City of Constantine

Column dedicated to the Emperor Marcian (r. 450-57), erected by the urban prefect Tatianus (450-c.452).

Column commemorating a 3rd or 4th c. victory over the Goths.

Solid granite obelisk of Pharaoh Thutmose III (1479–1425 BC) re-erected in what was the central spina of the Hippodrome by Theodosius in the 4th c.

Weathered medieval obelisk made of stone masonry. Repaired by Constantine VII in the 10th c., it was stripped of its adornments by the Fourth Crusade.

Triple triumphal arch originally featuring statues of Arcadius and Honorius on either side, with their father Theodosius in the center. Only the base of the main arch remains.

Column commemorating Arcadius's triumph over the Goths in 400. Similar to the Column of Theodosius and that of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius in Rome. Toppled in 1715 for safety reasons.

Column commemorating the declaration of Nova Roma as the new imperial capital in 330. Center of the non-extant Forum of Constantine.

Imperial orphanage built by Justin II, named after an eponymous church nearby. Small marble columns sprouting out of the bushes are all that remain.

Ancient Greek bronze sacrificial tripod from Delphi (479 BC) relocated to the central spina of the Hippodrome by Constantine in 324.

Circular elevated platform facing the Field of Mars from which the emperor would address the army. Built by Valens after his proclamation in 364, its foundational ruins are now ring-fenced by tower blocks.

Tetrapylon denoting the starting point for measuring distances to other cities of the empire.

Tetrapylon at the intersection of the Mese, Constantinople's main street, and the Makros Embolos, the city's great mall.

Constantinian porphyry obelisk where the north and south branches of the Mese met. The famous statue of the Tetrarchs in Venice may well have been pilfered from an adjacent 'Philadelphion' building.

Massive brick column covered in bronze, with Justinian on horseback atop it. Nearly as tall as the Hagia Sophia, it stood for a millennium before being taken down after the Ottoman conquest.

50m-tall marble column with spiral reliefs depicting Theodosius's corrective campaigns against the Goths post-Adrianople. Erected in 393 and toppled in the 15th c., its still-visible fragments were reused in the nearby Beyazit Baths.

Monumental fountain and statuary added by urban prefect Clearchus to the Forum of Theodosius c.373. Supplied by the Valens Aqueduct, its basin still functioned in 1577.

Public market and ceremonial square connecting the most important buildings in the city. While still an open square, none of its features survive.

Vast open space where Valens, Theodosius II, Nikephoros II Phokas and others were acclaimed by the army, and where the emperor was welcomed back from campaign. Now a racetrack.

Political and entertainment hub expanded by Constantine to seat 100,000. Its central spina's obelisks and the base of its southern sphendone preserve its faint outline.

Blame the Nika Riots of 532 for the destruction of this celebrated 2nd and 3rd c. meeting place. Pieced back together by Justinian, bathing ceased in the 8th c.

Circular square marking the centre of the city after its rededication in 330. Ransacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204, only the Column of Constantine remains.

Named for its large hollow bronze statue of an ox, taken from Pergamon, in which various unlucky Constantinopolitans were ceremoniously burned alive. Sadly lost to posterity.

Constantine's 'Forum Tauri' remodeled by Theodosius in 393 after Trajan's Forum in Rome. Only fragments of its Arch of Theodosius remain in situ.

This small 11-12th c. Greek-cross church likely started as a 9th c. oratory commissioned by daughter of Theophilos. A 1509 earthquake prompted repairs and conversion into a mosque.

Another cross-in-square 11th-12th c. church whose original identity is contested. Now a mosque, fragments of its Palaiologan ceiling mosaics are still visible.

Its recessed brickwork pointing to the 11th-12th c., this church's identity is contested, muddied by extensive remodeling over the centuries. Now a mosque.

Literally ἐν τῇ Χώρᾳ 'in the fields' when founded in the 4th c., Chora is famous for its c.1315 mosaics, the finest example of the Palaiologan Renaissance. Now a mosque.

Unmentioned before the conquest but ostensibly from the 12th c., one of the city's 26 churches dedicated to St. John the Baptist. A mosque since 1590.

'Little Hagia Sophia', built c.527-536 in one of Justinian's first acts as Emperor, only a few years before its larger sibling. Now a mosque.

Late 12th c. domed Greek cross church, appropriated by the Latins during their occupation and later assigned to a Dervish sect by Mehmed II. Its interior decoration is largely extant.

The city's first church, commissioned by Constantine, served as the church of the Patriarchate before Hagia Sophia. Never a mosque, it's now a museum.

One of the most influential buildings of all time, Justinian's (and architects Anthemius of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus's) finest legacy stands resplendent 15 centuries on. Re-converted into a mosque in 2020.

Mortuary chapel built adjacent to the Myrelaion Rotunda for Romanos Lekapenos c.920. It's unclear whether he ever did come to rest here. Now a mosque.

A supposedly Komnenian church (1081-1185), with a Palaiologan side-chapel. A mosque since 1591 and a museum since 2006, mid-20th c. restoration has brought its Byzantine mosaics back to life.

The city's largest church before Hagia Sophia. In ruins since the 11th c., two of its ornate columns are now outside St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, misnamed 'the Pillars of Acre'.

5th c. church that was briefly the patriarchal seat (532-537) while the current Hagia Sophia was being built. Associated foundations are still visible in the basement of the Zeynep Sultan Hotel.

Likely Palaiologan and part of a larger monastery, little is known about the Roman precursor to this mosque, converted in 1509.

From above, you can just about make out the hexagonal foundations of this 7th c. church, previously a part of the Palace of Antiochos. Identified in the 1930s when its late 13th c. frescoes were uncovered.

Theodosian shrine for the relic of the saint's head; also where the usurper Phocas was anomalously crowned in 602 before entering the city. A hospital is now in its place.

The city's busiest church housed the tomb of Emperor Constantine and many of his successors. Delapidated by 1453, Fatih Mosque was built over it.

Commissioned by Basil in 876–80, the first monumental church built after the Hagia Sophia. Destroyed by lightning shortly after the conquest.

Cross-in-square 11th or 12th c. church, whose identity is contested. More certainly, it became a poor house for the nearby Fatih Mosque under the Ottomans, before itself becoming a mosque.

A North Church (built in 907 by Constantine Lips, an aristocrat) and a late 13th c. South Church make up what is now a mosque closed for restoration work.

Archetypal Middle-Byzantine monastic complex which became the mausoleum of the Komnenos and Palaiologos dynasties. Now a recently-restored mosque.

Likely the Palaiologan chapel of a larger monastic complex, dedication unknown. Now a bus garage's private mosque with Byzantine masonry and columns.

A monastery and convent whose 14th c. incarnation was one of the largest monastic complexes in the city. The remaining substructure is largely unexcavated.

Only the small octagonal mausoleum —now a mosque— is left of what was once a nunnery complex first mentioned in the 9th c. The exterior is clearly Palaiologan; inside, nothing discernibly Byzantine remains.

First mentioned in the 8th c., this monastery is thought to have been first dedicated to the Apostle Andrew, then to St. Andrew of Crete in the 13th c. Modified extensively as a mosque, repurposed 5th-6th c. columns and capitals survive inside.

Major monastery founded in the 5th c. and dedicated to St. John the Baptist. Its main basilica is still standing, roofless, with elaborate flooring exposed to the elements.

[Currently researching this site's history.] Now a disused parking lot.

Sandwiched between the inner and outer Theodosian Walls, the best-preserved domestic Byzantine edifice in the city. Dated mostly to the Palaiologan era.

A major building in the Great Palace. Initially housed the Senate, then became a throne room and grand reception hall. Its foundations are now in the basement of a carpet shop and cafe.

The Byzantine court's main palace until the 11th c., you wouldn't know it from its current state. Named for the bull and lion statues that guarded its shoreline entrance.

The center of imperial administration from 330 to 1081. Only fragments of its foundations and outer walls are visible today.

One of only two aristocratic houses excavated in the city, this one belonged to an early-5th c. Persian eunuch. Nothing remains of its vast semi-circular portico, but its hexagonal hall became the Church of Hagia Euphemia.

With the Great Palace in ruins after the Latin occupation (1204-1261), Blachernae became the residence of the final Palaiologan dynasty. Today all you'll find are scattered, crumbling walls.

The 'long portico' ran South-North from the Mese to the Golden Horn shore. Its successor still bears the name Uzun Çarşı Caddesi, 'long market street'.

Constantinople's 'middle street', the city's main artery and imperial processional route from the Hebdomon all the way to the Augustaion.

The grandest colonnaded stretch of the Mese from the Augustaion to the Forum of Constantine, commissioned by the man himself.

2nd c. BC Roman road through what is now Albania, Macedonia, northern Greece and Thrace to Constantinople. Imperial processions took this final stretch from the Hebdomon to the Porta Aurea into the city.

A 5th c. addition to the Sea walls, this gate was subsequently named by the Ottomans for its proximity to the royal stables of Topkapi Palace.

'Edirne (Adrianople) Gate', second only to the Porta Aurea in importance. Where Mehmet II made his triumphal entrance into the city.

Sea wall gate apparently breached by Mehmet's forces on May 29th, 1453. Also the spot that faced the left wing of the Venetian fleet during the Latins' failed assault of 1203 and their successful capture of the city in 1204.

Well-restored gate whose towers feature inscriptions celebrating their swift construction: 'Scarcely could Pallas (Athena) herself have built so strong a citadel in such a short time'.

The most picturesque part of the remaining Sea Walls, this is only section touching the sea. Named for an eponymous church nearby, the gate represents the southwesternmost tip of the Constantinian city.

Where Ottoman cannon finally breached the Theodosian Walls, and Constantine XI supposedly died defending them. Today's Topkapı ('Cannon Gate') was rebuilt after the siege, becoming the main entrance to Istanbul.

Named for the 'caliga' (boot) workshops inside it, this 'Public Gate' sits between towers 6 and 7 of the Blachernae Walls built under Manuel Komnenos (r. 1143–1180). Famously afforded Constantine XI a final view of Ottoman operations on May 29th, 1453.

Named after a 'life-giving' spring and monastery beyond it, the gate where forces of the Empire of Nicaea under Alexios Strategopoulos entered and retook the city from the Latins in 1261.

The ceremonial entrance into the capital, used for triumphal processions to the Augustaion. Progressively walled up as the city's fortunes declined, it still cuts an imposing figure.

Named for the wooden circus (amphitheatre) it used to lead to, it became 'Closed Gate' to the Ottomans, as it had been walled up first against the Crusaders and again in 1453.

Built in different periods, these moatless 12–15 m. high single walls, thicker and with more closely spaced towers than the Theodosian Walls, were connected to them to bring the Palace of Blachernae within the city.

Two rows of 5.7km-long ramparts, 96 towers and 9 main gates make up the most successful defensive system in all of history. Original construction took 9 years beginning c.404.

Started by Septimius Severus c.203 and improved by successive emperors, ended up similar to but lower than the land walls. Breached by the dastardly Fourth Crusade in 1204.

Septimius Severus destroyed Byzantium's Greek walls in 196, then rebuilt them. This strip along a school is what recent archaeologists believe is their only remnant.

New Rome's initial enclosure was a single wall with towers at regular intervals begun in 324 and completed under Constantius II. No trace of it is left, so approximate course shown.

The largest of several hundred Constantinopolitan cisterns. Built by Justinian in the 6th c. beneath the site of the 3rd-4th c. Stoa Basilica.

The second largest cistern of the city, sporting 224 marble columns. Built under a palace in the 4th c., destroyed by fire in 475, it was restored by —you guessed it— Justinian.

Built by Theodosius II between 428 and 443 to store water from the Valens Aqueduct. Its 32 9m-high columns now support an underground modern art space.

The Monastery of Christ Pantokrator's enclosed cistern, notable for its monumental external walls along Atatürk Bulvarı.

Constantinople's main water supply, the culmination of a 250km-long water system, the longest in Antiquity. Completed in the late 4th c., repaired by Mehmet II and used well into the Ottoman period.

5th or 6th c. water supply for the nearby Magnaura and Jucundianae palaces, and the Thracian army's Field of Mars. Closed to the public, its original walls are in good shape.

Open reservoir built in 421 by urban prefect Aetius under Theodosius II, parallel to the northern branch of the Mese. Now a football stadium.

Open-air cistern built in 459 by Aspar, an Alan-Gothic general under Emperor Marcian (r. 450-57). With some of its recessed walls and arches still visible, it serves as a recreation area.

The largest Byzantine reservoir, built c.491–518 to supply the new part of the city inside the Theodosian Walls. An Ottoman vegetable garden, it's now a recreation area with nice Roman walls.

Square tower thought to be from the Middle-Byzantine era. Original name and function unknown.

Large 12-13th c. (?) L-shaped vaulted brick cellar beneath the south side of 'Balkapanı Han', a major Ottoman caravanserai. A testament to longstanding commercial activity in this quarter.

Tower from where the chain spanning the Golden Horn was sprung during sieges. First attested in 717, its remnant foundations are now an underground mosque.

This prime location started as an Athenian toll station, became a defensive tower under Manuel Komnenos (r. 1143-1180), morphed into an Ottoman lighthouse, and is now a café.

Second only to Rome's Pantheon in size, this mysterious rotunda served as a palace, cistern and monastery. Its foundations are now a subterranean bazaar.

The southern tower from which the chain blocking entry into the Golden Horn was sprung during sieges 717-1453. Long lost.