From Constantinople to Istanbul: the Evolution and Imagination of a City

I just recently returned from a wonderful visit to Istanbul, a city that fascinates on several fronts. First, the city has a most unusual religious history, having once been the most powerful city in Christendom and later becoming the most powerful city in Islam. This mixed religious history is reflected in the city’s architecture which sometimes blends styles in intriguing ways while its past wealth as the centre of an empire funded some magnificent structures. 

In addition, since WWI, the country experienced a strong secular push and, more recently, a religious countermovement that today makes Istanbul a real meeting point of secular and pious living. And finally, within the Muslim world, Istanbul and Turkey have been vital to the historical development of Sufism, the mystical branch of Islam. 

Below, let’s explore some aspects of this captivating city. We’ll begin with its history of change and growth.

Greek Origins

The city was founded 2700 years ago by some Greek settlers who called it Byzantium. The founders saw the location’s amazing geographical value as it lies beside the vital Bosphorus River which connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea. As a result, for people and states on the Black Sea, this river is key to their trade and shipping.

Image: Bosphorus River and the Black Sea. Source: Canva.com

In addition, the location is the meeting point of Europe and Asia (you change continents by simply crossing the river). This allowed the city to become a place of cultural fusion and also a key location for the Silk Road and the spice trade. If it is true that in real estate, what matters is location, location, and location, then this city has had advantages like few places on earth.

Now Constantinople

The city was of modest size by the 4th century CE when the Roman Emperor Constantine decided to move the empire’s capital from Rome by building a new capital here. He named it New Rome but people called it Constantine’s city (Constantinople in Greek) which eventually became the city’s name.

Image: Constantine the Great. Source: Canva.com

Constantine shifted his capital for several reasons:

• militarily, the location was closer to key frontiers and was also easy to defend, being surrounded by water on three sides;
• economically, it was a natural trading centre sitting on the Bosphorus and being the meeting point of Europe and Asia (as noted above);
• politically, Constantine was sometimes opposed by Rome’s entrenched powerful aristocracy so by moving the capital, he left them behind, dramatically weakening their relevance;
• and finally, religiously, Constantine was reimagining the empire as Christian and Rome was a pagan city with ancient temples and history – the new religion would get a new city of its own.

By the 6th century, Constantinople was by far Europe’s largest and most powerful centre. It was arguably Christendom’s most important city (Rome with the pope was the only rival but it had been conquered, depopulated, and weakened). The Emperor Justinian then built the Hagia Sophia which became the largest church in Christendom for about a thousand years.

The Ottomans

The Turks, migrants from Central Asia, entered the area, took land, fragmented, and then around 1300 founded the Ottoman empire. A century later the Ottomans had taken Constantinople’s empire from it and the city was isolated, weakened, and depopulated from some other conflicts. After some failed attempts, the Ottomans under Mehmet the Conqueror finally captured Constantinople in 1453. 

Christendom was shocked at losing the ancient city and their greatest church. Mehmet turned the Hagia Sophia and many other churches into mosques. Eventually, the city’s name changed to Istanbul.

Image: Constantinople, Ottoman Empire, 1876. Source: Canva.com

A City of Architectural Marvels

Of the Muslim cities I have visited, Istanbul stands out architecturally. Having been the heart of a global power just a few centuries ago means the city is packed with beautiful, majestic mosques that are 200-600 years old. 

A few deserve special mention.

Hagia Sophia

This great church has become a great mosque. It upheld the planet’s largest dome for a thousand years (the Ottoman’s most brilliant architect tried to create a bigger dome but could not – it was only surpassed eventually by St. Peter’s in Rome).

The church was covered in Orthodox iconography but since Islam strictly forbids idolatry and Muslims cannot pray in front of images, the images were covered in plaster and paint after the conquest. 

People forgot the images were there until restoration work in the 19th century uncovered their existence. When the Ottoman empire collapsed after WWI, a new more secular regime gave the go ahead to remove the plaster and restore those images that remained. For about 85 years, the mosque became a museum until being turned back into a mosque in 2020.

Today, the mosque uses cloths to hide images in the main worship area from view during prayer. 

The soaring dome makes the interior majestic although the Hagia Sophia is a poignant place for Eastern Orthodox Christians who sometimes lament what would still be their most important church. Today, it is a stunning mosque albeit an unusual one with images from another tradition.

Image: A partially saved icon in the Hagia Sophia features Jesus, Mary and John the Baptist. Source: Brian Carwana

Kariye Mosque/Chora Church

The second mosque I want to mention is the Kariye mosque. It too was a former church but it has preserved an enormous number of Orthodox icons. The entrance ways and side aisles have ceilings covered in icons. In some, the eyes of the images were scratched out centuries ago. The main worship area is beautiful and retains three icons which are covered by retractable screens during prayer time. 

No other city on earth has mosques like this.

As a small side note, when we were there, a cat curled up in my wife’s lap. Cats are common in Istanbul and you can find them in mosques too.

Caption: Icons in the main worship area. Note that there are screens above them that can be electronically deployed during prayer times to hide the images. Source: Brian Carwana

Rustem Pasha

I find I am particularly drawn to Islamic architecture. The prohibition on statues creates a quiet simplicity. You get really pleasing lines and spaces through soaring domes, tall minarets, beautiful archways and courtyards. And you get the tile work with the only décor being calligraphy and replicating patterns. The thing about those patterns is they can be magnificent and yet, the symmetry of them is somehow quieting. You find yourself dazzled…and yet simultaneously at peace. 

Image: The Rustem Pasha mosque is known for its brilliant blue tile work. Source: Brian Carwana

The Blue Mosque

I have no special commentary on this one. My wife tells me I would be crazy not to show this stunning place to you. Since she is usually right, here it is.

Source: Brian Carwana

The Secular and the Religious

In WWI, the Ottomans sided with Germany, lost the war, and the empire crumbled. Istanbul was occupied by victorious French and British forces. The Ottomans had become a very multiethnic empire owing to all their conquests of various peoples and Istanbul itself was very ethnically diverse. The future was unclear as the British and French decided how to divvy up the empire (much like they carved up the Middle East during the same period). 

But a military leader, Mustapha Kemal (called Ataturk or father of the Turks), organized forces, pushed out the occupiers, and birthed a new country – Turkey. Without him, there likely is no Turkey. He envisioned a secular country and used dictatorial powers to dramatically shape the fledgling country.

He secularized the legal system by borrowing on European models, secularized the schools, removed state religion, pushed for adopting secular Western dress, and increased women’s rights. He also approved exposing the icons at the Hagia Sophia and turned it and the Kariye mosque mentioned above into museums for a time.

More religious and conservative movements have tried to stem this secular shift but none achieved great success until Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2002. He continues to rule to this day in a somewhat authoritarian manner. 

This contrast of secular and religious motivations is reflected in the population which shows the full spread of levels of religious devotion. Take for example the practice of veiling. Surveys show that slightly more than half of women wear a veil and that it is more popular amongst Turks who are older, rural, and who have less education (1, 2).

In Istanbul, veiling seems to vary enormously. When we left tourist areas, we encountered neighbourhoods where veiling was present but worn by a minority whereas in another neighbourhood, perhaps 98% were veiled and most wore a partial face covering (a version I had not seen before that exposed a triangular area of the face including eyes and nose but covered the mouth and much of one’s cheeks). Public transportation was filled with women of every type of dress and we sometimes saw a young veiled Muslim woman walking down the street and talking with a friend in a tank top. 

In short, in Turkey, women have the full range of choices on their piety and how to dress and are choosing to live as they see fit. 

Source: Canva.com

Sufism

Turkey has been a heartland for the development of Muslim Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam. I was able to join a late night ritual at a particular Sufi lodge but all of this will take some time to explain… so we will leave this for a future blog.

Conclusion

Istanbul is an incredible city with a fascinating history. It is a meeting place of the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, Europe and Asia, Christianity and Islam, and the secular and the religious. It has wonderful architecture and buildings that reflect a dual heritage unlike almost any other place on earth. Today, there is much debate in Turkey between those who look to a more secular path and others who seek to reclaim tradition and preserve religious heritage. 

This place of crossroads, of fusion, and change promises to continue to be one of diverse paths.