Constantinople: the back story

About Constantinople: the back story

By the ULTIMATE Istanbul Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jai Michael

Emperor Constantine the Great refounded Byzantium as his new capital and dedicated it in AD 330. Under Justinian in the 6th century it gained Hagia Sophia and the Basilica Cistern; its land walls held off attackers for a thousand years, until 1453.

New Rome

In 324 Constantine chose Byzantium as the site of a new imperial capital, and on 11 May 330 he dedicated it as Constantinople. It was built as a New Rome, with a forum, a senate, palaces and the Hippodrome at its heart; the porphyry Column of Constantine still stands at Çemberlitaş.

Justinian’s city

After riots in 532 destroyed much of the centre, Emperor Justinian rebuilt it on a grand scale. Hagia Sophia, completed in 537, astonished the world with a dome that seemed to float on light; the Basilica Cistern stored water for the Great Palace; and the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, now Little Hagia Sophia, is from the same years.

Hagia Sophia was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.

The walls

The Theodosian Walls, built in the 5th century, stretched from the Sea of Marmara to the Golden Horn, with a moat, an outer wall and a massive inner wall. Long stretches survive, and walking beside them is one of the most memorable experiences in the city.

Sack and restoration

In 1204 the armies of the Fourth Crusade captured and plundered the city. The Byzantines recovered it in 1261, and in the last centuries of the empire it saw a final flowering of art: the mosaics and frescoes of the Chora, made in the early 14th century, are among the finest of the Middle Ages.

1453

On 29 May 1453, after a siege of nearly two months, the Ottoman army of Sultan Mehmed II took the city. The last emperor, Constantine XI, died in the fighting. A new chapter began: Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Byzantine Istanbul today

Look for Hagia Sophia, Hagia Irene, the Basilica Cistern, the Hippodrome, Little Hagia Sophia, the Valens Aqueduct, the Theodosian Walls and the Chora. The mosaics in the galleries of Hagia Sophia and in the Chora are the high points.

Our advice: give Hagia Sophia a slow morning, go down into the Basilica Cistern, and spend half a day in the west of the old city, along the land walls to the Chora. Then sit with a tea in Sultanahmet and try to picture the chariot races of the Hippodrome.

Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Constantinople: the back story before you go.