WELCOME ΤΟIstanbul

The first lighthouse on the coast of Constantinople appeared after the shipwreck of a merchant ship that ran aground in 1755. By the order of Sultan Osman III, the tower was built with a light source visible for three miles. The light source was an olive oil lamp. During the Crimea war of 1854-1856, the sailors of the Anglo-French squadron, when passing the Bosphorus, realised that the old lighthouse did not meet the modern requirements, and the the Turkish Sultan Abdulmecit  ordered to build a new one. The construction of the 26 meter high tower was conducted under the supervision of Parisian engineers. The lighthouse became operational in 1857, significantly facilitating navigation at the entrance to the Strait. The light source is located at an altitude of 36 meters above sea level and was originally a kerosene-potash lamp, its light was visible for 16 miles. Later, a carbide lamp was used. Currently, an electric lamp with a power of 1000 watts is used. The beacon gives flashes visible for 30 miles, every 6 seconds.

The Belgrade Gate in the Theodosian Walls which were originally built in the 5th century during the reign of Theodosius II. According to a story related by Niketas Choniates, in 1189 the gate was walled off by Emperor Isaac II Angelos because, according to a prophecy, it was this gate that Western Emperor Frederick Barbarossa would enter the city through. It was re-opened in 1346, earning the name of Belgrade Gate, as many prisoners brought from Belgrade had settled in the area after the conquest of Serbia by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman I. It then closed again before the siege of 1453 and remained closed until 1886, leading to its early Ottoman name, Kapalı Kapı ("Closed Gate").

This mosque, which is situated in Bayezid Square, was built by Sultan Bayezid II and completed in the years 1500–1505. The complex is composed of a mosque, a kitchen, a primary school, a hospital, a medresse, a hamam, a soup kitchen for the poor and a caravanserai. Bayezid Mosque is at the center of the complex. Its main dome is 16.78 meters in diameter and is supported by four pillars. The stone and wood craftsmanship and stained glass are artistic masterpieces. The courtyard paving materials and pillars used as a reservoir for ablutions were reclaimed from Byzantine ruins. These pillars in particular demonstrate the quality of Byzantine workmanship. The soup kitchen and Caravanserai are to the left of the mosque and are used today by the Bayezid State Library. The Turkish Foundation of Calligraphy uses the medresse far to the right of the mosque as a museum. Tombs are found on the Kiblah [Mecca] side of the mosque. Sultan Bayezid II, his daughter Selçuk Hatun and architect of Tanzimat Fermanı, Mustafa Reşit Paşa, are buried here.

Dating back to the 5th century, the Cistern of Philoxenos is one of Istanbul’s surviving Byzantine subterranean reservoirs and a hidden gem that’s off the tourist trail. While its Turkish name, Binbirdirek Sarnıcı, translates into ‘1001 Columns’, the number isn’t used literally here but as a turn of phrase denoting multitude. The cistern is actually built on 224 columns standing more than 10 meters tall, most of which are engraved with a Greek mason’s mark. In recent years, the cistern has hosted a variety of events including concerts, fashion shows and exhibitions.

Boukoleon Palace (Bucoleon Palace) was the summer palace of the Byzantine emperors, which was built along the shores of the Marmara Sea in the south of the Great Palace of Constantinople. It is very probable that the palace was built in the fifth century CE, during the reign of Theodosius II (r. 408-450 CE). The palace’s name (Boukoleon) comes from the marble statue that once stood at its entrance: a lion (leon in Byzantine Greek) attacking a bull (bouc). Although the bull statue has been lost to the annals of time, the lion statue has been recovered and now is exhibited at the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. The palace itself was part of a greater complex, stretching from the city’s north to its south, and included a Grand Palace, a structure that used to stand somewhere between today’s Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. It functioned as the summer palace of the Byzantine imperial family until the 11th century when the empire moved its headquarters to the Palace of Blachernae, situated near the Golden Horn. According to the written primary sources, the 1532 Istanbul earthquake damaged the palace highly. In addition, the railway line built in 1873 destroyed the western section of the palace. Today, the structure is in ruins and has no border with the Marmara Sea, due to the Kennedy Avenue built in 1963, but its monumental façade rising from the sea walls still stands for centuries.

Camondo (or Kamondo) stairs are stylish steps in Istanbul, near the Galata Tower in Beyoglu district. The stairs were built by a Jewish banker and philanthropist Abraham Salomon Camondo (1781-1873). Abraham wanted his children to have a shorter way from home to their school, so started to build the stairs in about 1870-1880 in what then was Constantinople. The staircase provided a shortcut not only to school of the famous banker’s children but also to the family-owned bank on what is now called Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Avenue). Today the stairs serve as a fashionable walk up to the Galata Tower in Istanbul and the city’s attractions.

Istanbul has a chocolate museum and it is the only one in Turkey. Located next to the Pelit Chocolate Factory, Pelit Chocolate Museum is one of the most popular museums in Istanbul despite its far location, Esenyurt. The museum opened its doors in 2013 and takes you on an adventure starting with the history of chocolate-making. Make sure to see the hundreds of objects made from chocolate including Hagia Sophia, Galata Tower, Leander’s Tower, and even a chocolate village! In addition, there is a small chocolate workshop for children. It is believed that more than three tons of chocolate were used in the making of the museum and do not miss this unique museum that is not only for children, but also for adults!

Situated at the southern end of the Dolmabahçe Palace complex the mosque was built by order of Bezmiâlem Sultan, the second wife of the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II and the mother of Sultan Abdul Majeed I, who completed the construction of the mosque after the death of his mother. The mosque is commonly called the Dolmabahçe Mosque due to its location. It is a selâtin cami (imperial mosque), which means, it was built by a Sultan and the Sultan made the payments out of his own pocket. It was constructed between 1853 and 1855 by the architect Garabet Balyan who also supervised the construction of the Dolmabahçe Palace. The mosque’s architecture is a successful and classy blend of Baroque and Empire architectural styles. The main chamber of the mosque is relatively large and square in shape, each edge is 25 meters in length. Dolmabahçe Mosque has two long minarets with one şerefe (minaret balcony) each and they make them look like marble columns. From 1956-60 the mosque provided a venue for the Naval Museum, only resuming prayer services in 1967.

The Ottoman sultans shifted from Topkapi Palace to the newly built Dolmabahce in the 1850s. Designed by the renowned Armenian architect Garabet Balyan, it is the largest and most extravagant of all the palaces on the Bosphorus – especially the Ceremonial Hall with its famous Bohemian crystal chandelier glowing with 750 lamps, gifted by Queen Victoria. The true reason behind the construction of Dolmabahçe Palace was to cover up that the Ottoman Empire was in decline. Therefore, the new palace had to be lavishly decorated to impress the world. The result is a two-floor palace, covering an area of 45.000 m². Fourteen tons of gold were used to gild the ceilings. It also has the largest collection of Bohemian and Baccarat crystal chandeliers in the world. Starting with the move of the administrative center of the Ottoman Empire from Topkapi Palace in 1856, the Dolmabahçe Palace was home to six sultans. Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, used the palace as a presidential house in the summer. Troubled by health problems, he spent his last years in the palace until he died at 09.05 on November 10, 1938. In his honor, all the clocks in the palace are stopped at that exact time. The room in which he died is part of one of the palace tours.

Fatih Mosque was established between 1463 AD - 1470 AD, and it was part of the largest university in addition to sixteen colleges with Dar Al-Shifa (Nursing house), the guest house, and the library, all of which are located within what is known today in the Fatih district in Istanbul. The Mosque is one of the most beautiful archaeological and religious sites in Istanbul, and its current form is not the one on which it was built, due to the massive earthquake that struck Istanbul in 1766 AD, which led to its destruction, so it was rebuilt by the architect Muhammad Tahir Agha by order of Sultan Mustafa III in 1767 CE. It was built differently from what it was, and the only thing left of the old mosque was the inner courtyard surrounded by a portico covered with twenty-two domes supported by eighteen columns, in addition to the mihrab.