SULTANAHMET AND HISTORICAL PENINSULA

Istanbul was founded on seven hills and one of the seven hills called Sultan Ahmet district has been the most important part of Istanbul for centuries both in ancinet  and present times as if the heart of the mega city where you can find all facilities, mosques, palaces, underground cisterns, bath houses, shopping moles, museums, fountains, city walls, millennium stone, hippodrome, shrines, Sultan's tombs, restaurants, etc. Anyone who come as tourist to this part is able to visit imperial part of Istanbul.

When the city was first founded, the acropolis was a typical Mediterranean trading center surrounded by city walls. This trading center was enlarged and rebuilt during Roman times and used for chariot races. Some important Roman buildings are the remains of the ancient Constantinopolis. Ottomans used this square as training their horses first and  important ceremonies , circimsions events. During 16th century, great viziers began building the palaces and kiosks, later a great palace as the residance of the Ottoman Sultans, a great mosque as the imperial mosque of the empire. The Janissaries which was the great army of the Ottomans used to have army barracks around the district with the bath houses,  small mesjids and stores for about three hundred  years till the janissaries were removed beginning of the 19th century. Today it is the heart of the historical Istanbul, center of culture and trade and an important touristic and religious centre of the city. Let’s see the main buildings and remains on this area ;

Many of Istanbul’s historical gems, mostly consisting of Byzantine and Ottoman-built monuments are in Old City. Most are located a short walk away from, if not immediately on the edges of, Sultan Ahmet Square. Some other sights are dispersed throughout the peninsula.
(7) TURKISH AND ISLAMIC ARTS
Carpets, rugs, calligraphy, pottery are the main items which are displayed. You can visit also the Ethnographic Museum downstairs where you can learn about the lifestyle of the Turks and their ancestors. *UNDER RENOVATION*
(8) GREAT PALACE MOSAICS MUSEUM
Located in Arasta Bazaar, this museum hosts the pavement mosaics of the Byzantine - era Great Palace of Constantinople, which once occupied all the way from Sultan Ahmet Square.
(9) LITTLE HAGIA SOPHIA
The little Hagia Sophia Mosque at the first was a church but later turned into a mosque. At the beginning, in the Byzantine Era it was constructed by the order of Justinian I (the Emperor of Byzantine) and his wife in order to be used as a church for the sake of Monophysite Community in sometime between 527-536, just before Justinian built Hagia Sophia. Named after Sergius and Bacchus (the two main saints of Christians in the Roman army), it has been known as Little Hagia Sophia.
(10) GULHANE PARK
This park was royal hunting grounds in the past. Today it’s a public park with lots of seasonal flowers, including huge patches of tulips in early April, and huge plane trees which means lots of shade as well. The high walls on one side of the park seperates it from Topkapı Palace. At one end of the park are a group of nice outdoor cafés—all of which basically serve the same drinks and snacks—with a view of Bosphorus, a view that is as charming as the view from the Palace situated right above
(11) SOGUKCESME STREET
A  downhill cobbled street just behind Hagia Sophia, with renovated  traditional wooden houses two- or three-storeys tall typical of Ottoman era, leaning against the outer wall of Topkapı Palace grounds.
(12)  ARCHAEOLOGY MUSEUM
One of the best, including a great collection of Sumerian tablets, pieces of the wall of Babylon and Roman marble statues. The Alexander Sarcophagus, once believed to be the sarcophagus of Alexander the Great himself.
Content Author   : Mahmut OKCESIZ
Page Editor           : Mustafa Gökhan BULUT
Published              : 11 July 2014