ISTANBUL
Istanbul:City Of Contrast
Taking the 10-minute ferry ride from Europe to Asia never ceases to thrill. Istanbul enjoys a unique geographical position straddling two continents, and even though I have lived here for over a year, I still cannot make that crossing without a childlike sense of excitement. And yet, thousands of inhabitants of Istanbul make this crossing daily, as a matter of routine, leaving their homes in Asia and heading to work in one of the many banks in the modern business district of Levent, in a bar or restaurant in central Beyoglu, or perhaps in one of the inevitable carpet shops in the historic and touristic quarter of Sultanahmet. As the boat turns and begins its brief journey across the Bosphorus, the domes and minarets of the historical centre of the city swing into view. The swarthy men sitting opposite me on the benches that line the deck dig their hands deep into their jacket pockets and stare out over the waters, all of us silent in our contemplation of the fusion of past and present.
Istanbul or Constantinople?
The settlement was founded by Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC, whose earliest known name is Lygos. It was colonised by the Greeks in the 7th century BC. It fell to the Roman Republic in AD 196, and was known as Byzantium until 330, when it was renamed Constantinople and made the new capital of the Roman Empire. During late antiquity, the city rose to be the largest of the western hemisphere, with a population peaking at close to half a million people. Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, known as the Byzantine Empire. That ended with the Muslim conquest in 1453. Constantinople then became the capital of the Ottoman Empire. Population had declined during the medieval period, but as the Ottoman Empire approached its historical peak, the city grew to a population of close to 700,000 in the 16th century, at the time second in size only to Beijing, and outgrown by London only in the course of the 18th century. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from Constantinople to Ankara. Since 1930, the native name "Istanbul" has been the sole official name of the city in Turkish and has since replaced the traditional name "Constantinople" in most western languages as well.
Hagia Sophia
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Hagia Sophia is a great architectural beauty and an important monument both for Byzantine and for Ottoman Empires. Once a church, later a mosque, and now a museum at the Turkish Republic, Hagia Sophia has always been the precious of its time.The mystical city Istanbul hosted many civilizations since centuries, of which Byzantium and Ottoman Empires were both the most famous ones. The city today carries the characteristics of these two different cultures and surely Hagia Sophia is a perfect synthesis where one can observe both Ottoman and Byzantium effects under one great dome. |