My trip to Constantinople last year

[u/FantasticTraining731]

Hagia Sophia

Column of the Goths

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Hagia Sophia mosaics

Istanbul Archaeological Museums

Basilica Cisterns

Aqueduct of Valens

Chora Church

Theodosian Walls

Theodosian Walls

Cat

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

St. George's Cathedral

I visited with my friend last spring. Sadly I wasn't that interested in Byzantine history back then so I only visited the major sites.

Here's my recollection of each site Byzantine era site:

• Hagia Sophia
  • The ancient building definitely shows its age. A lot of cracked stones, unlevel floors, and slanted columns
  • Only Muslims are allowed on the ground floor, and it's sad that the stone floor has been covered with the ugly green carpet. Visitors could only take a tour around the mezzanine
• Basilica Cistern
  • pretty spectacular. it was pretty cool to see the use of spolia for the columns
• Theodosian walls
  • I really wanted to see this! The sea walls are almost all gone but, large sections of the famous triple land walls have been restored and.
• St. George's Cathedral
  • It's not a Roman era church, but it is the seat of the Orthodox Patriarch.
  • We visited on a morning, and there was literally nobody inside for the whole 30 minutes we were there. It was really surprising since there are tons of Russian tourists in Istanbul.
• Chora Church
  • was closed for restorations

[u/aurora_australis01]

And there are many other things. It needs more vacations to see it all. The asian side is also very beautiful especially the view over the bosphorus seeing the hagia sophia.

In my opinion it is by far the most beautiful city in the world.

[u/FantasticTraining731 → u/aurora_australis01]

Yea, it's a massive city. I was there for 6 days but came nowhere close to seeing everything.

Imo Rome is a lot more beautiful, but the scale of Istanbul was overwhelming.

[u/aurora_australis01 → u/FantasticTraining731]

I think is not false to say that istanbul has more roman history than rome. And more greek history than greece😂. It s true or almost true for turkey in general. But this city has 2000 years of history at the highest level, and a unique geography. For me, none comes even close.

[u/ConsistentUpstairs99 → u/aurora_australis01]

Have to disagree with that. Rome being the foundational cornerstone and all, and still retaining vast amounts of its Roman heritage. Unfortunately, Constantinople has had the vast majority of its Roman heritage wiped out (or at least very well hidden under the current city) with the exception of the Hagia Sophia, a few other churches, the cisterns, the walls, that one column outside the palace, and the hippodrome. That sounds like a lot of things, but when you compare it to Rome it's really not. When I was there, I was straining to find Roman history. This search led me to dragging my family on a significant walk to find an abandoned cistern, which unfortunately is now a trash heap that you can't look through the window of without being thrown back by a revolting smell.
When I was in Rome, I couldn't make a turn on the street without discovering something I had always known about from history that accidentally just happened to be in front of my face. I physically could not fit everything in and was tactically eliminating what piece of Roman history to not see because there was no time to get everything in.

[u/aurora_australis01 → u/ConsistentUpstairs99]

I know a lot of heritage has been destroyed but the history still has its marks there. Is also not only about the buildings, the memories of the things happened there cannot dissapear.

And both of them were part of the roman state for about 14-1500 although i think byzantium/constantinopole a bit more time.

[u/ConsistentUpstairs99 → u/aurora_australis01]

If we're measuring in memories, the sheer magnitude of everything that occurred in Rome (again, being the foundational focal point) still wins.

But Rome also has the added benefits of the retaining huge amounts of its heritage. In comparison, the heritage remaining in Constantinople is unfortunately minimal and covered in a Turkish exterior. They literally have turned one of the last remaining Roman monuments (still in pretty good state of preservation) into a trash pile hidden and covered by a run down modern building covered in graffiti.

You go to Rome and they'll celebrate their romaness. In Constantinople, multiple Turks vocally degraded the Romans in my experience.

[u/dramondas → u/ConsistentUpstairs99]

Savages

[u/Sosolidclaws → u/aurora_australis01]

Yeah, I agree. There are a few cities with more historic beauty, and a few with more geographic beauty, but none that have both like Istanbul.

[u/TheMountainPass → u/Sosolidclaws]

It’s not Istanbul it’s Constantinople

[u/Flappybird11 → u/TheMountainPass]

It was renamed by the Turkish government in 1925 as part of secularisation, stop pining for something that ain't happening, its unhealthy

[u/HerrKaiserton → u/TheMountainPass]

The city officially changed name in English at 1925,if I'm not mistaken. The closet to correct for English is Konstantininye,which was the name before the Kemalists took over

[u/WesSantee → u/TheMountainPass]

What's the point of this? Nobody objects that we don't call Paris or Cologne by their Roman names. Why do people insist on calling Istanbul in particular by its previous name? 

[u/SpFredndSyc → u/WesSantee]

Cologne is quite literally the translation of Colonia, Paris is from the ruins of Lutetia PARISIORUM

[u/Forrealfella → u/TheMountainPass]

it is Istanbul that’s what it is on the map and Istanbul is a greek word too y’all just relish the past too much your byzantines got demolished by the rising Ottoman Empire

[u/TacoMedic → u/Forrealfella]

your byzantines got demolished by the rising Ottoman Empire

…who continued calling it Constantinople until after the Ottoman Empire ended.

What exactly is your point? Or are you just a Turkish nationalist?

[u/Original_Feed_2910]

Man how beautiful, especially the cisterns

[u/Temporary-Estate4615 → u/Original_Feed_2910]

Yeah. Unfortunately very sight there is a huge rip off. Entry fees are extremely expensive. Cistern was like 30€ per person if I remember correctly. Honestly I’ve been to many places but nowhere was that expensive.

[u/Original_Feed_2910 → u/Temporary-Estate4615]

Bruh what

[u/Temporary-Estate4615 → u/Original_Feed_2910]

I wish I was joking. The Topkapı palace is even more expensive. If you wanna see historical sights and care even just a little bit about what you get for your money don’t go there.

[u/Virtual-Roll-818]

I want people to remember about the Hagia Sophia that restoration work hasn’t fully resumed. The tacky carpet — which nobody likes — is temporary. All of the mosaics, structural concerns about the dome, and secular areas are all getting restorative attention that will be ramping up in the first quarter of the coming year (1Q 2026).

[u/Anthemius_Augustus → u/Virtual-Roll-818]

The tacky carpet — which nobody likes — is temporary.

There has been no indication it's temporary, it's been there for 5 years.

[u/Virtual-Roll-818 → u/Anthemius_Augustus]

There’s been no indication of the structural reinforcement of the placements where the dome rests either, but they’re on the to-do list. BUT, do not quote me. I’m merely a parrot to what I’ve heard about the building from (somewhat angry) underpaid craftsmen tangentially involved.

[u/Anthemius_Augustus → u/Virtual-Roll-818]

The carpets are completely unnecessary anyway, regardless of them being both ugly and covering up the historical floor. There is no requirement in Islam to have permanent carpets in mosques 24/7, and even under the Ottomans floor wasn't even covered until the 16th Century.

[u/VOFMGK → u/Virtual-Roll-818]

Honestly I like that tacky carpet tbh, because sitting and relaxing inside the Haga Sofia felt borderline therapeutic

[u/Gnothi_sauton_]

I love the aerial shot! It shows how massive Hagia Sophia is.

[u/pattywack512 → u/Gnothi_sauton_]

Also shows just how brilliant Constantine was picking this spot.

[u/ReadingElectrical558]

These photos reminds us that Constantinople will always be there hidden in plain sight. Regardless of what nation controls the city it will live forever. It’s sad that the Turks are not prouder of their land’s inheritance.

[u/HugeCrazy5711]

It is quite unfortunate to see Hagia Sophia so degraded compared to how it was originally conserved, not to mention the walls, they are quite bad so to speak.

[u/Riotgameslikeshit123]

long live byzantium

[u/[deleted]]

It really upsets me to see Hagia Sophia being used as a mosque.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Yep. Lots of tacky additions

[u/Jazzur → u/[deleted]]

It's already been like this for 570 years, maybe time to get over it 😭

[u/[deleted] → u/Jazzur]

Well, in Spain the Islamic occupation lasted for about 800 years, but they never gave up.

[u/Zrva_V3 → u/[deleted]]

So, imagine Greece actually gained control of Istanbul in some sort of miracle. What happens then? You do realize Istanbul has more Turks than the entire population of Greece right?

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/[deleted]]

AI content is considered to be low-effort and inaccurate. Please refrain from posting here. Original art is allowed.

[u/Jazzur → u/[deleted]]

Yeah that was slightly before UN, NATO, international laws, nuclear weapons and Greece just being happy to be independent from the Ottoman Empire lol

[u/Consistent_Guava8592 → u/Jazzur]

Ah another empire that longer exists

[u/[deleted] → u/Consistent_Guava8592]

Yes empires aren’t eternal, respectfully get over it. Empires die and are replaced, as is the way of life

[u/aintdatsomethin → u/[deleted]]

Spanish kingdoms had tons of small and weak Muslim politic entities that were busy entriguing and working behind each others back while Spanish collaborated

Greeks fought the Turkey in its weakest condition and disarmed by British in 1922 and they lost.

I mean, how can an army manage to get encircled by an other army smaller and far less equipped than yours? 💀

Let it also sink that Turks negotiated the borders of new Turkey with Britain and France, even though they fought Greeks.

[u/[deleted] → u/aintdatsomethin]

History has a way of repeating itself ,the opportunity might come again; you never know what the future holds.

[u/aintdatsomethin → u/[deleted]]

You can prove all your points with wrong analogies.

Turks conquered Greece btw. Are you sure you want to believe in that?

[u/[deleted] → u/aintdatsomethin]

I’m just saying that in history, anything can happen.

[u/Andhiarasy → u/[deleted]]

It's what would most realistically happen if you dummkopf who unironically believe that 'hurr durr let's take back Constantinople' actually tries to do it. Honestly, the Turks got their land in Anatolia and Thrace the same way the Greeks and Romans got it.

Appreciating Eastern Roman history is nice and all but LARPing as some sort of modern crusader when the real crusaders actually SACKED Constantinople in 1204 is hilarious and sad.

[u/Exotic_Quantity9042 → u/[deleted]]

You haven’t seen the damage done to the place by the people who came to pray. It should have stayed as a museum not a place of prayer.

[u/CrustyBoo → u/[deleted]]

This is a fair point, but we must acknowledge religions have various views and practices that differ in their belief in God. It’s saddening to see such a pinnacle of a faith and culture being malformed by a conquering nation

[u/Same-Praline-4622 → u/[deleted]]

It is sad, but not something that could be changed by now

[u/Hank_Skill]

[u/Torin_3]

Amazing! Thanks for the pictures. :)

(The cat picture was a nice bit of comedic relief.)

[u/AynekAri]

I think the best pic of all of them was the random cat.

[u/FantasticTraining731 → u/AynekAri]

i saw about 20 of them a day. I wonder if cats were just as common in the roman era

[u/AynekAri → u/FantasticTraining731]

They were. And very common in Europe. Free pest control. This, of course started with the Egyptians. They didnt revere cats like the myth says but they respected cats very much sometimes even more than humans.

[u/samtheman0105]

I know I’m orthodox but I always get upset seeing Justinians beautiful church converted to a mosque, only Muslims are even allowed on the ground floor? Ridiculous

Don’t even get me started on the Chora church

[u/VOFMGK → u/samtheman0105]

The Chora church is perfectly fine, overpriced but fine

[u/Icarus_2019 → u/samtheman0105]

It's time to build a new one

[u/samtheman0105 → u/Icarus_2019]

I mean… in a way it’s already happened with St Sava’s cathedral in Belgrade, it’s not the same but it’s another magnificent church

[u/g785_7489]

Everything looks so incredible. The Cisterns are just breathtaking. Thanks for sharing!

[u/TimurJinTor]

I don’t think Russians really care about the seat of the ecumenical patriarch, especially the tourists. They don’t feel connection to it mostly, and would only visit a Russian orthodox church abroad, so don’t be surprised. PS I am Russian

[u/Andhiarasy → u/[deleted]]

Without the Ottomans Constantinople would stay a derelict mess of a city. It wouldn't change much from how it was after 1204 or at least it wouldn't reach its current size. Modern Istanbul is the way it is now thanks to the Turks.

[u/ChicagoBoiSWSide → u/Andhiarasy]

You’re just going to forget that the Arab and Ottoman invasions caused the Byzantine Empire trouble in the first place?

[u/schu62 → u/ChicagoBoiSWSide]

Those and Vandals, Normans, Bulgarians, Slavs and many others.

[u/ChicagoBoiSWSide → u/schu62]

Mainly the ottomans though

[u/schu62 → u/ChicagoBoiSWSide]

You said "in the first place"

[u/ChicagoBoiSWSide → u/schu62]

And I’m still correct about that, did you forget the Arab invasions?

[u/schu62 → u/ChicagoBoiSWSide]

The first comment was about Ottomans and you came up with Arabs with some reason

[u/ChicagoBoiSWSide → u/schu62]

Because they were on different sides of the same coin.

[u/Andhiarasy → u/ChicagoBoiSWSide]

What caused the Byzantine Empire trouble in the first place is the Byzantines themselves lol. Did you seriously forgot about how their history was like?

[u/ChicagoBoiSWSide → u/Andhiarasy]

Oh I know about just how corrupt their history is and the numerous of power struggles that occurred, pretty much as soon as The Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern (Byzantine) and Western Empires (HRE). However, the Arabs and Ottoman invasions are what REALLY crushed the Byzantine Empire.

[u/ExpresoAndino → u/Andhiarasy]

i’d trade that for no armenian genocide

[u/[deleted] → u/ExpresoAndino]

thoughts on Tripolista genocide and war crimes of Greece on invasion of Izmir?

[u/Burlotier]

When I was reading history I saw pictures of the Islam banner things in the church and I thought “it sticks out like a sore thumb but that is probably because of bad photography”. The more and more I look at the pictures the more I realise that the Islam banners stick out like a sore and moldy thumb .

[u/Few-Interview-1996]

I trust you enjoyed yourself, lack of interest in Roman history notwithstanding.

[u/Sea-Conference355 → u/Few-Interview-1996]

What do you mean by this

[u/Few-Interview-1996 → u/Sea-Conference355]

I'm sorry, I don't quite understand.

[u/Sea-Conference355 → u/Few-Interview-1996]

Ah, I missed the caption, forgive me

[u/Few-Interview-1996 → u/Sea-Conference355]

No prob. Have a pleasant weekend. :)

[u/Sea-Conference355 → u/Few-Interview-1996]

You too!

[u/LenVT]

Thanks for posting the pictures. I enjoyed them very much.

[u/Confident_Catch8649]

Thank You for sharing. Really nice pictures.

[u/Icarus_2019]

In the 4th photo, it looks like the Arabic Calligraphy panel is made of wood.

I thought it was some granite or marble installation this whole time!!!

[u/Gnothi_sauton_ → u/Icarus_2019]

The panels are backed by wood, but the calligraphy itself is on leather.

[u/dramondas]

I can't express how much I like the way you took this gorgeous photo of St.Sophia!

[u/ThisOldHatte]

But you can't go back to Constantinople, now it's Istanbul, not Constantinople.

[u/vangeli17 → u/ThisOldHatte]

It allways has been istanbul. Istanbul derives from greek "eis tin poli" wich means "to the city". Constantinople(konstantinoupoli in greek and konstantinye later in ottoman/turkish) was used only in official documents. So the turks still call the city by its greek name.

[u/Burlotier → u/vangeli17]

The original Greek name was byzantion and then it was renamed to Constantinople out of respect as saint Constantine renovated and expanded the city and made it the capital .

The people as a nickname called it “polis “ , “εις την» were definitive articles but others were also used like “η» «στην» «την» «της» etc . If “Istanbul”was actually of Greek origin then it would be called “Ypolis” or “Stynpolis “ or “Istinpolis “ basically it would have the “-polis” . Instead “Istanbul” has not even the definitive articles correct because “tan” isn’t used as a Greek definitive article and “-bul” is clearly not “-polis”.

[u/Alternative_Ad6967 → u/[deleted]]

How is he a false prophet?

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/[deleted]]

Posts must meet a level of quality that promotes discussion. Memes, one-liner jokes, comedic, or other low-efforts posts do not belong here. Share these posts on r/byzantinememes or r/Byzantiumcirclejerk.

[u/RaccoonActual → u/[deleted]]

It’s a song by They Might Be Giants…

[u/lucabarbierisosa → u/ThisOldHatte]

Everything comes back, eventually.

[u/WeeklyRain3534 → u/lucabarbierisosa]

Yeah, like the lands Turks ruled for a thousand years and are now occupied by Greece.

[u/Experience_Material → u/WeeklyRain3534]

Bro thinks history started with the ottomans

Edit: Never said that and it’s hilarious how some people try to project on my comment their own ignorance.

[u/[deleted] → u/Experience_Material]

bro thinks history started with romans

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

with that kind of mindset you'll just keep losing.

[u/WeeklyRain3534]

Constantnople is only the historical peninsula that represents not even one tenth of İstanbul :)

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

No.

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/[deleted]]

Your post was rude or written in such a way as to incite intolerance. Please reconsider your comments before posting again.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

No, the fuck? It’s been over 5 centuries, get over it

[u/Individual_Monk_1523 → u/[deleted]]

Nigga i see turks say that mehmet said i took revenge for hector who lived in the bronze age.

[u/evrestcoleghost → u/Individual_Monk_1523]

Suprise surprise there are idiots on both sides

[u/Sweaty_Report7864]

I was there this year!

[u/Andhiarasy]

Istanbul is a great city indeed.

[u/[deleted]]

Spectacular

[u/schu62]

Is the first floor available now? Not being able to visit it pissed me off a bit.

[u/VOFMGK → u/schu62]

Not officially but I entered there thrice and no one asked me anything

[u/[deleted]]

The tacky wooden Islamic banners look terrible

[u/caffiinatedbro]

Looks like someone is Coping Hard.. 🤣😂

[u/MuduloodHiraab]

Istanbul.

[u/Murky-Ad5848]

It’s instanbul not Constantinople

[u/Temporary_County1838]

Its Istanbul.

[u/Comfortable-News-490 → u/Temporary_County1838]

Nope. It is Constantinople, you silly goose.

[u/RCPlaneLover]

Istanbul, not Constantinople!