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| View from the Golden Gate, 2012 |
- Miss Julia Pardoe, The Beauties of the Bosphorus (London 1839)
Being already somewhat familiar with the "City of the Sultan," in coming to Istanbul this time, I was hoping to discover the "City of the Byzantine Emperors". I aspired to visualize Istanbul as the Roman city it once was which is challenging in spite of Hagia Sophia's indisputable and iconic presence.
Knowing Constantinople was celebrated as the "New Rome" for more than a thousand years, beginning with the 11th of May of the year 330 by Roman Emperors with all their displays of imperial magnificence adorning the environs of the city, might be cause for expectation on one's part. Although it is possible to still hear the humming of the distant tunes from bygone eras around every corner in Istanbul, finding tangible traces of Byzantium can be a perplexing endeavor. Even with the few remaining monuments dispersed throughout the city, uninterrupted habitation combined with the change of ideology of the consecutive empires has caused Istanbul to metamorphose into a totally unique entity.
Being already somewhat familiar with the "City of the Sultan," in coming to Istanbul this time, I was hoping to discover the "City of the Byzantine Emperors". I aspired to visualize Istanbul as the Roman city it once was which is challenging in spite of Hagia Sophia's indisputable and iconic presence.
Knowing Constantinople was celebrated as the "New Rome" for more than a thousand years, beginning with the 11th of May of the year 330 by Roman Emperors with all their displays of imperial magnificence adorning the environs of the city, might be cause for expectation on one's part. Although it is possible to still hear the humming of the distant tunes from bygone eras around every corner in Istanbul, finding tangible traces of Byzantium can be a perplexing endeavor. Even with the few remaining monuments dispersed throughout the city, uninterrupted habitation combined with the change of ideology of the consecutive empires has caused Istanbul to metamorphose into a totally unique entity.
