All available data point to a significant preponderance of imports of foreign goods over exports of local products. Export items from Turkey are in most cases products brought here from Asia Minor and European regions of the Turkish monarchy, for example. seeds of oily plants, resins (gum, mastic, etc.), medicinal and dyeing plants (salep root, opium, krappa, saffron, etc.), tobacco, timber and ornamental wood (especially beech tree), minerals (for example, so sea foam), leather goods (for example, morocco), and other livestock products (horn, wool, lamb intestines, fat, soap), spinning plants (cotton paper and linen), raw silk (from Brussa), oriental fabrics, mohair (angara, goat wool yarn), oriental carpets, in the amount of about 160,000 pieces per year (from Asia Minor, Persia and Turkestan), filigree and gold embroidery (works of Muslim women) and various incense (like rose oil, smoking substances, spirits, etc. ), mostly locally produced. Imported goods are both raw materials from other countries and processed products of European factories and industrial establishments. The main import items are wheat and flour (mainly from southern Russia), rice, sugar (partly from Russia, but more from Austria; in 1891-92, out of 22.47 million kg of imported sugar, there were 18 million kg of Austrian sugar), coffee (partly from Brazil), kerosene, then cotton fabrics and weapons almost exclusively from England, hosiery and knitwear, woolen fabrics, jute, silk, shawls, dresses, fezzes mainly from Austria; iron, zinc, tools, kitchen utensils, glassware from Belgium and the Czech Republic, pottery, tissue paper from France and Austria, wood and coal, stearin candles, paints, silver and gold items, jewelry, medicines, dress, fashion, perfumes, etc. Raw products are delivered mainly by Russia and partly neighboring countries of the Balkan Peninsula with Turkey, while Austria-Hungary, England and France participate in the supply of processed goods, competing with each other. Retail trade in European goods of the highest dignity is carried out in the shops of Pera and Galata (in part), while oriental goods and cheap European goods, for the needs of the poor classes, are traded in open markets and covered bazaars. The most remarkable of them - the "Great Bazaar" (Boyuk-Charchi) in Istanbul - consists of many vaulted halls and is filled with everything that the East is rich in. The most interesting part of it is Bezestan- the bazaar of arms dealers, where weapons of all kinds, old and new, are exhibited, both for sale and for viewing. In addition to markets and bazaars, a prominent role in trade is played by the so-called. "khans" or "caravanserai" - hotels for money changers and wholesalers. means of transportation in the city and suburbs, in addition to private carriages and riding horses, there is a horse-drawn railway, of four lines, two of which are located in Istanbul itself and two on the outskirts of Galata-Pera. Underground Railway the road (along a wire rope) leads from the New Bridge, under the tower of Galata, to the monastery of the Tekke dervishes in Pere, in an area of 700 m. For communication with the Asian coast and in general for movement along the bay, small steamships of the light shipping company (three companies) and a mass of skiffs serve . Partly for local use, the Constantinople-Adrianople railway also serves. dor., which has several city stations.

The movement of ships in the bay. In 1892, there were 15,273 ships in the harbors of the Golden Horn, with a cargo of 8.4 million tons, while in 1891 there were 17,850 ships with 9.8 million tons of cargo; such a decrease is explained by the prohibition in Russia of the export of bread. Of the 4318 sailing ships, with a cargo of 674409 tons, there were 2867 Turkish and 1234 Greek nationalities; out of 5142 steam ships, with a cargo of 5.9 million tons, 3502 ships were under the English. flag, 639 ships under the Greek, 130 ships under the Italian. and 125 ships below it. flag. To this must be added 1,601 ships supporting the regular voyages of shipping companies (Messageries maritimes, the Russian Shipping and Trade Society, Austro-Hungarian Lloyd, etc.) and 2,882 Turkish sailing ships and 1,330 steamships for coastal and local navigation. Recently, a plan has arisen to connect both banks with a bridge across the Bosphorus.

The history of K. until the time of Constantine Vel. there is a history of the colony and the city of Byzantium (see), but its own history begins in 326, when the first Christian emperor drew on the ground with his spear the direction of the walls of the newly chosen capital. In his struggle with Licinius, conducted near the Bosporus, Constantine personally became acquainted with the location of Byzantium and appreciated its importance. On November 20, 326, the laying of new city walls took place, and on May 11, 330, the solemn consecration of the city, which was called "New Rome", followed. The city wall built by Constantine was 7 times the size of the Byzantine wall. Taking care of the splendor of his new capital, Konstantin Vel. built many rich buildings and collected many monuments and jewels from other places. The main city square, which, like in Rome, bore the name of the Forum, was decorated with triumphal arches and porticos, from which the so-called so-called has survived to our time. "Burned Column"; the hippodrome (now At-meydan) was renewed, surrounded by luxurious buildings and decorated with ancient statues brought here from different places (see above, Serpent Column). Constantine is also credited with the construction of a reservoir called "1001 columns", and many churches. Recognizing the renewed city as the handiwork of Constantine, contemporaries and posterity began to call it the "city of Constantine" (Κωνσταντίνου πολίς). To attract the population, Konstantin gave the inhabitants of the capital various benefits and advantages, and, among other things, elevated the members of the city council to the senatorial dignity. A number of his successors acted in the same direction, and the city, despite various hardships, such as. destructive earthquakes, fires, barbarian invasions, etc., quickly expanded. Of the 14 districts (regiones), 12 lay within the city wall; behind it, the area reserved for the 7000th detachment of the Gothic bodyguards of the emperor was the 13th district, on the site of the present Galata, and the 14th district occupied the place around the Blachernae Palace. In 412 the wall of Konstantinov was destroyed by an earthquake. In 431, fearing an attack by the Huns, Theodosius II covered some parts of the city with a wall, including the Goth district. This wall was also destroyed by the earthquake. Finally, in 447, the prefect Cyrus-Konstantin built a new one, in some places still preserved to this day, the so-called. double Theodosian wall. This wall stretches from the Golden Horn (to the north) to the Sea of Marmara (to the south) for about 6800 m and encircles the city in a slightly sinuous arc from the north-west. and western. sides. Later, the emperors Heraclius (in the 7th century) and Leo the Armenian (in the 9th century) added an additional defensive wall in the Blachernae region to protect the local palace and temple from barbarian raids. In the place where the now completely dried-up Λυκος stream enters the city, a large gap was left. Devices for distributing water and sluices for filling ditches with water were arranged here. The population of the city, gathered from different parts of the world, heterogeneous and diverse, combined all the vices of European humanity with the bad qualities of the Asian world: the desire for luxury - with bloodthirstiness, sensuality - with false piety, arrogance - with cringing. Passion for spectacles that stir the blood, and especially for disputes, passed from the arena into life and even into religion. The emperors themselves took part in religious disputes, since they were considered and considered themselves the heads of the church. Another kind of unrest was political, generated either by ambitious generals who sought, and not always without success, the imperial crown, then by various temporary workers and favorites, then, finally, by empresses, who often preferred some subject over their royal spouses. The Imperial Guard sometimes, no worse than the Praetorians of Rome, chose their supreme leader and gave him the crown. The popular uprisings, accompanied by robberies and fires, also represented a considerable disaster for the city. Especially stormy was the rebellion in the reign of Justinian Vel., in 532, caused by a dispute between the "parties of the circus" (green And blue) and suppressed only at the cost of terrible bloodshed. In order to erase the memory of this rebellion and restore the former splendor of the city, Justinian decorated K. with numerous luxurious buildings, mainly churches, among which the Cathedral of St. Sofia (see). The successors of Justinian cared most about protecting K. against the barbarians, who sometimes kept him under siege for a long time and even seized for a while into their power [during its existence, K. was subjected to 29 sieges and 8 times was at the mercy of enemies.]. At first he was disturbed by the Avars; then the Persians appeared under its walls, under the leadership of Khozroy, in 616 and 626. Later, the Arabs besieged it every summer during the entire time from 668 to 675, and K. managed to escape only thanks to his Greek fire; they also besieged it in 717-718, when they were repelled by the emperor Leo the Isaurian. In the years 865, 904 and 941, our ancestors smashed Kiev, led by the Kievan princes Askold and Dir, Oleg and Igor, who took ransoms from the emperors and forced them to conclude trade agreements. With the adoption of Christianity by Russia, K. becomes a holy city for the Russians, and along with Jerusalem attracts a lot of pilgrims who go through it to the Holy Land. Many of them leave descriptions of Tsaregrad in their travel stories, from which it is clear what a strong impression it made with its magnificence before its fall and what pity it aroused with its appearance after it was taken by the Turks. More remarkable of the pilgrims-narrators: hegumen Daniel (1113-15), archbishop. Antony of Novgorod (1200), Moscow deacon Ignatius (1389), Hierodeacon of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra Zosima (c. 1421), merchant Trifon Korobeinikov (1583), Trinity Hierodeacon Jonah and Elder Andrei Sukhanov (1651), Moscow priest John Lukyanov (1711) , Hieromonks Macarius and Sylvester (1704), Priest. Andrei and Stefan Ignatiev (1707), Nizhyn monk John Vishensky (1708), hieromonk Varlaam (1712), Yaroslavl merchant Matvey Nechaev (1721), Vasily Barsky (1723), Chigirinsky monk Serapion (1749), hieromonk Meletius (1793). The Bulgarians (since 705) disturbed K. with their attacks, and only the imp. Vasily the Bulgar-Slayer, at the beginning of the 11th century, managed to liberate the city from this danger as well. In the same century, the Seljuk Turks took possession of Asia Minor, and K.'s influence on this part of the empire weakened. True, the crusaders soon defeated the sultans of Nicaea and Iconium; but the Western knights did not at all want to shed their blood for nothing for the capital of the Eastern Empire and its ruler. Having become acquainted with the riches and advantageous position of K. and realizing his inner weakness, they do not take their envious glances off him, and the matter ends with the capture of K. by the knights of the fourth crusade, 1204. At this time, many beautiful buildings, expensive statues and other monuments perished arts; all ancient Greek sculptures were destroyed, except for bronze horses, which, along with some other monuments, were taken to Venice to decorate the Cathedral of St. Mark. The booty captured in K. by the knights, according to the stories of contemporaries, was unheard of. Since then, K. has become quite open to Western Europeans; its trade began to be strongly influenced by the Italian commercial republics, Venice and Genoa, whose representatives firmly settled in Galata. In 1295, the Venetian fleet appeared before K. and, having burned the Genoese buildings in Galata, caused significant damage to the city itself. In 1396, the Turkish sultan Bayazet laid a strong and stubborn siege on the city, and only the invasion of the Turks by Tamerlane (1401) forced him to retreat from K. The attempt to capture the city was repeated by Sultan Murad II, who stormed it in 1422; but partly successful defense of the inhabitants, partly internal unrest among the Turks and this time saved K. The son of Murad Mohammed II, in 1452, began to build coastal fortifications near K. in order to smash the Bosphorus from them, and from the spring of 1453 he led the correct the siege of the capital itself. He had about 300,000 troops and up to 420 ships at his disposal. Against this force, K., already deprived of all the regions on the Balkan Peninsula and in Asia Minor and not receiving help from the European peoples, could put up only 6,000 Greeks, with the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine Palaiologos, at the head, and up to 3,000 Italians, brought by the brave Genoese knight Giovanni Giustiniani. The forces were too unequal, and despite the desperate resistance of the defenders, who for several months courageously fought off all the attacks of the enemies, the city was taken by the Turks. May 29, 1453 Mohammed solemnly entered the city and the church of St.. Sofia. The whole city was given over to the army for a three-day sack: the remnants of the Greek army (about 3000 hours) were slaughtered, the elders, women and children were enslaved and sold. The Turks received huge booty and destroyed many of the most precious monuments of art: some were broken (for example, ancient Greek marble statues), others were melted, for a more convenient division of booty between the winners. Many buildings were destroyed and burned down. Only the temples were spared because Mohammed decided to turn them into mosques. K. turned from a purely Greek city into an almost purely Turkish one: the noble Greek families who survived the massacre were grouped in only one quarter of K. - Phanar, where the patriarch also found a place for himself.

Having proclaimed K. the capital of the empire, Mohammed II restored the destroyed fortress buildings (among other things, the "seven-towered castle") and built, partly from the building material of the destroyed temples and other buildings, several new mosques, seraglios (palaces), and others. changed, the city lost some of its splendor and wealth, and in this position it was until recently, before the beginning of a closer rapprochement between Turkey and the European peoples. In 1700, on July 13, Turkey concluded peace with Peter I in K. On January 16, 1790, an allied treaty between the Porte and Prussia against Russia and Austria was concluded in K., which, however, had no consequences. In 1821, a movement of Muslims against the Greeks took place in K., marked by the murder of Patriarch Gregory; in 1826 - a military rebellion of the Janissaries and their bloody pacification, which ended with the destruction of this army; in December 1853 - a revolt of the softs and other residents of Istanbul incited by them, due to misunderstandings between the Turkish government and the Western European powers. In 1854, on March 12, a treaty of alliance between England, France and Turkey was concluded in K., and on June 14 a convention was signed allowing Austria to occupy the Danubian principalities. In May 1876, the second uprising of the softs and the unrest of the Muslim mob broke out, the result of which was the overthrow of the Grand Vizier Mahmud Redim Pasha. In the winter of 1876-77, a conference of the great powers (see the Constantinople Conference) was held to settle the "Eastern Question" by peaceful means. In February 1878, Russian troops stood almost under the very walls of K., but did not enter the city.

Literature. Hammer, "K. und der Bosporus" (Pest, 1822); Théophile Gautier, "Constantinople" (P., 1853, new ed. 1877); ΣκαρλατονΔ. του Βυζαντιου, "Η Κωνσταντινουπολις" (Αθην, 1851); Πασπατη, "Βυζαντιναι μελεται τοπογραφικαι και ιστορικαι μετα πλειστων εικονων" (εν Κωνσ ταντινουπολει, 1887); De-Amicis, "Constantinopoli" (1881); "Stambul und das moderne Türkentum", von einem Osmanen (Lpts., 1877); Criegern, "Kreuzzug nach Stambul" (Dresd., 1878); Tchihatchef, "Le Bosphore et Constantinople" (P., 1864); Pulgher, "Les anciennes églises byzantines de Constantinople" (V., 1878-1880); Mordtmann, "Führer durch Konstantinopel" (Konstant., 1881); H. P. Kondakov, "Mosaics of the Kahrie-Jamisi Mosque" (Odessa, 1881); Leonhardi, "K. und Umgebung" (Zurich, 1885); de Blowitz, "Une cour à Constantinople" (P., 1884); H. P. Kondakov, "Byzantine churches and monuments to." (Odessa, 1887); G. S. Destunis, "Historical and topographical sketch of the land walls of K." (1887); Καραθεοδορη και Δημητριαδη, "Αρχαιολογικος χαρτης των χερσαιων τειχων Κωνσταντιν ουπολεως" (XIV volume of works "Ελληνικος φιλολογικος Συλλογος εν Κωνσταντινουπολει", 1884); Hieromonk Anthony, "Essays K." (Yaroslavl, 1888); Dorn, "Seehäfen des Wellverkehrs" (vol. I, B., 1891); Meyer, "Türkei und Griechenland" (vol. I, Lpts., 1892).

- See Byzantium. (

People have birthdays, cities also have birthdays. There are cities where we know exactly the day of laying the first building or fortress wall. And there are those cities about which we do not know this, and we use only the first chronicle mention. This is the case with most cities: they first heard a mention somewhere, and consider this the only appearance in the historical annals.

But we know for sure that on May 11, 330 from the Nativity of Christ, Constantinople, the city of Constantine, was founded. Tsar Constantine, who appeared as the first Christian emperor, himself was baptized just before his death. However, by the Edict of Milan, he stopped the persecution of Christians. Subsequently, he also headed the first Ecumenical Council.

Constantine founded a new city in honor of his name. As it is written, narkosha their names on the lands. Alexander poured Alexandria all over the world, and Constantine created Constantinople.

What can we say about Konstantin, if we have all sorts of Kalinins, Zhdanovs, Stalingrads - there were an unmeasured number of these cities. People were in a hurry to name the subway, factories, steamships and so on after themselves. Constantine acted more humble - he named only one city, the capital of the empire.

The Russians called this city Tsargrad - the City of the Tsar, the Tsar's City, the Great City. Compared to Constantinople, all other cities were villages. Today's name Istanbul is the Turkic Greek expression "istinpolin", which means "from the city". That is, where are you coming from - from the city. This is how Istanbul was born.

It is the City of Cities, the mother of all cities in the world. Not only Russian cities, as we call Kyiv. In Russia, in Rus', this wonderful city has always been reverently and reverently treated - the city of monasteries, bookish wisdom, the city of the tsar and Vasilevs. Therefore, exactly one thousand years after the founding of Constantinople, the Russians laid the stone church of the Savior on Bor on Borovitsky Hill, within the Moscow Kremlin. It was, however, destroyed by the Bolsheviks. But it was such a symbolic act - stretching the historical thread from Constantinople to the new Constantinople. From the Second Rome to the Third Rome. Although the Turks had not yet entered Constantinople, Mehmet the Conqueror had not yet broken through the walls of Constantinople, neither external nor internal, they had not yet sung "azan" in Hagia Sophia - but the Russians already felt their continuity and connection. A thousand years later they laid the foundations of Constantinople, the Church of the Savior on Bor, inside the Kremlin walls.

Our ancestors had this feeling - connections and continuity with Byzantium, gradually descending from the historical arena.

So, I congratulate all the residents of Constantinople - everyone working on our channel, as well as all people who have a solid worldview vertical, a connection with heavenly Jerusalem, on the day of memory of the founding of the city of Constantine, on the birthday of the city, which, in contrast to the old Rome, became the foundation of the Byzantine Empire for more than a thousand years. who gave rise to Christian worship. And in general, whose influence on world history is difficult to overestimate. Every May 11, on the day of the city, the memory of Hagia Sophia and Saint Constantinople burns like a fire under the ashes in the bowels of present-day Istanbul…

December 9th, 2013 , 11:28 am

Today I would like to tell and show a rather extensive material about what Constantinople was like before its fall exactly 560 years ago - in 1453, when it began to be called Istanbul. I think everyone knows that Istanbul is the Byzantine Constantinople - the former capital of the Byzantine Empire. Now on the streets of the city you constantly stumble upon some particles of the same, once the greatest city in the world, which was called the City. True, these are very tiny particles compared to what happened here 1000 years ago - most of the medieval churches were rebuilt into mosques, as, however, ancient temples were rebuilt into churches in their time. And despite my ardent love for the East, for Islamic culture, it is incredibly interesting to find echoes of Christianity - Greek, Bulgarian, Armenian, Russian (yes, there are quite a few Russian artifacts here, for example, in the courtyard of the Patriarchate of Constantinople I found a bell cast us in Gorodets, there is a photo of it under the cut). In general, it is here, in Istanbul, that one can very clearly see how some cultures, and even not cultures, but civilizations succeeded each other, arranging a feast on the bones of the vanquished.

But before showing all the beauties of Christian Istanbul, we need to tell a little about the Byzantine Empire itself, or rather about how it ceased to exist. The possessions of Byzantium in the middle of the 15th century were not the largest - it was no longer the same Empire that we used to see in history books when studying antiquity. At the beginning of the 13th century, the city was conquered by the crusaders and for about 50 years they sat (read robbed) in Constantinople, after which they were driven out of here by the Venetians. So a few Greek islands, Constantinople itself and its suburbs - that's the whole empire. And around, the Ottomans were already living everywhere, gaining power at that time.

Constantinople tried to conquer and was besieged by the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid, but the invasion of Timur distracted him from this great undertaking.

The city at that time lay only in the European part of present-day Istanbul and was very well fenced with a powerful wall. It was problematic to swim into it from the sea because of the current, and the only more or less possible place of approach was the Golden Horn Bay. The Ottomans, led by Mehmed II, took advantage of this.

Plan of Constantinople

Constantinople at the time of its fall

And for more than five and a half centuries, the greatest city in the world, Tsargrad, as our ancestors called it, has been under Turkish rule. Constantine was the last of the Roman emperors. With the death of Constantine XI, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Its lands became part of the Ottoman state.

The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire, and the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan, was to be at the head of the community. The sultan himself, considering himself the successor of the Byzantine emperor, took the title of Kaiser-i Rum (Caesar of Rome). This title was worn by the Turkish sultans until the end of the First World War. By the way, there was no special looting (for example, what the Turks did in Smyrna already in the 20th century), despite the deaf Middle Ages, in the city there was no - Mehmed far-sightedly forbade his subjects to destroy the city.
Siege of Constantinople

Here is what is left of the walls of Theodosius, in some places they are being restored, but Mehmed knew what he was doing - he destroyed for sure, although the main blow, of course, came from the bay

All churches after the conquest were rebuilt into mosques in a very simple way - by removing the cross and erecting a crescent moon, adding minarets.

Despite everything that happened, many Christians remained in the city: Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, and they built their buildings, some of which I will show below.
For example, the building of the Greek Lyceum, which does not fit into urban architecture at all, but serves as an excellent landmark in Phanar and Balat

The first Christian basilica on this site was erected at the beginning of the 4th century on the site of the ruins of the ancient temple of Aphrodite under the Roman Emperor Constantine and was the main temple of the city before the construction of Hagia Sophia. In May - July 381, meetings of the Second Ecumenical Council were held in it.

In 346, over 3,000 people died near the temple due to religious differences. In 532, during the Nika rebellion, the church was burned down and then rebuilt under Justinian in 532. The church was badly damaged by an earthquake in 740, after which it was mostly rebuilt. Figured mosaics perished in the era of iconoclasm; on the site of the traditional Savior of the Almighty in the conch, a mosaic cross flaunts.

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the church was not converted into a mosque and there were no significant changes in its appearance. Thanks to this, to this day, the Church of St. Irene is the only church in the city that has retained its original atrium (a spacious high room at the entrance to the church).

During the XV-XVIII centuries, the church was used by the Ottomans as an armory, and starting from 1846, the temple was turned into an Archaeological Museum. In 1869, the Church of St. Irene was transformed into the Imperial Museum. A few years later, in 1875, due to insufficient space, its exhibits were moved to the Tiled Pavilion. Finally, in 1908, the Military Museum was opened in the church. Today, the church of St. Irene serves as a concert hall and you just can’t get into it.

And of course, Hagia Sophia - once the main cathedral of the entire Christian world! This is a former patriarchal Orthodox cathedral, later a mosque, now a museum; the world-famous monument of Byzantine architecture, a symbol of the "golden age" of Byzantium. The official name of the monument today is the Hagia Sophia Museum (tour. Ayasofya Müzesi).

After the capture of the city by the Ottomans, the Sofia Cathedral was turned into a mosque, and in 1935 it acquired the status of a museum. In 1985, the Hagia Sophia, among other monuments of the historical center of Istanbul, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more than a thousand years, the St. Sophia Cathedral in Constantinople remained the largest church in the Christian world - until the construction of St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome. The height of St. Sophia Cathedral is 55.6 meters, the diameter of the dome is 31 meters.

To be more precise, the cathedral did not look the same as in the photo below, to see its original appearance you have to scroll through the photo

Well, we also need to replace the crescents with crosses here - there were no minarets, of course, there weren't. It is actually an impressive cathedral with an impressive interior.

To get into it, you need to stand in line and go through the metal detector

In the courtyard of the cathedral

Cathedral plan

1. Entrance 2. Imperial Gate 3. Weeping Column 4. Altar. Mihrab 5. Minbar
6. The Sultan's Lodge 7. Omphalos ("navel of the world") 8. Marble urns from Pergamum
a.) Byzantine-era baptistery, tomb of Sultan Mustafa I
b.) Minarets of Sultan Selim II

Some frescoes have been preserved inside the cathedral, but once all the walls and ceilings were completely covered with them. By the way, most of the frescoes and mosaics remained unharmed, as some researchers believe, precisely due to the fact that they were smeared with plaster for several centuries.

Above the door leading to the narthex is a 10th-century mosaic of the Mother of God with two emperors, Constantine and Justinian. Constantine is holding a model of the city he founded, and Justinian is holding a model of Sophia (not at all similar).

Now this is a very strange combination of a Christian temple and a mosque, but the size is really impressive!

The Virgin and Child in the semi-dome of the central apse dates back to 867

When I was there, about a quarter of the volume was covered with scaffolding...
Six-winged seraphim in the east sails under the dome date back to the 6th century (their counterparts in the west sails are the work of restorers of the 19th century)

Parts of the magnificent mosaic decoration of the 11th-12th centuries have been preserved in the southern gallery. Once upon a time, the choirs were completely covered with mosaics on a golden background, but only a few images have survived. On one of them, made around 1044, Empress Zoya and her husband Konstantin Monomakh bow before the throne of Christ.

In their hands, the august couple holds symbols of charity: a purse with money and a deed of gift. The upper part of the figures is well preserved - the more striking are the roughly repaired cracks around the head of Konstantin and the face of Zoya. These are traces of alterations: the male figure initially depicted not Konstantin, but Zoya's previous husband (there were three of them in total). And the face of the empress herself was broken when her stepson, who passionately hated his stepmother, came to power for a short time. When Zoya, one of the few women who ruled the empire, returned to the throne, the mosaic had to be repaired.

Original frescoes under later plaster

But the most beautiful mosaic on the choirs (and in general one of the most important works of Byzantine art) is the magnificent Deesis: the image of Christ with the Mother of God and John the Baptist. "Deesis" means "prayer": the Mother of God and John pray to Christ for the salvation of the human race.

Emperor Leo VI kneels before Jesus Christ

And this is how they got rid of the symbols of Christianity - crosses - in mosques: they simply rubbed them

Or dismantled

The Church of Christ the Savior in the Fields (Greek ἡ Ἐκκλησία του Ἅγιου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῃ Χώρᾳ) from the ensemble of the monastery in Chora is the best preserved Byzantine church in Istanbul. Since 1948, it has been open to tourists as the Kariye Museum (tour. Kariye Müzesi), one of the Istanbul World Heritage Sites.

The name comes from the fact that before the erection of the current city walls by Theodosius II, the church stood outside the walls of the imperial capital, to the south of the Golden Horn. The surviving building was built by the diligence of Maria Duca, mother-in-law of Emperor Alexei Komnenos, in 1077-81. Half a century later, part of the arches collapsed, probably due to an earthquake, and the youngest son of Alexei financed the restoration work.

Chora Church was rebuilt again after the Palaiologos came to power, in 1315-21. The great logothete Theodore Metochites acted as ktitor. He spent his last years in the monastery as an ordinary monk (his ktitor portrait has been preserved). The mosaics and frescoes ordered by him are an unsurpassed artistic achievement of the Palaiologan Renaissance.

During the siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the icon of the Heavenly Intercessor of the city, the icon of Our Lady Hodegetria, was brought to the monastery. Half a century later, the Turks plastered all the images from the Byzantine period in order to turn the church into the Kahriye-dzhami mosque. Chora came back to life as a Byzantine island in the middle of a modern Islamic city as a result of restoration work in 1948.

The frescoes are simply amazing, I will have a detailed post about frescoes separately!

The Church of Our Lady of Pammakarista (“Rejoicing”), also known as the Fethiye Cami (“Conquest”) Mosque, is the most significant monument of art that has survived in Istanbul from the reign of the Palaiologos. In terms of the area of surviving mosaics, it is second only to the Cathedral of St. Sofia and the church in Chora.
According to one version, the current building was erected shortly after the end of the crusaders' rule over Constantinople (1261), when the Byzantines were engaged in the restoration of the city. According to written sources, the building was built by Protostrator Michael Glabos Duca Tarhainotes, nephew of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, between 1292-1294.
Shortly after 1310, the widow of the Byzantine commander Michael Glabas (Μιχαὴλ Δοῦκας Γλαβᾶς Ταρχανειώτης) Maria (Martha in monasticism) built the Spassky chapel near the southeastern side of the temple, in which they were both buried.

After 3 years of the fall of Constantinople, in 1456 the Ecumenical Patriarch transferred his cathedra to the Pammacarista church, where it remained until 1587.
In 1590, Sultan Murad III commemorated the conquest of Transcaucasia by converting the church into the Fethiye Camii ("Mosque of the Conquest") mosque. When creating the prayer hall, all internal partitions and ceilings were dismantled. The mosque underwent restoration in 1845-46.
In 1949, the complex was restored by the American Institute of Byzantium, and since that time the premises with mosaics have been functioning as a museum. Since autumn 2011 the building has been closed for restoration.

On the apse are images of Christ, the Virgin and John the Baptist

Gregory the Illuminator

The dome depicts Pantokrator and 12 prophets:
- Isaiah. The inscription on the scroll: "Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud" (Is.19:1)
- Moses. “The Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords” (Deut. 10:17)
- Jeremiah. "Here is our Lord, nothing compares to him"
- Zephaniah. “The whole earth will be devoured by the fire of His jealousy” (Sf. 1:18)
- Micah. “The mountain of the house of the Lord will be set at the head of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills” (Mk. 4:1)
- Joel. "Fear, earth: rejoice and be glad, for the Lord is great to do this." (Joel 2:21)
- Zechariah. "The Lord of Hosts is a holy mountain" (De 8:3)
- Obadiah. “on Mount Zion there will be salvation” (Obadiah 1:17)
- Habakkuk. "God! I have heard your ears" (Hab. 3:2)
- Jonah. "My prayer has come to you" (Jonah 2:8)
- Malachy. “Behold, I send my angel” (Malachi 3:1)
- Ezekiel. "And then all believers will disappear"

St. Anthony

Inscriptions on the facade of the building

Nearby stands the modest Church of John the Baptist, which is now the mosque of Akhmat Pasha and is the tiniest surviving church in Constantinople, at only 15 meters long. Located in the most Islamic-conservative part of the Fatih district, less than 400 meters from the Church of Our Lady of Pammakarista. The church has never been systematically examined. It is assumed that it was built under Komnenos and was dedicated to John the Baptist (as well as 35 other churches in the Byzantine capital). It was converted into a mosque at the end of the 16th century by the dependents of Ahmat Pasha (former aga Janissaries). Until 1961, the building was in ruins, with a destroyed narthex and broken pillars. It seems to me that it best symbolizes what remains of the once great Byzantine Empire...

Tsargrad, Istanbul Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Constantinople n., number of synonyms: 6 byzantium (3) mountains ... Synonym dictionary

- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Tsargrad), the capital of the Roman Empire (since 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul... Modern Encyclopedia

- (Tsargrad) the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Founded by Constantine I in 324 330 on the site of the city of Byzantium. In 1204 it became the capital of the Latin Empire. It was conquered by the Byzantines in 1261. In 1453 it was taken by the Turks, renamed Istanbul ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

See Byzantium. (Source: "A Concise Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition of A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) ... Encyclopedia of mythology

Istanbul Geographical Names of the World: Toponymic Dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001 ... Geographic Encyclopedia

Constantinople- (Constantinople), a city in Turkey (modern Istanbul), originally of Byzantium, founded in 657 BC. like Greek. the colony. In the beginning. 4th c. AD Constantine I the Great chose it as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, preferring the nearby ... ... The World History

Constantinople- (ancient Byzantium, Slavic Tsargrad, Turkish Istanbul), the capital of the Ottoman Empire, on the Thracian Bosphorus, 1.125 tons of people; has Ukrainian, military. harbor and arsenal. The amphitheater is located on the ber. Bay of the Golden Horn. natural conditions and ... ... Military Encyclopedia

Constantinople- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Tsargrad), the capital of the Roman Empire (since 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Constantinople) 1. Muslim conquests The city was besieged in 668 by Arabs led by Abu Sufyan, the commander of Caliph Mu'awiyah. The Muslim fleet passed through the Hellespont unhindered, but the attack on the city was met with fierce ... ... Encyclopedia of World History Battles

I (Greek Κωνσταντινουπολις, ancient Βυζαντιον, Latin Byzantium, old Russian folk Tsaregrad, Serbian Tsarigrad, Czech Cařihrad, Polish Carogród, Turkish Stanbol [pron. Istanbul or Istanbul], Arabic Constantinie, Italian. common people and at ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Books

Constantinople. Album of views, . Constantinople, 1880s. Edition "Deutsche Buch- und Steindruckerei Papier- und Kunsthandlung F. Loeffler". Album with 29 color lithographs. Typographic binding. Safety…
Constantinople, D. Essad. Reprint edition using print-on-demand technology from the original of 1919. Reproduced in the original author's spelling of the 1919 edition (publishing house `Edition of M. and S. Sabashnikov`).…

Tsargrad, Istanbul Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Constantinople n., number of synonyms: 6 byzantium (3) mountains ... Synonym dictionary

CONSTANTINOPOLE- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Tsargrad), the capital of the Roman Empire (since 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul... Modern Encyclopedia

CONSTANTINOPOLE- (Tsargrad) the capital of the Byzantine Empire. Founded by Constantine I in 324 330 on the site of the city of Byzantium. In 1204 it became the capital of the Latin Empire. It was conquered by the Byzantines in 1261. In 1453 it was taken by the Turks, renamed Istanbul ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Constantinople- See Byzantium. (Source: "A Concise Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities." M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, edition of A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) ... Encyclopedia of mythology

Constantinople- Istanbul Geographical names of the world: Toponymic dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001 ... Geographic Encyclopedia

Constantinople- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Tsargrad), the capital of the Roman Empire (since 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul. … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Constantinople- (Constantinople) 1. Muslim conquests The city was besieged in 668 by Arabs led by Abu Sufyan, the commander of Caliph Mu'awiyah. The Muslim fleet passed through the Hellespont unhindered, but the attack on the city was met with fierce ... ... Encyclopedia of World History Battles

Constantinople- I (Greek Κωνσταντινουπολις, ancient Βυζαντιον, Latin Byzantium, old Russian folk Tsaregrad, Serbian Tsarigrad, Czech Cařihrad, Polish Carogród, Turkish Stanbol [pron. Istanbul or Istanbul], Arabic Constantinie village, Italy common people and at ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Efron

Books

Constantinople. Album of views, . Constantinople, 1880s. Edition "Deutsche Buch- und Steindruckerei Papier- und Kunsthandlung F. Loeffler". Album with 29 color lithographs. Typographic binding. Safety ... Buy for 25415 rubles
Constantinople, D. Essad. Reprint edition using print-on-demand technology from the original of 1919. Reproduced in the original author's spelling of the 1919 edition (publishing house `Edition of M. and S. Sabashnikov`).…