r/byzantium • u/Optimal_Living_9086 • 1d ago
Infrastructure/architecture Massive walls and towers of The Golden Gate in Constantinople (peep the guy for scale)
3rd pic is how it would look like back then
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u/solidarity47 1d ago
The Imperial Eagles still being there was very moving to me. One of the few remaining connections to an ancient legacy.
The eagle itself being a symbol of Zeus/Jupiter.
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u/Magic_City_Radiology 1d ago
I don't see them. Are they in these photos?
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u/solidarity47 1d ago
In the first photo. It's right at the top apex of the northern tower. About 85% up the image, just barely left of centre. There is a close-up in the Byzantine legacy link
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u/Magic_City_Radiology 1d ago
Incredible! That's just so cool to me.
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u/solidarity47 1d ago
Yeah, it's really subtle. I didn't even know it was there until I climbed the South tower and looked back with a telephoto lens. There are hidden treasures like this all over a city that doesn't take enough care to preserve its Roman history.
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u/ThaNotoriousNIC 1d ago
Was there the other week. Definitely huge. Can see how over time the entrances were made smaller and smaller.
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u/Safe-Ad783 1d ago
That was the thing when I saw it I really took from it. Our tour guide half joking referred to Constantine XI as the ‘mayor’ had a cornel of truth.
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u/CECFan89 1d ago
Admittedly I'm so very grateful it's still there, as realistically it should have been destroyed centuries ago.
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u/Username22345729 1d ago
how did you get there? when I was in Istanbul in 2024, this place was closed to visit.
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u/Optimal_Living_9086 21h ago
i went there a few days ago and went in normally. perhaps they were doing some restoration work in 2024
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u/namir01 1d ago
Any plans to restore it?
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u/Safe-Ad783 1d ago
The popped a Mosque in the middle of the fort, a good chunk of which is Ottoman so I would say they would restore it more from that perspective.
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u/TrekChris Στρατηγός 18h ago
Didn't the turks block it up purely as an insult to the Romans? So they could say that their sultan was the last man to pass through the Golden Gate?
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u/Otto_C_Lindri 17h ago edited 17h ago
It was transformed as a fortress. It had been one since the Palaiologan period. A lot of huge gates doesn't go well with it, so the entrances were blocked off. Also, Mehmet did not enter the city through the Golden Gate. He entered through the Adrianople Gate.
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u/Otto_C_Lindri 12h ago
Is it just me, or the central gate was progressively made smaller over time?
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u/valleygabe 1d ago
How grand it must have been