History
Byzantine Era
Photo: Joseolgon / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
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Article · Istanbul
Byzantine Istanbul: What to See Beyond Hagia Sophia
Byzantine Istanbul beyond Hagia Sophia: the Hippodrome, the cisterns, the Chora, Zeyrek and Kalenderhane, the Little Hagia Sophia, the land walls and…
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Place · Fethiye
Gemiler Island
Gemiler Island rises off Kayaköy with Byzantine church ruins, a 160-meter vaulted passage and a past of pilgrims, sea trade and Japanese…
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Place · Istanbul
Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome of Constantinople, today Sultanahmet Square: the chariot-racing arena of Byzantium with the Obelisk of Theodosius, the Serpent Column from Delphi,…
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Place · Istanbul
Chora (Kariye Mosque)
The Chora, now the Kariye Mosque, in Edirnekapı, Istanbul: a Byzantine church with some of the finest late Byzantine mosaics and frescoes,…
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Place · Cappadocia
Soğanlı Valley
Soğanlı Valley in southern Cappadocia: a twin valley of Byzantine rock-cut churches, a church inside a fairy chimney, painted dovecotes and the…
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Place · Istanbul
Theodosian Walls
The Theodosian Walls of Istanbul: 6.7 km (4.1 miles) of Byzantine land walls with 96 towers, the Golden Gate and Yedikule, Edirnekapı…
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Place · Istanbul
Little Hagia Sophia
The Little Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, Justinian's 6th-century Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus: an umbrella dome of sixteen sections, a two-story…
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Place · Istanbul
Hagia Irene
Hagia Irene in the first courtyard of Topkapı Palace: Istanbul's oldest church building, never a mosque but a Janissary arsenal, with an…
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Place · Istanbul
Valens Aqueduct
The Roman aqueduct that carried water into Constantinople across two hills: its story from Valens to Suleiman and Sinan, where to see…
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Place · Istanbul
Basilica Cistern
Justinian's underground water palace: 336 columns rising from still water, two Medusa heads, a weeping column and the story of how Istanbul…
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Place · Istanbul
Hagia Sophia
Fifteen centuries in one building: Justinian's great church, an Ottoman mosque, a museum and a mosque again, with its mosaics, Viking graffiti…
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Article · Istanbul
A Short History of Istanbul: Byzantium, Constantinople, Istanbul
The history of Istanbul in one read: a Neolithic village under the Marmaray works, Greek Byzantium, Constantine's Constantinople, the Byzantine centuries, the…
About this section
Byzantine Era
The Byzantine era left Istanbul its land walls, its cisterns and the domes of its churches. For centuries the city was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. UNESCO’s Historic Areas of Istanbul include the 6th-century Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome of Constantine. They also include the land walls that Theodosius first built in the early fifth century.
Our people pages tell the story behind the stones. Read about Justinian I, who built Hagia Sophia, before you visit the Basilica Cistern nearby. Then follow the Theodosian Walls out to Chora, with its mosaics and paintings of the 14th and 15th centuries.
