City of the world's desire

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City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:37 pm

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Sea of Marmara

Where the ancient Land Walls of Theodosian meet the Sea of Marmara there is a dog pound. As I stood gazing out at the ships in the roadstead towards nearby Troy and Gallipoli I could imagine the fleet of Alcibiades sailing here to Byzantium two thousand years in the past while the salt air around me was rent by the crazed barking of a thousand canines.

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Hagia Sophia

Earlier this month I was in Istanbul to see Hagia Sophia, the ancient Roman church of Holy Wisdom built by Greek speaking Orthodox worshippers in 537 by architects Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles, the last great monumental sigh of the classical world.

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On entering the completed building and looking up at its miraculous, seemingly floating dome, it’s founder the Emperor Justinian is said to have boasted “Solomon, I have outdone thee.”

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Ramp to the upper gallery

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Rear of the church

For nearly 1000 years this unprecedented structure was the largest church on Earth, and even today, after it has been dwarfed by other buildings, walking through its gates induces a sense of awe, wonder and a tremor of excitement at the sense of sheer history the stones exude.

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Basilica Cistern

Nearby is the Basilica Cistern (also constructed on orders from Justinian), one of the many structures built to ensure that Constantinople was self-sufficient in both water and food during sieges.

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Valens Aqueduct

It was fed by an aqueduct parts of which can still be seen in the city and if you think it looks familiar it was used as a location in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE. Today it’s teaming with fat fish. In May 1453 some of Constantinople’s desperate people hid here in boats when the city was taken by the Ottoman army.
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Josef » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:43 pm

Hagia Sophia is one of the very few places on my 'must visit' list. It has more history all by itself than most nations.

That first snap looks like Saltcoats or summat, though. And the second like one of your Butlins postcards.

Thanks once again to our Foreign Correspondent, btw.
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:44 pm

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Galata Bridge

Present day thrills a plenty can be had on the Galata Bridge, a 1970’s German construction of no special architectural merit, but all life is here, affording a glimpse of what the atmosphere may have been like on the old London Bridge when it was still covered in buildings, or the Ponte Vecchio before it became a tat filled tourist trap.

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Bridge and New Mosque

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One of the walkways under the Bridge

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Bridge exit ramp

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I strolled over it several times a day taking in the sights, smells and sheer bloody racket of the place, and usually found myself there at sunset to watch the light change over the stunningly situated harbours of the Golden Horn and the Bospherus.

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The Golden Horn

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The Bosphorus

Bospherous is such a poetic, evocative word in English, so it’s a bit disappointing to learn that it means “Cow crossing” (or ox ford) in ancient Greek. A trip up the channel which neatly divides Europe and Asia by boat towards the Black Sea is an essential part of a visit to the city. Just watching the constant bustling ferries to the Asian shore is fascinating, as Geert Mak wrote in his superb little book, THE BRIDGE, “The ferry boats stamp and hoot, always as though they were about to set sail for Odessa or Athens instead of that fifteen-minute crossing.”

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Hamid-i Evvel Mosque

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Kuleli Askeri Lisesi

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Kucuksu Pavillion

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Rumeli Hizari (AKA the Throat Cutter)
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:47 pm

Once Hagia Sophia dominated the skyline of Constantinople, and still does when approaching the city by boat. From Galata Bridge though you can just see it keek over the trees and a gaggle of rather ugly buildings. Today’s cityscape is dominated by the Suleymaniye Mosque which like St Paul’s Cathedral in London is perched on a hill.

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Suleymaniye Mosque

Built in 1558 by order of Sultan Suleyman, its architect was the great genius of the Ottoman classical period, Sinan. A contemporary of Michelangelo (and Palladio, such was his long life), he was involved in the construction or renovation of nearly 400 buildings, bridges, tombs ect.

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The views from the minarets must be astounding (if you were allowed to see them)

Almost 100 years old when he died his grave is next to Suleymaniye Mosque, it’s only open once a year though so I could only peer through the railings.

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Tomb of Sinan
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Sat Oct 27, 2012 5:57 pm

Before seeing this building and the Blue Mosque, I’d rather airily dismissed them as mere copies of Hagia Sophia on my paper journeys, but experiencing them in real life was the great revelation of the trip.

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The Blue Mosque from Hagia Sophia

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The Blue Mosque

With barely a straight line on them the great mosques of the city seem to hover like fantastic apparitions. Hagia Sophia’s magnificence is now in its interior, such has been the effort to buttress the dome it lacks any real façade. Seen from any angle though, taking their inspiration from Ancient Rome the major mosques display beautiful faces. Their interiors lack the punch of Hagia Sophia, but most have a simplicity of curved space and restrained decoration which does induce a sense of calm.

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Fatih Mosque

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The Fatih Mosque (Conqueror Mosque) built in its present form in 1766 by Mimar Mehmet Tahir was named for Mehmet the Conqueror.

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A Byzantine author had once described Constantinople as “The City of the world’s desire” and Sultan Mehmet II had desperately wanted the place since seeing it as a young boy. His championing of newfangled artillery technology meant his army battered its way through the city Land Walls on 29 May 1453 after a two month siege. Constantinople fell, bringing an end to the Byzantine empire which had lasted for almost 1500 years. Mehmet’s tomb is housed in the Mosque complex bearing his name, though it’s a 19th Century French rococo Arabian Nights concoction, the original was destroyed in an earthquake (along with the original mosque).

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Tomb of Mehmet II

Mehmet entered the city in triumph riding a white horse through the Gate of Charisius on the Land Walls and I was surprised to find today that this historic site is frankly a bit of a shit hole.

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Gate of Charisius

Fleets of tiny busses constantly roar through it, it’s surrounded by thousands of opened beer bottle caps and scavengers hunting for empty bottles and plastic. Apart from a placard on the outside wall there is nothing here today that would suggest this was the sight of the 22 year old Sultan’s great victory for Islam. A rather glum modern statue of him stands on the hellishly busy main road through the next gate north.

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The Land Walls were completed in 413 and kept the city safe for over a thousand years. I’d walked their six kilometers on my fourth and last full day in Istanbul. I felt I’d barely grazed the surface of this vast place, inhabited by some 16 million people.

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The Land Walls

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I was as intrigued by the massive sci-fi landscapes of sky scrapers going up on the outskirts seen from the bus coming from the airport as I had been by the ancient monuments I’d come to see. It’s a beautiful city, “where geography provokes history” as Joseph Brodsky wrote, and a return visit sometime in the future will be a must.

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Hoca Kasim Koprusu Sokagi

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Old Jewish houses, Salma Tomruk Caddesi

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Sultan Cesmest Sokagi

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Asir E Fendi Caddesi

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Kirazli Mescit Sokagi

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The Blue Mosque

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Hagia Sophia

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Rustem Pasha Mosque

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Balikcisi

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The Golden Horn
Last edited by Toby Dammit on Sun Oct 28, 2012 1:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Bridie » Sat Oct 27, 2012 7:38 pm

Can't thank you enough for these pictures really really interesting.
The contrasts are so vivid re satellite discs on the jewish houses and I don't think I've ever seen anything like that building with the newish shop at the bottom and the derlict houses above 8O
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby scaryman2u » Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:35 pm

[quote="Josef"]
That first snap looks like Saltcoats or summat, though. And the second like one of your Butlins postcards.
quote]


::): Yes, hopefully your tongue was firmly in your cheek there Josef ::):
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby scaryman2u » Sun Oct 28, 2012 8:37 pm

Bridie wrote:I don't think I've ever seen anything like that building with the newish shop at the bottom and the derelict houses above 8O


Been a while since you were in Glasgow then Bridie ?

Superb pics Toby.
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:44 pm

Hmm, I do seem to be channel the John Hinde look in that picture Josef. :) Trouble is it's such a difficult building to photograph at ground level, there's not a single clear view of it without trees etc) better to try and capture it from a balcony in one of the bars or hotels around it (something I didn't try and do).

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Hagia Sophia (mobile phone pic)

The ideal spot would be from one of the minarets of the Blue Mosque which shares the same square but of course they are not open to the public, infidel or otherwise...

The city was full of these collapsing wooden buildings, with a section still occupied. I spotted this one from the Land Walls.

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When in good repair they look great.

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I was expecting such a conservative city that I was surprised by the amount of great street art, though it all seemed to be concentrated in a very small area in Galata, the traditionaly "western" part of the city. I've been doing a daily London street art post on my Facebook page for few months now, so I'm always on the lookout for this sort of thing.

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Teo Skaffa, Balkon Cıkmazı

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Yuksek Kaldirim Caddesi

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Haci Ali Sokagi

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Balkon Cıkmazı

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Tersane Cadessi

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Horoz Sokagi

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Balkon Cıkmazı

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The Land Walls

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Balkon Cıkmazı

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Postaneyani Sokagi

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Timarci Sokagi

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Yuksek Kaldirim Caddesi

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Horoz Sokagi

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Yuksek Kaldirim Caddesi

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Haci Ali Sokagi

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Teo Skaffa, Balkon Cıkmazı
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Sun Feb 03, 2013 2:59 pm

It’s the city where strangely the stray cats beg like dogs at the outdoors restaurant tables, and Topkapi Palace, all the guidebooks agree, is a must see part of Istanbul. I found it vastly overcrowded, full of third rate architecture, the busiest parts of which house some of the most ghastly geegaws I’d ever set eyes on; bling so vulgar even a gangsta rapper would probably never be seen shot dead wearing it. Especially to be avoided is the building housing alleged various bits and pieces of the Prophet, like one of those many medieval churches with heads of John the Baptist and foreskins of Christ once scattered all over Europe. It was dangerously overcrowded and I bailed out almost as soon as I was swept into the place by the crush of the pilgrims. The famous Harem, with some of the most spectacular interiors judging from pictures I’ve seen cost extra to get into, so I didn’t bother.

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Topkapi Palace

Undeniably this Ottoman palace is full of history, unfortunately mostly of the venal kind, a stage for fratricide, matricide, patricide (if it ends in “cide” it happened here), blinding’s, slavery, rape, torture, imprisonment and execution. The Sultan needed only to stamp his foot twice like a petulant infant and the person speaking to him would be dragged off to be strangled or have his throat cut. Had any part of the Byzantine palace of the Christian emperors survived Mehmed’s conquest all this would have equally applied (minus the foot stomping part, possibly with a bit more blinding).

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Topkapi Palace

What it does offer is stunning vistas of the Bosphorus and the Sea of Marmara across to Asia, a commanding view of mercantile and military seagoing traffic which the Sultan could keep his eye on and at the same time proclaim his omnipotence from the prominence of his hill top, mini-city. And OK, there are some finely crafted objects in the treasury amid the hideous tat.

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Alexander sarcophagus

Much more interesting are the buildings you pass on the way up to the Palace, the Museum of Archaeology which houses some stunning treasures from the Roman world and a famous (if drab) collection of goods excavated from Troy (mostly undecorated domestic ware, pots etc).

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Porphyry sarcophagus

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Sarcophagus of the Mourning Women

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Standard Bearer’s gravestone

It also houses various local bits and pieces from the classical period up to the Ottoman times, including Mehmed’s quite spectacular Tile Pavilion which is now itself a small museum of ceramics. This kinda thing usually bores me rigid but there were some exquisite things here.

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Tile Pavilion

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Mihrab

Ceramics played a huge role in Ottoman ornamentation. Tiles were to them what mosaics were to the Byzantines and later Fresco to the Renaissance Italians. Conservative Sunni clerics had declared that depiction of the human form in art was un-Islamic therefor abstract design and decorative practice flourished instead, taking botany and geometry as their chief inspiration (as would the Art Nouveau movement at the end of the 19th century in Europe, “Art is the flower.” Charles Rennie Mackintosh would declare).

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The Blue Mosque

Hence, at ruinous expense the interior of the Sultan Ahmed mosque is lined with 20,000 of the finest tiles decorated with flowers, fruits and trees, a vanity project ordered by the ruler for whom it is named which nearly bankrupted his Empire and exhausted the Iznik ceramic works where they were manufactured. And why botany? Because this turned mosque interiors into representations of the Garden of Eden, the Paradise promised to the Believers. Ironically the sultan who sought immortality in stone’s name is largely ignored, as most people call this building after the tiles decorating it, the Blue Mosque.

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Rustem Pasha Camii

Iznik tiles also cover the walls of the tiny but extraordinary Rustem Pasha mosque, both inside and uniquely for an Ottoman Friday mosque, outside too. The structure memorialising one of the most powerful men in the Empire and Sultan Suleiman’s son in law in squeezed into one of the most crowded parts of the Old City, near the Spice Market (another “must see” guide book recommendation which I hated).

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Street near the Spice Market

While visiting this building designed by Sinan in 1563 I realised that I didn’t have a clue what I was looking at. Elsewhere in Europe where the architecture is based on classical Greek or ancient Roman traditions I could interpret it but here I was a stumped, visual illiterate, and not just because of the Arabic calligraphy. Why did it have all these tiles on the outside, why only one minaret when the nearby grander Suleymaniye (also designed by Sinan) had four minarets but no tiles? Why did the Suleymaniye not have six minarets like the less prestigious Blue Mosque? This was something I had to read up on when I got back home.

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Inside Rustem Pasha Camii

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Rustem Pasha overlooked by Suleymaniye, father and son in-law

The mosques leave some of the most vivid impressions of the Old City, their rocket like minarets dominate the skyline just as Wren’s church spires once commanded the silhouette of pre-twentieth century London.

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On a first visit as short as mine though, only a brief look at the outside of a handful of them was possible in passing, with the exception of the ones pictured previously. Plus one of the most beautiful Baroque examples, the Ortakoy was covered in scaffolding and closed (the story of all of my trips abroad).

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The New Mosque (or Yeni Valide Camii)

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Sehzade Camii

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Murqarnas hood over Sehzade’s main entrance

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Mihrimah Sultan Camii

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Nusretiye Camii

Over the bridge the Galata district is still distinguished by its hill top Tower built in 1348, all that remains of the once extensive medieval fortification system of the Genovese merchant’s colony on the Golden Horn.

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View of Galata from Suleymaniye

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After the conquest of Constantinople the Genovese were allowed to keep their trading post provided they tore down the defensive walls (and removed all church bells). For some reason the wonderful tower survived. Maybe I’ll take in the view from this icon if I ever make it back there.

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From Europe to Asia, the Bosphorus Bridge
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby banjo » Sun Feb 03, 2013 6:29 pm

ah,ll no bother ye about rothesay then.
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Re: City of the world's desire

Postby Toby Dammit » Mon Feb 04, 2013 10:27 am

banjo wrote:ah,ll no bother ye about rothesay then.


I always preferred Millport m'self.
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