Yerasimos, Stéphane

Constantinople : Istanbul's historical heritage / Stéphane Yerasimos - Konemann : Tandem Verlag GmbH , 2005 - 400 p. : illus. ; 32 cm

Index included

This book reveals the inheritance of a fascinating city before the reader's eyes. Christened Constantinople by Constantine the Great, the city successively served as the capital of the Byzantine and Ottoman empires and commanded a key position between Occident and Orient for more than sixteen centuries. The wealth of cultural treasures that characterise the face of Constantinople today reflects this rich history. The Hagia Sophia stems from the early Christian era; the Middle Ages bequeathed churches and monasteries rich in mosaics as well as illuminated Manuscripts and icons; and the cultural renaissance following the conquest of the city by Mehmed II in 1453 brought magnificent palaces and mosques, calligraphic treasures, and book and miniature paintings inspired by Persian and Arabic forms. The buildings of the Ottoman baroque period and nineteenth-century architecture complete the exceptional cityscape Istanbul boasts today. Richly illustrated and studded with selected literary documents, this book conveys a living experience of Constantinople in all its various aspects.


Translated from the German to English

9783833119323


Architecture, Byzantine
Church buildings---Turkey---Istanbul
Mosques---Turkey---Istanbul


Istanbul, Turkey---History

REF 950 YER