Splendors of the Byzantine period
Of Roman Byzantium, only one great witness remains: the hippodrome, on the esplanade of Sultanahmet, built in 203 by Septimius Severus.
On the other hand, many buildings bear witness to the splendor of the great Constantinople, consecrated on May 11, 330 as the new capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. To establish this imperial grandeur, Constantine launched a campaign of major urban development work, fixing the main axes of the city, using a grid plan to create important ceremonial routes. He enlarged the hippodrome, which was shaped like a large U around which 40 rows of bleachers could accommodate up to 30,000 spectators. The racecourse hosted sporting, cultural and political events and was also home to numerous sculptures. The obelisk of Theodosius and the Serpentine column remain from this period. The hippodrome alone symbolizes Byzantine art and civilization, which saw the Greek and Roman heritages recast within the framework of a Christian state devising its own codes. The Romans were geniuses in building, combining pragmatism and architectural beauty, and they endowed the city with astonishing buildings such as the aqueduct built by the emperor Valens between 368 and 378. Today, only 600 meters of the 1,000 meters of this stone giant remain. Formed of 2 stages in round arches, this aqueduct is an engineering jewel. In the5th century, the emperor Theodosius I protected the city with imposing fortifications stretching over a distance of nearly 20 km between the Sea of Marmara and the Golden Horn. Of stone, but especially of brick, one of the new materials used at that time, these walls testify to the Roman military genius. But it is the emperor Justinian who, in the VIth century, will complete the splendor of Constantinople by rebuilding almost completely the city and by endowing it with sumptuous buildings, starting with the mythical basilica Sainte-Sophie, which he made rebuild after the fire which ravaged it. Justinian imposed the dome as a guiding element, which rests on a central plan with 3 naves. Opened in 537, Saint Sophia is the work of the architects Arthemis of Tralles and Isidore of Miletus. It took more than 10,000 workers and 100 foremen to realize this splendor whose dome, 56 m high and 31.80 m wide, is raised on a square plan. Its sumptuous decoration adds to the technical prowess of this edifice, which was unequalled at the time. It is also to Justinian that we owe the incredible cistern of Yerebatan, nicknamed the cistern-basilica. As the only means of preventing water poisoning, the cistern fulfills a primordial function that is underlined by its astonishing architecture with 336 columns.
This imperial splendor marks the apogee of the Byzantine era, which will be reflected in the following centuries by more modest buildings. The churches are smaller, mainly monastic, and follow a Greek cross plan, like the monastic complex of Christ the Pantocrator. As far as civil architecture is concerned, it is still possible to admire the amazing Tekfur Sarayi palace, known as the palace of Constantine Porphyrogenitus, built in the 11th century, whose main facade is composed of twin arcades on the first floor, while the windows of the two upper floors are framed by sumptuous stone and brick motifs.
The great Ottoman period: 15th and 17th centuries
The very first witness of the Ottoman power was erected even before the city was taken. It was in 1452 that Sultan Mehmet II, known as the Conqueror, had the Rumelihisari fortress built in only 4 months. The fortress consists of 3 towers, the highest of which rises 57 m above the Bosphorus.
Once Constantinople is taken, the Ottomans will change the face of the city. Many churches are transformed into mosques, starting with Hagia Sophia which is adorned with 4 minarets. The basilica transformed into a Muslim sanctuary will serve as a kind of model for new mosques. The Ottomans thus achieve an amazing transition between Christian Byzantine values and Ottoman Muslim principles. This syncretism is essential to understand the Ottoman genius which knew so well how to integrate in a pragmatic and symbolic way the existing structures. But Ottoman architecture is also a deeply political architecture, reflecting imperial power. At the head of a gigantic empire, the city had all the material and financial resources to build many sumptuous buildings. The Ottomans thus rethought the city by transforming the existing urban fabric and reviving the ancient splendors. Among the great witnesses of this imperial architecture, we find obviously the Topkapi Palace started by Mehmet II in 1460. The sultan surrounded with walls the part of the city between Sainte-Sophie and the point facing the Bosphorus and imagined a palace where each function has its own pavilion, the whole structured around 3 inner courtyards leading from the public to the private spaces. The mosque of Bayazid Sultan, built between 1501 and 1506 by Sultan Bajazet II, is the oldest of the royal mosques. Its cross-shaped plan is in fact an inverted T plan to which a courtyard has been added. Its central dome is flanked by 2 half-domes, and its 2 side aisles are covered with 4 identical domes, demonstrating the importance of this architectural element among the Ottomans. This first Ottoman period will be especially marked by the genius of the architect Sinan who endowed the city with some of its most beautiful monuments, such as the Sehzade and Sulaymānīyah mosques, which impress by their structure all in height and lightness. He also endowed the city with numerous palaces and other civil buildings that bear witness to the Ottoman imperial power.
Built between 1609 and 1619, the Blue Mosque is the last example of classical Ottoman architecture. It was designed by Mehmet Aga, one of Sinan's disciples. The mosque rests on a podium and opens on 5 doors giving on an interior court where a superb hexagonal fountain with 6 columns is enthroned. It has a central plan with a dome supported by 4 half-domes. With its 260 windows, it is one of the brightest mosques in the city. Light that comes to enhance the bright blue of 21 043 tiles of earthenware constituting its decoration and which earned him the nickname of Blue Mosque.
At the end of the seventeenth century, Edirne is chosen as the new capital, making Istanbul fall into disuse, thus slowing down the construction projects. The only notable buildings of this end of century, the first Yalis, these wooden summer residences erected along the banks of the Bosphorus(yalı means shore) which testify to a true oriental art of living. These Yalis are imagined in perfect osmosis with nature. The garden being placed on the sides, nothing disturbs the breathtaking view of the sea on one side and the hill on the other. This hold of nature on the habitat is in perfect adequacy with the Ottoman tradition of the stripping. It is only from the XIXth century that the facades and decorations of these Yalis will be more worked with great reinforcement of wood lace and precious materials. Today, there are very few of these houses left, most of them having been destroyed. Among the Yalis still existing is the Yali of Amcazade Hüseyin Pacha. Dating from the end of the 17th century, it is the oldest preserved.
Eclecticism and Ottoman Modernity: 18th and 20th Centuries
While Istanbul knows a period of decline, the sultan Ahmed III comes to revitalize the city by replacing the court in the heart of the Topkapi palace. On this occasion, its pavilions and kiosks were restored or rebuilt. The sultan also built the socio-religious complex of Damad Ibrahim Pasha and organized a great official ceremony on the major axis of the city, giving all its meaning to this ancient urban fabric. It was also during this period that the Ottomans reintroduced the architecture of water by restoring the ancient aqueducts and building new structures resulting in the construction of many new fountains, places of sociability par excellence.
During this second Ottoman period, the architecture of Istanbul was deeply influenced by Western trends, without losing its identity and character. It is under the reign of the sultan Mahmud I that the Ottoman baroque makes its appearance. The great achievement of this period is the complex of the Nurosmaniye mosque, built between 1749 and 1755, of which one can still see the capitals, arches and mouldings in frontage. This Ottoman baroque knows its apogee under the reign of Sélim III which also starts deep urban changes in the city. Driven by military reforms, the sultan decided to abandon the original organic urban fabric of the city and to opt for a geometric plan of Western inspiration. This new urban grid is used for the creation of the Üsküdar district. At the end of the 18th century, Westerners were very present in Istanbul, which explains the Ottoman variations in European fashion. Baroque, Empire, Neo-Gothic, Orientalist (of Andalusian and Maghrebian inspiration) and Neoclassical styles are thus mixed. This mixture of genres was the source of inspiration for a great family of architects, the Balyans, who were imperial architects from father to son. We owe them the baroque palace of Küçüksu, the mosque of Dolmabahçe, mixing baroque and Renaissance on a classical plan, and especially the palace of Dolmabahçe, literally "filled garden". This incredible palace was started in 1843 and completed in 1856. Its maritime facade, 600 m long, is punctuated by 12 doors. Its decoration is of an incredible richness, making dialogue staircases with balustrades and crystal chandeliers. Another important architect at that time, the Italian Raimondo d'Aronco, reinforced this architectural eclecticism with a new style: Art Nouveau. It is the case in particular of the great complex that the sultan Abdülhamid II had built, including a superb library.
Finally, it was at the very beginning of the 20th century that the first national architecture appeared. The official style adopted by the state from 1908 onwards is an eclectic style dominated by orientalism. Thus, the facades remain in appearance very Western, while inside, the spaces keep the Eastern separation private/public, organized around the sofas, these halls distributing the various spaces.
Republic and architectural renewal
From 1923, the year of the proclamation of the republic by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, to 1960, the city underwent profound urbanistic changes. The French urbanist Henri Prost was entrusted with the task of establishing a new master plan and modernizing the city. Problem, Henri Prost wants to apply Western principles without trying to adapt them to the identity of Istanbul. If it allows the creation of the district of Talimhane, organized according to a geometrical plan, and the breakthrough of the big boulevards Beyoglu and Besiktas, Prost is also at the origin of the demolition of numerous historical monuments. The plan of the Frenchman is thus abandoned. As Ankara became the capital of the new republic, Istanbul developed less and few buildings were constructed. However, it is at this time that the second national architecture led by the architect Sedad Eldem is born. This regionalist trend puts modern techniques at the service of the traditional style, as with the great Atatürk library. By being inspired by the traditional habitat, Eldem gives to the taste of the day the Ottoman houses, which are characterized by an architecture in corbelled and the presence of many windows. These houses are most often made of wood. One can still see them in Ortaköy or Üsküdar.
Contemporary architecture
Today, more than ever, Istanbul is looking to the future, as evidenced by the many urban renewal projects recently completed or in the pipeline. The third Bosphorus Bridge, the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge, was inaugurated in 2016. At 59 m wide, it is the widest suspension bridge in the world. In 2018, the country's largest mosque was inaugurated. On the Çamlica hill, the mosque of the same name impresses with its 30,000-person capacity. Its highest minarets measure over 100 m, while its dome is almost 34 m in diameter. Other titanic projects include Istanbul's new airport, due to open officially in April 2019, and the Eurasia tunnel, a road tunnel under the Bosphorus linking Europe and Asia, completed in 2016. in 2024, 4 new metro lines were opened to improve traffic flow. As for the creation of the Istanbul Canal, a project linking the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and designed to reduce pressure on the strait, it remains on hold. And let's not forget the ultra-modern towers, particularly in the Levent district. The Sapphire Tower, one of the most famous, rises to 261 m.
A city in transformation, but one that will hopefully always retain its precious architectural past.
