Istanbul Guide

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come to help the Byzantine emperor defend Christendom against the infidels. Finding that the Byzantine emperor had no money, Urban was quick to discard his religious convictions and instead offered to make Mehmet the most enormous cannon ever seen. Mehmet gladly accepted and the mighty cannon breached the western walls, allowing the Ot tomans into the city. On 28 May 1453 the final attack began and by the evening of the 29th the Turks were in complete control of the city. The last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI Palaiologos, died fighting on the walls. Seeing himself as the successor to great emperors such as Constan tine and Justinian, the 21-year-old conqueror at once began to rebuild and repopulate the city. Aya Sofya was converted to a mosque; a new mosque, the Fatih (Conqueror) Camii, was built on the fourth hill; and the Eski Saray (Old Palace) was constructed on the third hill, followed by a new palace (Topkapı) on Sarayburnu a few years later. The city walls were repaired and a new fortress, Yedikule, was built. İstanbul, as it began to be known, became the new administrative, commercial and cultural centre of the ever-growing Ottoman Empire. Under Mehmet’s rule, Greeks who had fled the city were encouraged to return and an imperial decree calling for resettlement was issued; Muslims, Jews and Christians all took up his offer and were promised the right to worship as they pleased. The Genoese, who had fought with the Byzantines, were pardoned and allowed to stay in Galata, though the fortifications that surrounded their settlement were torn down. Only Galata Tower was allowed to stand. Mehmet died in 1481 and was succeeded by Beyazıt II (r 1481–1512), who was ousted by his son, the ruthless Selim the Grim (r 1512–20), famed for executing seven grand viziers and numerous relatives during his relatively short reign. The building boom that Mehmet kicked off was continued by his suc cessors, with Süleyman the Magnificent (r 1520–66) and his architect Mimar Sinan being responsible for an enormous amount of construc tion. The city was endowed with buildings commissioned by the sultan and his family, court and grand viziers; these include the city’s larg est and grandest mosque, the Süleymaniye (1550). Later sultans built mosques and a series of palaces along the Bosphorus, among them Dolmabahçe. However, what had been the most civilised city on earth in the time of Süleyman eventually declined along with the Ottoman Empire, and by the 19th century İstanbul had lost much of its former glory. Never theless, it continued to be seen by many Europeans as the ‘Paris of the East’ and, to affirm this, the first great international luxury express

Although he was instrumental in moving the capital of Turkey from İstanbul to Ankara, Atatürk loved the city and spent much of his time here. He kept a set of apartments in Dolmabahçe Palace and died there on 10 November 1938.

History İstanbul

The Empress Theodora makes a great subject in Stella Duffy’s rollick ing biographical novel Theodora: Actress. Empress. Whore. (2010) and the palace intrigues orchestrated by Süleyman the Magnificent’s consort Roxelana make for great TV drama in the enormously popular prime time Turkish show Muhteşem Yüzyıl (The Magnificent Century).

1729 A huge fire sweeps through the city, destroying 400 houses and 140 mosques, and causing 1000 deaths.

1826 The Vakayı Hayriye, or ‘Auspicious Event’, is decreed, under which the corrupt and powerful imperial bodyguard known as the Janissary Corps is abolished.

1839 Mahmut II implements the Tanzimat reforms, which integrate non Muslims and non Turks into Ottoman

1853–56 The Ottoman empire fights in the Crimean War against Russia; Florence Nightingale arrives at the Selimiye Army Barracks near Üsküdar to nurse the wounded.

society through civil liberties and regulations.