Constantinople consists of two distinct parts, besides more distant suburbs—Constantinople proper or Stambol, and what may be termed Christian Constantinople because it is there that the Christian colonies chiefly congregate. The two are separated by the Golden Horn, a safe harbor, capable of accommodating twelve hundred vessels, and so deep that the largest ironclads of the Turkish navy find enough water for their draught quite close to the shore.
Stambol or Turkish Constantinople lies on the south side of the Golden Horn, and Christian Constantinople lies on the north side; the two are connected by bridges. Stambol is on the site of Byzantium, and the old walls run a circuit of fourteen miles from the grim but now ruined and disused castle of the Seven Towers—where many sultans met their deaths at the hands of their mutinous soldiery, and where foreign ambassadors were imprisoned upon declaration of war—to the Golden Horn, then along its south shore to Seraglio Point, and so back to the Seven Towers, close along the margin of the Propontis. Here are nearly all the monuments and antiquities worth seeing in Constantinople.
First, next the Seraglio, stands Agia Sophia, Saint Sophia, the church dedicated by Constantine to “Eternal Wisdom,” and rebuilt with added splendor by Theodosius and by Justinian, and now converted into a cathedral mosque. Outside it is not worth a second glance, but within, the airy grace of its stupendous dome, and the beauty of its marbles and mosaics fascinate and amaze the vision.
PANORAMA OF CONSTANTINOPLE
As the steamer runs up the Bosphorus, the white buildings and glittering minarets of Constantinople come into view; with the mosque of Santa Sophia, Galata Tower and Pera, the Sultan’s Palaces at Beshiktash, with Scutari Suburb on the right, and then, rounding Seraglio Point, it glides at half speed into the Golden Horn, or harbor of Constantinople. At this moment, if the weather be fine and clear, a striking panorama opens to the eye of the voyager. The Golden Horn divides the city into two sections; Stamboul to the left, and Galata and Pera to the right. It is a bay, or amphitheater, surrounded by hills which are covered with buildings, domes, minarets, and palaces, embosomed by cypress groves, with hundreds of vessels and caiques skimming in all directions.
Next, but not less beautiful, is the Suleymaniya, the mosque which the Great Suleyman and his architect Sinan erected on the model of St. Sophia, but with Saracenic ornament and a loftier though not quite so expansive dome. Some of the monolithic columns are remarkable for their size and beauty, and the general effect is even more imposing than that of St. Sophia.
Scarcely less stately is the Mosque of Sultan Ahmed I. in the Hippodrome; distinguished without by its six minarets (instead of the usual four), and within by the four gigantic columns which support the dome. Here the official celebrations and formal processions take place at the great festivals.
The mosque of the conqueror, Mohammed II., is also notable, though it has been greatly altered in restoration.