An obelisk a long way from home
When pharaoh Thutmose III commissioned a special obelisk for his temple to Amon-Ra at Karnak 3400 years ago, he little imagined where it would end up. Carved from a pink […]
Category Archives: Istanbul
Constantine’s Column – battered but defiant
One of Istanbul’s most venerable monuments is the Column of Constantine. It’s called the Hooped Column locally, for obvious reasons, and this in Turkish (Cemberlitas – Chem-ber-lee-tash) gives its name […]
The Golden Gate of Byzantium
I was thrilled, after taking the old train along the Marmara shore to Yedikule (Seven Towers), to find myself standing before the legendary Golden Gate of Byzantium. It looks sadly […]
The Most Beautiful Fountain in Turkey
One of the most attractive aspects of Istanbul is the sheer number and variety of monumental fountains in the city. Each of them is a real work of art, encapsulating […]
Fans for the memories
This summer I dropped in to the Sakip Sabanci Museum in Istanbul to see an exhibition which is the first of its kind in Turkey. It included a rare and […]
Cool calligraphy in Istanbul
Istanbul is the capital of the exquisitely fine art of Islamic calligraphy. In Ottoman times there were hundreds of libraries here, but the city was and still is a library […]
The Great Palace of Constantinople
I’m standing between two prize fighters in the middle of Istanbul. They’re staring each other down like Sumo wrestlers preparing to clash in an earth-shattering explosion of salt and dust. […]
St George to the rescue
The Princes Islands in the Sea of Marmara – in ancient times called the Propontis – lie close to the Asian coastline of Turkey just off Istanbul, and to the […]
The most delicious church in the world
The former Greek Orthodox church of St Saviour in Chora, now the Kariye Museum, in Istanbul, always makes me think of a chocolate gateau for some reason. Every time I […]
Lost Palace of the Byzantine Emperors
Seraglio Point in Istanbul is dominated by the magnificent, sprawling structures of two of the world’s architectural masterpieces. These are Haghia Sophia, the Byzantine Church of the Holy Wisdom, and […]
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