Constantinople Istanbul`s Historical Heritage

Beautifully illustrated with color photographs on every page-and some filling both pages-this visual tour of modern Istanbul looks at the city's cultural roots as Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman, or Byzantine, empire for more than a thousand years, and the capital of the Ottoman Empire from 1453 to 1922. Stéphane Yerasimos, a native of Istanbul for over two decades and now an architect and historian, guides readers through classical Constantinople, seen in such magnificent buildings as the domed Hagia Sophia, once the largest cathedral in the world, and the mosaicked and frescoed Church of Chora. Here too are the Islamic influences from the invasion of the Ottomans, which brought Arab and Persian forms to buildings like the sultan's palace Topkapi Sarayi, the gorgeous mosques all over the city, and the decorative arts of calligraphy, ceramics, and textiles and carpets. Yerasimos also finds buildings in the modern era that look to the past for inspiration.