The renaming of Constantinople to Istanbul was under the Sultan. What is the name of Constantinople now? But they say that the Turks did not kill everyone...

Before answering the question: “What is Constantinople called now?”, you should find out what it was called before.

The roots of this ancient city go back to 658 BC. The island, which from the height of the flight of a proud eagle bird looked like its head, attracted the attention of Greek colonists from Megara. They settled on this land, which is between the Sea of ​​Marmara and the Golden Horn Bay. It didn’t take long for the settlers to choose the name for their city - it was given in honor of the leader Byzantine. Byzantium - this decision satisfied everyone.

Almost four centuries passed, the city began to prosper and already seemed like a tasty morsel to the surrounding neighbors. The Roman emperor kept proud Byzantium under siege for three years, and only after destroying it to the ground was he able to completely conquer it. We must pay tribute - on his orders the city was rebuilt. Life began to boil in Byzantium with renewed vigor.

Where is Constantinople located, in what country?

Years and centuries flew by unnoticed and the year 330 arrived. Known to all his contemporaries, Constantine I (Roman Emperor) decided to make the main city of Byzantium the capital of the empire. This changed the provincial center so much that after a couple of decades it was no longer possible to recognize it. The huge city became famous for its unprecedented wealth and fame, which spread throughout many neighboring countries. At first there was an attempt to name the capital New Rome, but this name did not take root. The city began to bear the name of the emperor himself - Constantinople. It became the center of world trade. Its history was long - many countries constantly wanted to conquer it. As a result, we can summarize: Constantinople is the disappeared capital of the disappeared state - the Byzantine Empire, but before that it was the capital of the Roman Empire. Constantinople is the second name given to it by the Slavs of Ancient Rus'.

The year 1453 arrived. Much water has passed under the bridge during the founding of Constantinople, many lives have been lived... But this year was not easy - it went down in history with the capture of the city by the Turks. It was not easy to achieve what was desired; the siege lasted for a long time, but it was impossible to withstand it, and foreign troops occupied the city.

Centuries later, Constantinople became the capital of the Ottoman Empire and was now called Istanbul. But the old culture did not just leave the city walls; to this day in Istanbul you can find something that reminds you of the proud Byzantine times:

  • Walls of ancient fortresses.
  • Remains of world-famous imperial palaces.
  • Famous hippodrome.
  • Unique underground tanks and other attractions.

The capture of Constantinople by Turkish troops and its renaming to Istanbul is the beginning of another, no less interesting story. This is already the history of the Ottoman Empire and its capital.

Istanbul today...

Istanbul today is the most populous city in Europe. It has a population of more than ten million people. And on Muslim holidays, the same number of Muslims come here. Just imagine a bus station from which buses depart to different cities at intervals of seconds! And they don't leave empty. There are always passengers coming and going back.

There are a lot of mosques in Istanbul. These buildings deserve attention. A building of extraordinary beauty where every Muslim can worship Allah and take care of his soul.

Like many centuries ago, the city is caressed by the waves of two seas: the Black and Marmara. Only the preserved walls of the famous Constantinople can tell contemporaries about the glorious history of the powerful capital of several empires:

  • Roman;
  • Byzantine;
  • Ottoman.

How many cities in the world can “boast” such a fascinating and far from simple history? Constantinople was transformed into Istanbul quite rapidly. The Turkish way of life absorbed the existing one - the oriental appearance became more and more familiar. Everyone built their own house in a convenient place. The streets became narrower and narrower, solid fences fenced off the residents of the houses from prying eyes. The passages became more and more dark.

No longer the capital...

Istanbul ceased to be the capital in 1923, when the Turkish Republic was proclaimed. From now on, Ankara became the capital, and Constantinople still remained the beautiful, centuries-old cultural center of the country. Many tourists from different parts of the world flock to the city, where the spirit of emperors, warriors and ordinary citizens hovers.

What is the name of Constantinople now - you ask. Some call it Istanbul, some - Constantinople, some - Constantinople. It is not the name that is important, what is important is the memory of everyone who courageously and faithfully defended it, worked and lived in it before.

Byzantium - Constantinople - Istanbul

The history of the first settlement on the site of modern Istanbul is covered in legends. According to one of them, the unfortunate beloved of Zeus Io, turned by Hera into a cow, found shelter in the vicinity of the Golden Horn Bay, where she gave birth to a daughter, Keroessa, and she gave birth to a son, Byzantine, from the ruler of the seas, Poseidon, who became the legendary founder of the city, which changed many names. . The Thracian name of the strait connecting the Black and Marmara seas is also associated with Io - Bosporus, which means “Cow Fortress”. A later legend tells how a certain Byzantine from the Greek polis of Megara received instructions from the Delphic Oracle about the location of the founding of a new colony in Asia Minor. The prophecy stated that the city should be founded “opposite the blind.” Indeed, on the opposite bank of the Bosphorus stood the settlement of Chalcedon, founded by emigrants from Miletus. Its inhabitants were called blind by the Persian commander Megabazus because at one time they were unable to see the real treasure under their noses.

Most likely, Byzantium became another Greek city founded on the European shore of the Bosphorus in 660 BC. e. on the site of an older settlement. The place was successful primarily for trade, and the city quickly began to grow rich. In addition, Byzantium received considerable money for the passage of ships from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and back. In 73, the city became part of the Roman province of Bithynia and Pontus. In 196, Pescennius Niger, an opponent of Emperor Septimius Severus, took refuge in Byzantium. Exhausted from wounds and hunger, the townspeople surrendered to the mercy of the emperor, and he razed the city walls to the ground and even deprived the rebellious Byzantium of its city status. Aurelius Antonius Caracalla, the son of Septimius Severus, begged forgiveness from his father for the city and restored what had been destroyed. He even gave the city his name - Antonia.

The grandiose reconstruction of the city on the Bosphorus began on November 26, 326 under Emperor Constantine the Great. The city walls were moved to the west, and the city itself was divided into 14 districts. A giant forum, the Bukoleon imperial palace, a circus, a theater, many public baths and multi-story buildings with arcades were built here. The total length of the walls, erected in three rows, was 16 km, they had seven gates, including the famous Golden Gate, and 96 towers. A fortress moat 10 meters deep and 20 meters wide was dug between the walls. The city was given the same privileges as Rome, and its ruler received the title of proconsul. And the fate of the city soon changed. On May 11, 330, Constantine the Great solemnly announced the creation of a new capital of the empire. On the site of ancient Byzantium, a city began to grow rapidly, which during its long life changed many names: New Rome, the Reigning City, Constantinople.

Since 395, after the collapse of the Roman Empire into two parts, Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, its inhabitants called themselves Romans, that is, Romans, the Slavs called them Greeks, and the Arabs called them Rums.

Constantinople concentrated the untold wealth of a huge empire, whose possessions extended from Palestine and Syria to the Caucasus and the Balkans. The new Church of Hagia Sophia became a symbol of the greatness of the empire. The first temple, built under Emperor Constantine, was destroyed and restored several more times, until Emperor Justinian set out to erect a building that would surpass all that had existed previously in its wealth and beauty. It was supposed to eclipse not only the grandeur of the pagan shrines of Rome, but also the famous Temple of Jerusalem.

The construction of the huge domed basilica was completed by 537, and an unprecedented spectacle appeared before the eyes of eyewitnesses. Icons were mounted on silver pillars, and the interior of the temple was decorated with columns made of porphyry and green marble. There were 40 windows cut into the base of the huge dome, the flowing light from which created the impression that the dome was simply floating in the air, “lowered from the sky on a golden chain.” Over the centuries, the walls of the basilica were decorated with frescoes and precious mosaics.

The wealth of the empire attracted invaders eager for profit - Avars, Rus, Persians and Arabs - to the city walls. Constantinople, in the opinion of its inhabitants, was protected primarily by the patronage of the Most Holy Theotokos. Her imperishable robe, which was transported to Constantinople from Nazareth in the 5th century, according to legend, saved the city in 626 from the invasion of the Avars, from the Persians - in 677, in 717 - from the Arabs and in 860 - from the Rus under the leadership of Prince Askold . In 910, during the Arab siege, the monks of the Blachernae Church, where the robe was kept, had a vision of the Virgin Mary spreading her veil over the city. It was in memory of these miraculous deliverances in the 12th century in Rus' that Andrei Bogolyubsky established the Feast of the Intercession of the Mother of God (October 14).

The prosperity of Constantinople was put to an end by the participants of the IV Crusade in April 1204. After the city, taken by storm for the first time in its history, fell into the hands of the crusaders, it was subjected to such destruction and plunder that could only be expected from barbarian hordes. The brilliant capital of the empire was turned into ruins. The atrocities of the Crusaders were so strongly etched in the memory of the townspeople that, when they had to choose between the rule of Catholics and Muslims, many of them expressed the opinion that for them the turban was preferable to the rule of the Latins.

So, in the spring of 1453, the Turks approached the city under the leadership of Sultan Mehmed II Fatih (the Conqueror). Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos appealed in vain to the Christian Sovereigns of Europe for military assistance. And the inhabitants of Constantinople were preparing to accept the Muslim invasion as punishment from the Lord. The Turkish army numbered 150 thousand people, and the doomed city barely managed to assemble a small detachment of 10 thousand soldiers. Constantine, realizing that the days of the empire were numbered, turned to his entourage with words full of sadness and nobility. According to an eyewitness, the emperor’s speech had such an effect that many of those who heard it could hardly restrain their sobs, knowing full well that this was a farewell moment both in their own lives and in the life of the state. On May 27, 1453, Mehmed II launched the assault. The attacks of the Turkish army rolled in like sea waves. The few defenders desperately resisted for two days, but the wounding of the Genoese leader Giustiniani undermined the morale of the troops, and those who fought retreated in panic. For several days the city was plundered by soldiers. Residents were killed on the streets and in churches, shrines were desecrated, and even the Hagia Sophia did not protect the unfortunate. Legend has it that the Turks broke into the temple while a service was going on there. Few managed to avoid death; only the priest miraculously found salvation, stepping along with the Holy Gifts through the wall and disappearing into its thickness. Constantine Paleologus himself, seeing the agony of his capital, took up arms and rushed into the last battle, in which he was destined to die. Later, among the Greeks who fought against Turkish rule, there was a popular legend that in that battle Constantine did not die, but fell asleep in order to wake up from his magical sleep for the decisive battle.

However, the ancient city rose from the ruins: Mehmed II moved the center of his empire here from Adrianople. And soon the city acquired a new face and a new name. When the Turks asked the local peasants the way to Constantinople, they answered them the same as a thousand years ago: is tin polin - to the city. Later this expression turned into a new, already Turkish name - Istanbul, Istanbul.

Builders were invited to Istanbul, who changed its appearance and gave it an oriental flavor. Mosques, Turkish baths, barracks for the Janissaries, cool fountains and crowded caravanserais appeared here. Large mosques with more than one minaret were called sultan's, and those that were more modest were called vizier's. Madrasah schools, hotels for pilgrims and imarets (free canteens) were built at the mosques.

In 1459, by order of Mehmed II, behind the fortress walls on the shore of the Golden Horn Bay, the architect Atik Sinan built the first mosque in Istanbul - Eyyub, named after the standard-bearer of the Prophet Muhammad, Eyyub Ansari, who died during the siege of Constantinople by the Arabs in 668. Here is also the türbe (tomb) of Eyyub, revered as a shrine. It was in this mosque that a symbolic ceremony took place, during which the legendary blade of the founder of the dynasty, Osman Ghazi (1258–1324), nicknamed the Black, was handed over to the new sultan. This color, according to Turkish tradition, symbolized courage and valor.

The Turks did not destroy the Hagia Sophia; they turned it into a mosque. At the same time, the beautiful golden mosaics were covered with lime. The arrows of minarets rushed upward from four sides of the facade, and huge medallions with quotations from the Koran were placed inside. The Turks gave the temple a new name - Hagia Sophia.

Under the Ottomans, the city no longer had anything to fear from sieges and destruction; it became the center of a powerful military empire, in which the Sultan himself, setting an example of courage, went into battle at the head of the army. The only scourge of Istanbul was fires. Residents, fearing earthquakes, despite the strict decrees of the sultans, preferred to build wooden dwellings rather than stone ones. As soon as just one house caught fire, the whole area burned out. Thus, a fire that occurred in 1782 turned half of the city into ashes.

Over time, Istanbul regained its multinational composition - in addition to the Turks, who made up about half of the population, Greeks, Armenians, Genoese and Jews who fled from the European Inquisition lived here. A hundred years after the conquest, the number of inhabitants of Istanbul reached half a million.

The Turkish population preferred to settle in the central part of the city, close to administrative and religious centers. In addition to Muslims, a few descendants of noble Byzantines, called Phanariots (named after the Phanar region), also lived here. The rest of the non-Muslim population settled in the Galata region, where Venetians and Genoese lived under the Byzantine emperors.

The city reached its heyday during the reign of Suleiman I Kanuni (the Lawgiver), also known under the nickname the Magnificent. This sultan was not only a brilliant commander, but also a brilliantly educated man who valued the intelligence and talent of his entourage. He also went down in history with his unusual for a ruler romantic relationship with his Slavic wife Anastasia Lisovskaya, the legendary Roksolana. To please her, he not only abandoned the harem, but even mercilessly dealt with his eldest son and heir, Mustafa. Skillfully controlling the will of the powerful ruler, Roksolana, who moved into Suleiman’s personal chambers, remained for him the most beautiful and desirable woman until her death. Having lost her, the Sultan ordered the construction of a tomb for his beloved wife in the same place where he himself was to rest - in the garden of the Suleymaniye Mosque. This mosque was one of the masterpieces created by the architect Mimar (the Builder) Sinan (1489–1588), who built many beautiful buildings in Istanbul.

The last sultan to bear the name of the legendary Conqueror, Mehmed VI, lasted on the throne for only five years - from 1918 to 1923.

After the proclamation of a new state on the territory of the Ottoman Empire - the Republic of Turkey, on October 29, 1923, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara. But, even having lost this title, the city did not lose either its nobility or greatness.

This text is an introductory fragment. From the book Letters of 1848-1852 author Gogol Nikolay Vasilievich

A. P. TOLSTOY April 25/13<1848. Константинополь>Having learned that you will be in Constantinople, I leave you a few lines, my priceless friend Alexander Petrovich. The only reason I didn’t write to you from Jerusalem was because I didn’t know where you were. I completed my journey safely. I

From the book The Byzantines [Heirs of Rome (litres)] author Rice David Talbot

S. P. APRAXINA<Около 25/13 апреля 1848. Константинополь.>I found your two letters in Constantinople, dear Sofya Petrovna. Thank you very much for them. Somehow I prayed for you at the saint’s tomb, that is, I muttered your name along with other names close to my heart.

From the book Simpletons Abroad or The Path of New Pilgrims by Mark Twain

A. A. IVANOV<1848. Константинополь. Апреля 14/26.>I am writing to you, my dear Alexander Andreevich, from Constantinople, a few hours before leaving here for Odessa. My journey to Jerusalem was completed, thank God, safely. Notify me about yourself. I think you

From the author's book

Fourth Crusade: Constantinople in the hands of the Latins After a brief stop to capture Zara (present-day Zadar on the Dalmatian coast) for the Venetians, the expedition reached the Sea of ​​Marmara and captured Galata, a fortress already held by the Latins. floating

From the author's book

Chapter VI. Modern Greece. - Archipelago and Dardanelles. - Traces of history. - Constantinople. - A huge mosque. - One thousand and one columns. - Grand Istanbul Bazaar. From Athens we walked past the islands of the Greek archipelago, and everywhere we saw only a pile of stones and

From the author's book

Chapter XI. Return to Constantinople. - Our visit to the emperor in the image of sailors. - Ancient Smyrna. - Oriental splendor is a deception. - Prophecies of learned pilgrims. - Courteous Armenian girls. We returned to Constantinople and, after spending a day or two in

Constantinople, Istanbul Dictionary of Russian synonyms. Constantinople noun, number of synonyms: 6 Byzantium (3) mountains ... Synonym dictionary

- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Constantinople), the capital of the Roman Empire (from 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul... Modern encyclopedia

- (Constantinople) capital of the Byzantine Empire. Founded by Constantine I in 324 330 on the site of the city of Byzantium. In 1204 it became the capital of the Latin Empire. Recaptured by the Byzantines in 1261. In 1453 taken by the Turks, renamed Istanbul... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

See Byzantium. (Source: “A Brief Dictionary of Mythology and Antiquities.” M. Korsh. St. Petersburg, published by A. S. Suvorin, 1894.) ... Encyclopedia of Mythology

Istanbul Geographical names of the world: Toponymic dictionary. M: AST. Pospelov E.M. 2001... Geographical encyclopedia

Constantinople- (Constantinople), a city in Turkey (modern Istanbul), originally Byzantine, founded in 657 BC. like Greek the colony. In the beginning. 4th century AD Constantine I the Great chose it as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, preferring the one located nearby... ... The World History

Constantinople- (ancient Byzantium, Slavic Constantinople, Turkish Istanbul), capital of the Ottoman Empire, on the Thracian Bosphorus, 1,125 thousand inhabitants; has Ukrainian, military. harbor and arsenal. Located in an amphitheater on the berth. bays of the Golden Horn. Natural conditions and... ... Military encyclopedia

Constantinople- (Byzantium; in medieval Russian texts Constantinople), the capital of the Roman Empire (from 330), then the Byzantine Empire. See Istanbul. ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (Constantinople) 1. Muslim conquests The city was besieged in 668 by Arabs led by Abu Sufyan, the military commander of Caliph Mu'awiya. The Muslim fleet passed through the Hellespont unhindered, but the attack on the city faced fierce... ... Encyclopedia of Battles of World History

I (Greek Κωνσταντινουπολις, ancient Βυζαντιον, Latin Byzantium, ancient Russian folk. Tsaregrad, Serb. Tsarigrad, Czech. Cařihrad, Polish. Carogród, Turkish. Stanbol [pron. Stam boulevard or Istanbul], Arabic Constantiniye, Italian. common people and... Encyclopedic Dictionary F.A. Brockhaus and I.A. Ephron

Books

  • Constantinople. Album of species. Constantinople, 1880s. Edition "Deutsche Buch- und Steindruckerei Papier- und Kunsthandlung F. Loeffler". Album with 29 color lithographs. Typographic binding. Safety…
  • Constantinople, D. Essad. Reprinted edition using print-on-demand technology from the original of 1919. Reproduced in the original author’s spelling of the 1919 edition (publishing house M. and S. Sabashnikov Publishing).…

Today I would like to tell and show quite extensive material about what Constantinople was like before its fall exactly 560 years ago - in 1453, when it began to be called Istanbul. I think everyone knows that Istanbul is Byzantine Constantinople - the former capital of the Byzantine Empire. Now on the streets of the city you constantly come across some particles of that very, once greatest city in the world, which was called just that - the City. True, these are very tiny particles compared to what was happening here 1000 years ago - most medieval churches were rebuilt into mosques, just as ancient temples were rebuilt into churches in their time. And despite my ardent love for the East, for Islamic culture, it is incredibly interesting to find echoes of Christianity - Greek, Bulgarian, Armenian, Russian (yes, there are quite a lot of Russian artifacts here, for example, in the courtyard of the Patriarchate of Constantinople I found a bell cast by us in Gorodets, his photo is under the cut). In general, it is here, in Istanbul, that you can very clearly see how some cultures, and not even cultures, but civilizations succeeded each other, organizing a feast on the bones of the vanquished.

But before showing all the beauties of Christian Istanbul, we need to tell a little about the Byzantine Empire itself, or more precisely about how it ceased to exist. The possessions of Byzantium in the middle of the 15th century were not the largest - it was no longer the same Empire that we are used to seeing in history textbooks when studying antiquity. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Crusaders conquered the city and sat (read robbed) in Constantinople for about 50 years, after which they were driven out of here by the Venetians. So several Greek islands, Constantinople itself and its suburbs - that’s the whole empire. And the Ottomans, who were gaining power at that time, already lived everywhere around us.

Constantinople tried to conquer and was besieged by the Ottoman Sultan Bayazid, but the invasion of Timur distracted him from this great undertaking.

The city at that time lay only in the European part of present-day Istanbul and was very well fenced with a powerful wall. It was difficult to approach it from the sea because of the current, and the only more or less possible place of access was the Golden Horn Bay. The Ottomans, led by Mehmed II, took advantage of this.

Plan of Constantinople

Constantinople at the time of its fall

And for more than five and a half centuries, the greatest city in the world, Constantinople, as our ancestors called it, has been under Turkish rule. Constantine was the last of the Roman emperors. With the death of Constantine XI, the Byzantine Empire ceased to exist. Its lands became part of the Ottoman state.

The Sultan granted the Greeks the rights of a self-governing community within the empire; the head of the community was to be the Patriarch of Constantinople, responsible to the Sultan. The Sultan himself, considering himself the successor of the Byzantine emperor, took the title Kaiser-i Rum (Caesar of Rome). This title was held by the Turkish sultans until the end of the First World War. By the way, there was no special looting (for example, what the Turks committed in Smyrna already in the 20th century), despite the deep Middle Ages, in the city - Mehmed far-sightedly forbade his subjects to destroy the city.
Siege of Constantinople

This is what remains of the walls of Theodosius, in some places they are being restored, but Mehmed knew what he was doing - he was destroying for sure, although the main blow, of course, came from the bay

All churches after the conquest were rebuilt into mosques in a very simple way - by removing the cross and erecting a crescent, adding minarets.

Despite everything that happened, many Christians remained in the city: Greeks, Bulgarians, Armenians, and they built their buildings, some of which I will show below.
For example, the building of the Greek Lyceum, which does not fit into the city architecture at all, but serves as an excellent landmark in Phanar and Balata


The first Christian basilica on this site was erected at the beginning of the 4th century on the site of the ruins of the ancient temple of Aphrodite under the Roman emperor Constantine and was the main temple of the city until the construction of Hagia Sophia. In May - July 381, meetings of the Second Ecumenical Council were held there.

In 346, over 3,000 people died near the temple due to religious disagreements. In 532, during the Nika revolt, the church was burned and then rebuilt under Justinian in 532. The church was heavily damaged by an earthquake in 740, after which it was largely rebuilt. The figural mosaics perished during the era of iconoclasm; in place of the traditional Savior Pantocrator, a mosaic cross flaunts in the conch.

After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the church was not converted into a mosque and there were no significant changes in its appearance. Thanks to this, to this day the Church of St. Irene is the only church in the city that has preserved its original atrium (a spacious, high room at the entrance to the church).

During the 15th-18th centuries, the church was used by the Ottomans as an armory, and starting in 1846, the temple was turned into an Archaeological Museum. In 1869, the Church of St. Irene was converted into the Imperial Museum. A few years later, in 1875, its exhibits were moved to the Tile Pavilion due to insufficient space. Finally, in 1908, a Military Museum was opened in the church. Nowadays, the Church of St. Irene serves as a concert hall and you can’t just get into it.


And of course, Hagia Sophia - once the main cathedral of the entire Christian world! This is a former patriarchal Orthodox cathedral, later a mosque, now a museum; a world-famous monument of Byzantine architecture, a symbol of the “golden age” of Byzantium. The official name of the monument today is the Hagia Sophia Museum (Turkish: Ayasofya Müzesi).

After the city was captured by the Ottomans, the St. Sophia Cathedral was converted into a mosque, and in 1935 it acquired the status of a museum. In 1985, St. Sophia Cathedral, among other monuments of the historical center of Istanbul, was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Site. For more than a thousand years, St. Sophia's Cathedral in Constantinople remained the largest temple in the Christian world - until the construction of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. The height of the St. Sophia Cathedral is 55.6 meters, the diameter of the dome is 31 meters.

To be more precise, the cathedral did not look the same as in the photo below, to see its original appearance you need to scroll through the photo

Well, we also need to replace the crescents with crosses here - there were no minarets, of course. It is truly an impressive cathedral with an impressive interior.

To get in you have to stand in line and go through a metal detector.

In the courtyard of the cathedral


Cathedral plan

1. Entrance 2. Imperial Gate 3. Weeping Column 4. Altar. Mihrab 5. Minbar
6. Sultan's Lodge 7. Omphalos (“navel of the world”) 8. Marble urns from Pergamon
a.) Byzantine-era Baptistery, tomb of Sultan Mustafa I
b.) Minarets of Sultan Selim II

Some frescoes have been preserved inside the cathedral, but at one time all the walls and ceilings were completely covered with them. By the way, most of the frescoes and mosaics remained unharmed, as some researchers believe, precisely because they were covered with plaster for several centuries.

Above the door leading to the narthex is a 10th-century mosaic of the Virgin Mary with two emperors, Constantine and Justinian. Constantine holds a model of the city he founded, and Justinian holds a model of Sophia (not at all similar).


Now this is a very strange combination of a Christian temple and a mosque, but the size is actually impressive!

The Virgin and Child in the semi-dome of the central apse dates back to 867

When I was there, about a quarter of the volume was covered with scaffolding...
The six-winged seraphs in the eastern sails under the dome date back to the 6th century (their counterparts in the western sails are the work of 19th century restorers)

In the southern gallery, parts of the magnificent mosaic decoration of the 11th-12th centuries have been preserved. Once upon a time, the choirs were completely covered with mosaics on a golden background, but only a few images have survived. In one of them, made around 1044, Empress Zoe and her husband Constantine Monomakh bow before the throne of Christ.

In their hands, the august couple holds symbols of charity: a wallet with money and a deed of gift. The upper part of the figures is well preserved - the more striking are the roughly repaired cracks around Konstantin's head and Zoya's face. These are traces of alterations: the male figure initially depicted not Konstantin, but Zoya’s previous husband (there were three of them in total). And the face of the empress herself was broken when her stepson, who passionately hated his stepmother, came to power for a short time. When Zoe, one of the few women to rule the empire, returned to the throne, the mosaic had to be repaired.

Original frescoes under later plaster

But the most beautiful mosaic in the choir (and in general one of the most important works of Byzantine art) is the magnificent Deesis: an image of Christ with the Mother of God and John the Baptist. “Deesis” means “prayer”: the Mother of God and John pray to Christ for the salvation of the human race.

Emperor Leo VI kneels before Jesus Christ


And this is how they got rid of the symbols of Christianity - crosses - in mosques: they simply erased them

Or disassembled

The Church of Christ the Savior in the Fields (Greek: ἡ Ἐκκλησία του Ἅγιου Σωτῆρος ἐν τῃ Χώρᾳ) from the ensemble of the monastery in Chora is the most preserved Byzantine church in Istanbul. Since 1948, it has been open to tourists as the Kariye Museum (Turkish: Kariye Müzesi), and is one of the Istanbul World Heritage Sites.

The name comes from the fact that before Theodosius II built the current city walls, the church stood outside the walls of the imperial capital, south of the Golden Horn. The surviving building was built with the care of Maria Ducas, mother-in-law of Emperor Alexios Komnenos, in 1077-81. Half a century later, part of the vaults collapsed, probably due to an earthquake, and Alexei’s youngest son financed the restoration work.

The Chora Church was rebuilt again after the Palaiologos came to power, in 1315-21. The patron was the great logothete Theodore Metochites. He spent his last years in the monastery as an ordinary monk (his ktitor's portrait has been preserved). The mosaics and frescoes he commissioned are an unsurpassed artistic achievement of the Palaiologan Renaissance.

During the siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the icon of the Heavenly Intercessor of the city - the icon of Our Lady Hodegetria - was brought to the monastery. Half a century later, the Turks plastered over all the images from the Byzantine period in order to turn the church into the Kahriye Jami Mosque. Chora came back to life as an island of Byzantium in the middle of a modern Islamic city as a result of restoration work in 1948.

The frescoes are simply amazing, I will have a detailed post about the frescoes separately!






The Church of Our Lady of Pammakarista (“Rejoicing”), also known as the Fethiye Cami (“Conquest”) Mosque, is the most significant monument of art preserved in Istanbul from the reign of the Palaiologans. In terms of area of ​​surviving mosaics, it is second only to the Cathedral of St. Sofia and the church in Chora.
According to one version, the current building was erected shortly after the end of the Crusaders' rule over Constantinople (1261), when the Byzantines were rebuilding the city. According to written sources, the building was built by protostrator Michael Glabos Duca Tarchainotus, nephew of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos, between 1292-1294.
Shortly after 1310, the widow of the Byzantine military leader Mikhail Glabas (μιχαὴλ δοῦκας γλαβᾶς ταρχανειώτης) Maria (as a monastic of Martha) built in the southeastern side of the temple Spassky, in which they were both buried.

After 3 years of the fall of Constantinople, in 1456 the Ecumenical Patriarch moved his see to the Pammakarista Church, where it remained until 1587.
In 1590, Sultan Murad III commemorated the conquest of Transcaucasia by converting the church to the Fethiye Camii mosque ("Mosque of Conquest"). When creating the prayer hall, all internal partitions and ceilings were dismantled. The mosque underwent restoration in 1845-46.
In 1949, the complex was restored by the American Institute of Byzantium and since that time the premises with mosaics have functioned as a museum. Since the fall of 2011, the building has been closed for restoration.

On the apse there are images of Christ, the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist


Gregory the Illuminator

The dome depicts Pantocrator and 12 prophets:
- Isaiah. Inscription on the scroll: “Behold, the Lord sits on a light cloud” (Is. 19:1)
- Moses. “The Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords” (Deut. 10:17)
- Jeremiah. “Here is our Lord, nothing compares to him.”
- Zephaniah. “The whole earth will be consumed by the fire of His jealousy” (Sph. 1:18)
- Micah. “The mountain of the house of the Lord will be set at the top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills” (Mc. 4:1)
- Joel. “Fear, O earth: rejoice and be glad, for the Lord is great to do this.” (Joel 2:21)
- Zachariah. “The Lord of Hosts is a holy mountain” (Zech. 8:3)
- Avdiy. “On Mount Zion there will be salvation” (Obadiah 1:17)
- Habakkuk. "God! I have heard Your ears” (Hab. 3:2)
- Jonah. “My prayer has reached You” (Jonah 2:8)
- Malachi. “Behold, I send my angel” (Malachi 3:1)
- Ezekiel. “And then all the believers will disappear”

St. Anthony

Inscriptions on the facade of the building

Nearby stands the modest Church of John the Baptist, which is now the Akhmat Pasha Mosque and is the tiniest surviving church in Constantinople, at only 15 meters long. Located in the most Islamic-conservative part of the Fatih district, less than 400 meters from the Church of Our Lady of Pammakarista. The church has never been systematically studied. It is assumed that it was built under Komnenos and was dedicated to John the Baptist (like 35 other churches in the Byzantine capital). Converted into a mosque at the end of the 16th century at the expense of Akhmat Pasha (former Agha Janissaries). Until 1961, the building was in ruins, with a destroyed narthex and broken pillars. It seems to me that it best symbolizes what remains of the once great Byzantine Empire...

The history of Constantinople covers an interesting period from 330, when the capital of the Roman Empire - the city of Byzantium - was called Constantinople, or New Rome. The history of Constantinople ends in 1453, when the city was subjugated by the Ottoman Turks, led by Mehmed the conqueror.

Major milestones in the history of Constantinople (briefly):

  • 330 - The Roman city of Byzantium was named Constantinople. It became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium (which was formed after the division of the Roman Empire).
  • 527-565 - a large-scale popular uprising of “Nika” against Emperor Justinian, who forcibly converted the people of Constantinople to the Christian faith. As a result of 35 thousand killed, the revolts were suppressed.
  • VI century - the beginning of the heyday of Constantinople and the entire Byzantine Empire. Until the 13th century, the city remained the largest center of culture, science and trade in Europe.
  • 717 - an unsuccessful attempt by the Arabs to besiege Constantinople.
  • 9th century - Russians led by Askold and Dir attacked Constantinople, but the siege failed and the ancient Russian princes of Kyiv retreated.
  • Beginning of the 10th century - Prince Oleg of Kiev tried to take Constantinople. The parties agreed on peace: Constantinople paid off with favorable conditions for Kyiv merchants.
  • Mid-10th century - Prince Igor of Kiev tried to conquer the city, but failed.
  • 957 - Igor’s wife Olga came from Kyiv to Constantinople and was baptized.
  • 1097 - Crusader troops gathered in Constantinople to participate in the First Crusade against the Muslim Turks, which ended in the victory of the Europeans.
  • 1204 – the city was captured by King Boniface I of Thessalonica. After the fall of its capital, the Byzantine Empire disintegrated into small kingdoms.
  • 1453 - Turk Mehmed II the Conqueror took Constantinople and killed the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine. The city was named Istanbul and made the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Detailed history of Constantinople

From foundation to blossom

In 330 AD. The ancient Roman city of Byzantium, under the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great, was called New Rome (Greek. Νέα Ῥώμη , lat. Nova Roma), or Constantinople (ancient Greek. Κωνσταντινούπολις , lat. Constantinopolis) .

In fact, the city on the site of Byzantium was rebuilt thanks to large-scale intensive construction.

The efforts of Emperor Constantine the Great for the development and prosperity of New Rome were not in vain - in just the first half century, the new capital of the Roman Empire turned into the largest and richest city in Europe and the Middle East with its palaces, multiple temples, theaters and baths, a circus, a hippodrome, library and schools. And although there were several serious earthquakes, during which the walls of the city were largely destroyed, Constantinople was strengthened, the walls were expanded and rebuilt, and the city's sea routes again became one of the most important sources of its prosperity.

During the reign of Justinian I (527-565 AD), the production of pottery, textiles, construction and forges, jewelry and agriculture, the production of weapons and coinage were very developed in Constantinople. Ships from the Black Sea and Mediterranean fleets, as well as the fleets of Spain and Egypt, passed through Constantinople; Persian and Indian caravans also delivered their goods to Europe through Constantinople. Trade flourished and the city became financially rich.

The city was well fortified with fortress walls 16 km long. They are called the walls of Constantine and Theodosius - in honor of the emperors under whom they were built. The line of the wall of Theodosius for many centuries determined the boundaries within which Constantinople lived and developed:


Map: Walls of Constantinople. The outer wall of Theodosius defined the boundaries of the city

Many peoples involved in trade lived here. Chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, medicine and theological sciences also developed.

Byzantium was at that time a powerful state, which included the southern part of Spain, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Carthage (the territory of modern Tunisia), Mesopotamia (modern Iran, Iraq and northeastern Syria), Cilicia (today it is part of Turkey in the north -eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea), part of Armenia, Dalmatia (the territory of modern Croatia and Montenegro), the Bosporan Kingdom (modern Crimea and the territories northwest of Crimea up to the Kuban) and Anatolia (Asia Minor, the middle part of modern Turkey).

Conversion to Christianity and popular uprisings

In the 6th century AD. Under Justinian I, a series of rebellions took place in Constantinople, which went down in history as the “Revolt of Nika.” The ruler, under the threat of deprivation of the rights and freedoms of his subjects and even under the threat of the death penalty, converted the people to the Christian faith. Ordinary people, led by a number of senators, did not agree with the emperor’s policies and the taxation system, and began to create riots in the city, setting fire to Christian temples and churches, as well as buildings in which tax receipts and documents were kept, and part of the imperial palace burned down. . The uprising was brutally suppressed. There were about 35 thousand people killed.

Justinian I successfully rebuilt the burned Hagia Sophia, the Church of the Holy Apostles and the Church of Saint Irene, and also built several new churches.

Thanks to Emperor Theodosius, Constantinople became the capital of Christianity, which became the state religion in Byzantium.

Beginning of raids and weakening


Photo: Constantinople (reconstruction) from a bird's eye view

Byzantium at the end of the 7th century. lost a significant part of its territories, such as Egypt and Palestine, Cilicia and Syria, Upper Mesopotamia and Carthage to the Arabs. In 717, the Arabs continued their raids and tried to besiege Constantinople. Their attempts at capture ended in retreat after several unsuccessful months.

In the 9th century, the Russians, led by princes Askold and Dir, tried to attack Constantinople, but they could not besiege the city, and retreated, only slightly plundering the surrounding area. At the beginning of the 10th century, the Kiev prince Oleg tried to take Constantinople, but the Byzantines agreed on peace with him, providing the merchants of Rus' with favorable conditions for trade.

In the middle of the 10th century, an unsuccessful campaign against the capital of Byzantium was carried out by the Kiev prince Igor Rurikovich, where he was defeated by “liquid fire” (or “Greek fire”) used by his enemies. “Liquid fire” was a flammable mixture, the composition of which is not known for certain, but it is assumed that it was a mixture of crude oil, oil and sulfur, which was thrown using special devices; it was always successfully used by the Byzantines in naval battles.

In 957 AD. After the death of her husband, Princess Olga arrived in Constantinople and was baptized there.

In the 1st half. In the 11th century, the church split into Western (Roman Catholic) and Eastern (Greek Catholic). The latter later became known as the Orthodox Church.

By the mid-11th century, the Byzantine capital still had the importance of a world trade center, but experienced strong competition from the Thessalonian fairs.

First fall of Constantinople

In 1097, crusaders gathered in Constantinople to take part in the First Crusade against the Seljuks in Anatolia and the Muslims in Jerusalem. The Byzantines helped the “guests” who came to them - the crusaders - to cross to the Asian shore of the Bosphorus, and they went towards Jerusalem.

Despite this, in the future the Constantinople people developed tense relations with all the crusader states. And a hundred years later, in 1203, the Fourth Crusade of the crusader knights began against Constantinople itself! And it became fatal for him.

So, the Fourth Crusade was organized by Venice, for which the Byzantines were the main trading rivals in the East. Anti-Byzantine sentiments among the knights were fueled by the untold wealth of Constantinople, the policy of Pope Innocent (who sought to subjugate the Byzantine Church) and the German feudal lords. So the original plan for the crusade against Egypt was changed - the army went to the capital of a rich empire.

IN April 1204 Constantinople fell for the first time in its history - it was captured by the Crusader prince Boniface I, king of Thessalonica (modern territory of Greece). The crusaders plundered the city, and did not even disdain to rob the imperial tombs.


Photo: Constantinople is captured by the Crusaders. Engraving by G. Doré, 1877

A month later, a fire in the city center in the Golden Horn region destroyed entire shopping districts with all their goods and houses, and many residents lost their jobs and livelihoods. The city fell into decay for many decades.

After the fall of Constantinople, the Byzantine Empire split into several kingdoms - the Latin Empire (it was created by the crusaders and Constantinople entered it), the Kingdom of Thessaloniki (Boniface), the Nicaean Empire (which considered itself the true heir of Byzantium and opposed the foreign presence in Constantinople), the Kingdom of Epirus and etc.

By the mid-13th century, Constantinople and the Latin Empire had fallen into complete economic decline.

Return of Constantinople to Byzantium

After the fall of Constantinople, the Nicaean Empire ( on the map below) began to strengthen and became the most viable Greek kingdom at that time. Its emperors considered themselves the true kings of the destroyed Byzantium, and, unlike it, identified themselves purely as Greeks, and not amophoric Roman-Greeks. It was here that the self-awareness of the Hellenes and Greeks was formed.


Map of the division of the Byzantine Empire into kingdoms after the first conquest of Constantinople

In 1260, the Nicaean emperor Michael VIII Paleogos tried to recapture Constantinople from the Latins, but the Greeks were forced to retreat. The following year, he finally conquered the city where the Venetians ruled. The Greeks entered it at night through a drainage and opened the gates to the main army. The local emperor fled, and on August 15 1261 Michael entered Constantinople in triumph. Thus, the Byzantine Empire was restored under the rule of the Greeks from the Palaiologan dynasty. However, this was only a shadow of the past great empire.

At the same time, the Nicene Empire, of course, lost its importance and became a simple provincial region of Byzantium, and later the territory of the Ottoman rulers.

Michael made a lot of efforts to restore Constantinople, but the infrastructure was in ruins, vacant lots grew in place of former neighborhoods, the population was starving and suffered from epidemics.

The economic situation improved by the middle of the 14th century.

The final fall. Conquest by the Turks

At the end of the 13th century (1296 - 1297) the city began to decline more and more against the backdrop of the heyday of the Genoese Galata. The Venetian fleet often plundered the suburbs of Constantinople, despite the fact that Michael allowed the Genoese to use the strait and enter the Black Sea. The Greeks could not resist Venice without their strong fleet.

But a more powerful enemy was approaching from the east - the growing Ottoman Empire. In 1326, the Turks conquered the large Byzantine city of Bursa, 92 km from Constantinople, and made it their capital. Thus, the enemy was hanging right at the borders.

In 1362, the Turkish Sultan Murad the First moved his capital even closer - to Adrianople (now Turkish Edirne), surrounding Constantinople with Ottoman lands on all sides.

And although Constantinople remained the capital of the Byzantine Empire, it essentially no longer existed. The Byzantine emperors recognized themselves as vassals of the sultans and owned only Constantinople and small lands near it.

Finally, in 1453, Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror took the city, sacked it, killed the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine, and sold the surviving inhabitants into slavery. The remnants of the Byzantine Empire fell to the Turks, and Mehmed the conqueror proclaimed Constantinople the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Siege of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, French miniature of the 15th century

The Turks turned the most significant church temples into mosques, and the city itself was named Istanbul, although the city was not officially renamed at that time. In the 16th century, during the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Golden Age for Constantinople, but this is a separate interesting story - the history of Istanbul.

What is Tsargrad

Constantinople is nothing more than the ancient Slavic name of Byzantine Constantinople and Ottoman Istanbul. In Rus', this word was written in Old Church Slavonic as Tsargrad.

In general, Constantinople is an ancient Slavic tracing paper from the Greek Βασιλὶς Πόλις (Vassilis Polis). That is, literally translated from Greek. this is “Caesar's City”.

Today the word Tsargrad is an archaic term in the Russian language. But it is interesting that it is still used in Bulgarian, particularly in a historical context. For example, the main transport artery in Sofia is called Tsarigradsko highway. The Bulgarians call gooseberries Tsarigrad bunch.

In the modern Slovenian language, Tsargrad is used very actively. Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs understand and use the name Carigrad.

But it should be noted that in fact Constantinople was never called Constantinople in Byzantium itself or the Ottoman Empire, of which it was the capital.