CONSTANTINOPLE. 



CONSTANTINOPLE. 



at will, from the head of the port to the Sea of Marmara, near the 

 Seven Towen, ii about 4 mile*. The walla are flanked at abort 

 intervals by tower*, which are mostly rectangular. Of the towers 

 190 are now ttanding; there were 180 in 1 'ing to a plan 



then made by Boudalmonte, a Florentine. Beside* th duiible walla, 

 which are almoat entire, and still retain their ancient battlements, 

 the outer ditch waa faced with a wall which made a third rampart, 

 but this is in part destroyed, and seems never to hare been defended by 

 towers. The intervals between the walls are in many places choked 

 up with earth and masses of the ramparts which have fallen under 

 the shocks of war or of earthquake*. The great ditch, winch is about 

 30 feet broad, is partly cultivated and converted into kitchen garden*. 



There are six gates on this (the land) side : 1. Kgro-Kapousai (the 

 Oblique Gate); 2. Edrene-Kanoussi (the date of Adrian. >i 

 Top-kpoussi (the Cannon Gate), through which the conqueror 

 Mohammed 1 1. made his public entry on the oapt urv of I 'onstantinople ; 

 4. Selivri-Kapoussi (the Gate of Selivria); 5. Yeni-Kanoimsi (the 

 New Gate) ; 6. The Gate of the Seven Towers. The ' Golden Gate,' 

 so celebrated by the Byzantine writers, has been sought for in vain, 

 though a gate now wholly blocked tip, with two mean pillars sup- 

 porting a Tow arch, in sometimes shown to travellers for it. Near to 

 the Top-Kapoussi, where PaUcologus, the last of the Christian 

 emperors fell, is the breach through which the Turkish besiegers 

 poured into the city : the wide rent, which has never been repaired, 

 is now full of trees and shrub*. 



A waste, a stillness, and a solitude, difficult to conceive near so 

 great a capital, reign immediately beyond these walls, which are so 

 lofty that from the road which passes under them the eye can 

 scarcely catch a glimpse of the mosques and minarets of the city. 

 This melancholy aspect is heightened by several cemeteries, with 

 dark cypresses and white marble tombs, that lie outside of the walls. 

 A recent traveller (Mr. Dickens) says, " Within gunshot beyond tlii* 

 city, with its 600,000 inhabitants, there ia not a road nor a 

 _ > upon the most frequented ways ; there is not a house, nor a 

 den, nor a thriving tree. Look along the shores of the Bosporus. 



hey are desert. Scarcely a plough stirs the land that might be one 

 of the largest corn-growing districts in the world. . . . Not a 

 merchant's bark, with the crescent flying at its mast-head, anchors in 

 the waters ; not a loom is at work, not a wine-press ; no manu- 

 factory plies ita busy trade. . . . The Turks do nothing. Kv. 11 

 the smart little steam-boat which still runs from tint bridge at 

 Ktainbotil to Bujukilero' is manned with Englishmen, and ou, 

 (boatman) is a Greek." The boatmen however are generally Turku. 



The triangle on which Constantinople stands does not much exceed 

 IS miles in perimeter. The treble walls and ditches on the land side, 

 the extensive gardens of the Seraglio, and other palaces, the large 

 court-yards of the royal mosques, the Hippodrome and other vacant 

 spaces, materially diminish the extent covered with houses. 



With the exception of the land walla, and the church of Santa 

 Sophia, tin-redoes not remain much of the Byzantine architecture; 

 the greater part of the antiquities which were seen by (y! 

 Spun, and other old travellers have disappeared. The fact is, the 

 Turk*, instead of digging in the quarry, have knocked down the 

 Grecian buildings to use the materials in their own public edifices, 

 such as mosques, minarets, and fountains, or to cut them up into 

 



The site of Constantinople is one of the worst sites that could lie 

 selected on the score of water supply. On the European side of the 

 Bosporus there is no mountain at any reasonable distance to look to, 

 no lake, no river. Hut in the forest of Belgrade near the Blnck Sea 

 there are gnlleys and heads of valleys, down the sides of which the 

 water pours in great abundance during the rains. In each of these 

 valleys bendU, or reservoirs, have been formed by building dams 

 acrow them, and thence the water is conveyed by aqueducts to 

 Constantinople for the use of the mosques and fountains. In the 

 hot lesson a supplementary supply fur private use is broii 

 w*U r-curkrs from Scutari, for then iliree-fourths of what dribble* 

 through the aqueduct* are absorbed by the moF.|ii.,.. which are 

 entitled to be Brat mippli.-d. 1'nder the city are vast reservoirs, 

 which were cor..' the Itonmti emperors, and kept full of 



water for the supply of the rity during si. ndcnt of the 



aqiMducU. Many of them old cisterns still have wat.-r in them. There 

 is a vant subterranean cdiflce of this kin.!, the ,-,{ of which is sup- 

 ported by 424 column", each column being oddly form.,! of three 



separate pillars placed on* on the top of tl ther The Turks call 



it UM palace of the 'thousand and one pillars; 1 not ttmt this is the 

 precis*' number, but loause it is a favourite ntmilxr with nil eastern 

 nation.. Thoui(h the earth has in part filled it ,,p, it i, still of great 

 depth. This particular one is dry ; it is 210 feet long by -Jon wide, 

 ocetipied t.y a number of pi-twins who spin ,ilk |,y J,.,,,d. 

 Another which still exists as a cistern, though it is hardly known 

 except to a few Turks whose housw* are situated above it.'und who 

 call it the ' Subterranean Palace,' may be described as a subter- 

 ranean lake, extending under several streets, having an arched 

 roof that covers and conceals it mipp-.n-d on 33 marble pillars. 



The Turks retain the translated . , call it the AIM 



or horse-conrse) of the famed Hippodrome, the scene of t|,,', 

 of the Janirxariw ; bnt all the ancient splendour of 



the place has disappeared. It is now not a circus, but on . 

 open space, about 800 paces long by 150 paces wide. It is 

 flanked on one side by the mosque of Stilton Achmet, .and .partly 

 on the other by the high dead walls 'if a building which was 

 once an hospital, bat recently used as the sultan's menagerie. At 

 the upper end of th* Hippodrome there is a granite obelisk of rather 

 mean . and partly covered with hieroglyphics of poor 



workmanship ; it is called after Theodosius, though it probable 

 that emperor only removed it from another part of the city where 

 it was erected by Constantine, and set it up here, after it had beta 

 thrown down by an earthquake. Near this obelisk is the fragment 

 of the wreathed column of bronze, which according to an old 

 tradition supported the golden tripod of Delphi, and was shattered 

 by Molmiiinifd II. with his battle-axe. It ia now a poor mutilated 

 thing, with one end in the ground, above which it does net rise more 

 than 7 feet, and the other end open and almost filled with rubbish. 

 The marble pyramid of Constantine Porphyrogennetua, the Colossus 

 Structilis of the old topographers, does not at present fairly stand on 

 the At meidan, though it is near it and visible from it : it has long 

 been stripped of the plates of gilded bronze that once covered it; the 

 shaft is held together by rude iron hoops, and blackened by the 

 many conflagrations that have raged round it. It is now an unsightly 

 object, about 90 feet in height, and 83 feet in circumference. Most 

 of the great works of art which adorned the baths and squares of 

 Constantinople were destroyed by the Latin crusaders. The four 

 bronze horses of San Marco at Venice are the only relic left of the 

 great works of art that once adorned the city of Constantine. 



The famous Seraglio, or palace of the sultan, occupies the most 

 eastern part of the city, and with its various gardens, baths, mosques, 

 government buildings, and groves of cypress covers a space about 

 three miles in circuit. It is separated from the rest of the city by 

 high walls extending down to the Sea of Marmara. The inner 

 inclosure or court of the Seraglio is occupied solely by the sultan 

 and his harem. In the second court are the divan, the treasury, 

 imperial stables and kitchen, the hall of justice, the arsenal (hi<-h 

 was formerly the church of St. Irene), and the column of Thod6sius. 

 In the outer court are various state offices, the mint, infirmaries, ftc. 

 A large massive range' of buildings occupied as government offices, 

 mounted on a platform, ascended by a noble flight of stone step*, 

 and ornamented by fine columns stands in the outer court, and 

 contrasts strongly with the wooden kiosks and hill minarets; it is 

 situated close to the large gate entrance of tlie Seraglio, from which 

 it take* ita name of the ' Sublime Porte,' which is also applied as a 

 designation of the sultan's government. 



Many of the mosques erected by the Turks are distinguished by 

 grandeur and beauty. There nre 14 chief or imperial mosques, nearly 

 all lofty, and magnificent in their general dimensions, and built from 

 base to dome, chiefly of white marble, slightly tinged with gray. 

 Some of these havo two, some four, and one (that of .Sultan Achmet) 

 has even six of those light, thin, lofty, arrowy, and most gi 

 towers called minaret*. Besides the imperial mosques there are 60 

 others, varying in size and beauty, but all considerable edifices ; and 

 then 200 and more small mosques, which have little minaret", 

 made of wood, contiguous to them. 



The mosque which bos been most talked of, because it was anciently 

 a Christian temple, and was si: have suggested to the Turks 



the grand dome or cupola which predominates in all the great mosques 

 they built themselves, is that of Santn Sophi:i, which is to the west 

 of the Seraglio. Santa Sophia is built in the form of a Greek cross, 

 in length by 14:'. feet in breadth between the walls. It is 

 surmounted by a flattened dome 180 feet high above the pave 

 by several smaller cii|>ol;i, and by four minarets added by the Turks. 

 In the interior are many large columns, a floor of variegated mnrblo 

 and nu^iiificrnt bronze gates. Theold Byzantine decorations have been 

 marred by Turkish inscriptions, and the grand effect of t i 



.y the lamps, globes, and insignificant ornaments hung 

 up und.-r the dome. Santa Sophia, originally a rhristian cathedral, 

 was built by the emperor Juitinian (A .!>. 531-8.) Several of the 

 imperial mosques however in situation, boldness, and beauty far 

 excel > .n, which externally is nnder.-d bideou- by tlie 



. buttresses that have lieen built against it at different periods 

 to keep it fpuii falling. If the Turks really copied the dome from 

 Santa y have improved on the original, which is com- 



paratively low and heavy, whilst most of their cupolas aro lofty, light, 

 and elegant. Thii is particularly the case with the mosque of th. 

 Sultan Achmet, which flunks the Hippodrome, and which may be 

 I altogether the grandest edifice in Constantinople. Among 

 T imperial mosques may be named those of Solyman the Mag- 

 nificent, a master, an; of Mohammed II., 

 Hajazct IF., Selim III.. Mustapha III., Othman and Eyub, and the 

 ted by the mother of Mohammed I V. There an 

 . hiirche* and several synagogues in the city. The colleges 

 -pitals, which are generally attached to or near the great 

 mosques, offer no striking architectural features, but some of them 

 are grand in ' 'he kind. The mosque of Mohammed IV. 

 .nided by eight colleges, a house in which the poor are fed, 

 an hospital, caravanserais, and baths, nil surmounted by cupolas 

 covered with lead. Some of the detached chapels or sepulchre* 



