This is an old
picture of Aksaray, an old neighborhood within the city walls.
The mosque in the picture is a work of late 19th century Ottoman baroque
architecture. Istanbul is the biggest city in Turkey with a population of about 12 million. The city was founded in the 3rd century AD by Romans as Constantinople and was the capital of the Byzantine Empire during the Middle Ages. It became the capital of the Ottoman Empire after its conquest by the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II in 1453. After the fall of the Empire at the end of World War I, the newly formed Republic of Turkey choose Ankara as its capital and Istanbul's 1600 year-old status as an empire capital came to an end. Although the bureaucratic offices moved from Istanbul to Ankara in 1920s, it has remained as the cultural capital of Turkey and an important centre in the larger region of the Balkans and the Middle East.
These black and white pictures are from mid-twentieth century Istanbul.
This is an old
picture of Aksaray, an old neighborhood within the city walls.
The mosque in the picture is a work of late 19th century Ottoman baroque
architecture.
This is again an
old picture of the Beyazit square with the old gate of Istanbul University,
Turkey's first university to be established. Also in view to the right, the
Beyazit Tower.
This is an old
picture of the Maiden's Tower taken from the Anatolian (Asian) side of Istanbul.
Check out the mythical story of the Maiden's Tower on the Internet.
This is an old
picture of the Galata bridge taken from the old city. The part of the city seen
in the picture used to be the non-Muslim section of the Ottoman capital.
This is another
picture of the Galata bridge. The old bridge, that was built by the Ottomans in
the late 19th century was replaced with a new and modern one in the 90s by the
municipality.