Türkiye, 28.05 - 18.06. 2013
Istanbul, 30.05 - 6.06. 2013
In 324, after victories in internecine wars, the Emperor of the Roman Empire Constantine the Great visited a small town of the empire - VizAntii.
Legend says that the city was founded in the Vll. BC e. Byzas - the son of Poseidon and Keroessa, daughter of Zeus. And the gods will not settle in a bad place. Byzantium was very well located - on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, at the intersection of the Bosphorus and the Golden Horn. The city controlled the Bosporus and, accordingly, trade routes from Europe to Asia and from the Black Sea to the Aegean. Being on the peninsula, Byzantium could easily defend itself.
Highly appreciating the strategic position of Byzantium, the emperor launched a major construction project here - building new palaces and temples, rebuilding the hippodrome, and erecting fortress walls.
Constantine became obsessed with the dream of creating a city, initially and entirely subject to him alone, which would symbolize the beginning of a new era in the history of Rome. It was supposed to be an unusually beautiful city with new architecture, a new ideology and, most importantly, a new religion.
With his spear, Constantine drew the future boundaries of the city. His retinue was amazed at the scale of his plan. In response, he declared: “I will go as far as He who leads me will allow me.”
Works of art were brought to Byzantium from all over the empire: paintings, sculptures, the best pagan monuments of Rome, Athens, Alexandria, Ephesus, Antioch.
On May 11, 330, Constantine moved the capital of the Roman Empire to a city on the Bosphorus and officially named it New Rome, but for the soul - Constantinople .
The new capital was built on seven hills in the image and likeness of ancient Rome. But the emperors Byzantium and its architects surpassed the Romans by creating masterpieces of engineering.
The longest aqueduct of antiquity...
About all this and much more, read more...
The Romans and Greeks knew a lot about relaxation and entertainment. Theatre, stadium, hippodrome, baths are indispensable attributes of ancient Roman and Greek cities.
Construction Hippodrome in Byzantium it was started by the Roman emperor Septimius Severus in 203. In 330 - 334, Emperor Constantine, creating a new capital, completely rebuilt the Hippodrome.
The Hippodrome was one of the largest buildings in ancient Constantinople and the center of the social and political life of the capital. Its size was 450 meters long and 120 meters wide, the capacity of the hippodrome was 100,000 people.
Reconstruction of the Hippodrome of Constantinople
The Hippodrome was surrounded on three sides by Sfenda - spectator stands. The fourth side was closed by Kathisma - a large building with boxes for dignitaries and an imperial tribune. The Imperial Tribune was connected by a covered passage to the Great Imperial Palace, located next to the Hippodrome. Kathisma was crowned with a bronze Quadriga - four horses brought from Greece.
In the center of the arena there was a low dividing barrier 10 meters wide - the back. columns, obelisks, and statues towered on it, brought at different times from different parts of the empire.
We will not see the Hippodrome itself - it is hidden by a many-meter layer of earth, although its outlines are easy to guess. Only the obelisks of Theodosius and Constantine, and the Serpentine Column have survived. And also the southern part of Sfenda on a slope above the sea.
Snake Column was brought from the Delphic sanctuary of Apollo in Greece in 326 by order of Emperor Constantine the Great. The column symbolized the victory of 479 BC. e. Greek city-states over the Persians at Plataea.
In the original, this column, 6.5 meters high, consisted of three intertwined snakes and was crowned with a three-legged golden bowl, and the snakes themselves were cast from the bronze shields of the fallen Persians. One of the snake heads is in the archaeological museum Istanbul. In Byzantine times, the column was a fountain and had 29 recesses on a bronze base.
The column once stood on a hill, but gradually, along with the entire Hippodrome, it goes underground. That is, the ground level rises.
Egyptian obelisk or obelisk of Theodosius was brought from Luxor in 390 by order of Emperor Theodosius l and installed at the Hippodrome on a specially made marble pedestal. The pedestal depicts various scenes with the participation of Emperor Theodosius and the scene of the installation of the obelisk itself at the Hippodrome. His age is dated XVl century BC uh., but it looks very modern. ABOUT It is made of white and pink Aswan granite, its weight reaches 300 tons.
On all sides of the obelisk are Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the heroic deeds of Pharaoh Thutmose lll. In the original, the height of the obelisk was 32.5 meters, but during transportation it was shortened to 18.8 m (including the pedestal).
This pedestal scene depicts Theodosius on the imperial platform during the competition, with a laurel wreath for the winner.
Here the fans are holding scarves in their hands, the colors of which they used to support their teams and, accordingly, parties.
Openwork stone column of Constantine was built from stone blocks by order of Emperor Constantine Vll in honor of the memory of his grandfather Basil l. The original height of the column was 32 meters, it was covered with gilded bronze sheets. Now the height of the column is 21 meters.
Sfendu You can see the hippodrome by going down the narrow streets Istanbul closer to the sea. There is a building on it, and a cafe underneath it.
Numerous arches are built or used by local residents. The sphenda of the Hippodrome of Constantinople is almost 1700 years old.
Emperor Constantine the Great begins construction near the Hippodrome Grand Imperial Palace.
Grand Palace V Constantinople remained the main residence of the Byzantine emperors for 800 years, from 330 to 1081. It was founded by Constantine the Great, rebuilt by Justinian and expanded by Theophilus. The emperor's children born in the Porphyry Hall of the Palace were called porphyritic, or purplish-born. It was a title that could not be purchased or received as an inheritance or gift.
Galleries were added to the Palace, connecting it with St. Sophia and the Hippodrome. The emperor could go from the Hippodrome to Hagia Sophia without leaving his home.
Map from Wikipedia
At the beginning of the 20th century, several fragments of the Great Imperial Palace were discovered in a fire - prison cells, burials and halls with mosaic floors from the 5th century. During subsequent excavations, a quarter of its territory was uncovered.
In 1953, at the site where mosaic floors were discovered during excavations in 1938, a small Mosaic Museum.
Mosaics of the Grand Palace scientists date it to the period of the reign of Emperor Justinian (Vl c). They are much older than the mosaics in the Chora Monastery and the Church of St. Sophia. The subjects on them are antique - harvesting, hunting, pictures from the series of animal life.
Here you can find leopards devouring an antelope, hunting a hare, a monkey picking a banana from a palm tree, a girl with an amphora, a camel with children on its back, milking goats and much more.
The images are made with great skill from colored 5 mm cubes of various types of limestone, marble and smalt on a white background.
Different episodes are separated from each other by trees, buildings, rocks, mythical creatures.
The entire floor mosaic is perceived as a huge carpet framed by a wide border. The richness of imagination, the ease of conveying the movements of people and animals, and facial expressions on people are amazing.
The paintings seem to be painted with an artist’s brush, the smallest details are conveyed. Even the background is not just laid out with a white mosaic, but in the form of scales.
The wall from the Bukoleon Palace on the south side near the Sea of Marmara has been preserved.
Bucoleon Palace was part of the Grand Imperial Palace, the seaside residence of the emperors Byzantium. The name comes from the statues of bulls and lions that decorated the local harbor. The surviving ruins were erected by Emperor Theophilus. There was a balcony on the wall from which the emperor could admire the sea views.
While building and strengthening the new capital, glorifying the Almighty, Emperor Constantine the Great did not forget about his beloved self, striving to glorify and preserve his name for centuries.
Forum of Emperor Constantine was located on the current Cemberlitas Square in Istanbul. There was a colonnade, statues of pagan gods and Christian saints, brought from various temples of the empire.
The central place in the forum was occupied by a majestic column with a marble capital on top. And on the capital was erected a golden statue of Constantine the Great in the form of the god Apollo with seven rays emanating from his head.
Reconstruction of the Forum of Constantine 
Was fused into the statue nail from the Cross of the Son of God. The height of the monument was 38 meters, it was erected in 330 at the direction of Emperor Constantine and stood for 800 years, glorifying the first emperor of the great Empire.
According to legend, under the base of the column, the emperor himself walled up a cache of holy relics - an ax from Noah's ax, a crosshair of Moses, the remains of the bread of Jesus and "Palladium"- a wooden figurine of Pallas Athena from Ilion, previously kept in Rome.
The crusaders dug a tunnel under the column in search of holy relics. The relics were not found, and the foundation was damaged.
In 1779, a strong fire destroyed the buildings on the forum, and black stains from the fire remained on the column. The blackened and cracked column was reinforced with iron hoops, and its base with bandage masonry.
The Turkish name of the monument is Cemberlitash, which means Column with hoops, or Belted Column. Europeans call it the Burnt Column. The Column of Constantine the Great is almost 1700 years old.
As a result of large-scale construction Constantinople increased several times. The growing population of the city was sorely lacking fresh water - there were no sources within the city. Unlike other capitals, Constantinople did not stand on a river.
Konstantin planned a powerful city water supply, but this plan was already implemented by his successors.
The Byzantines built the longest aqueduct of those times. Spring water moved along it for 650 km. The water supply included underground tunnels, canals on the surface of the earth and many aqueducts. Recently, British archaeologists explored the route of the Byzantine water supply and discovered 19 aqueducts hidden from view in dense forests, some of them well preserved, only heavily overgrown with greenery. The ancient builders built to last for centuries and their buildings were distinguished by their beauty and grace, although they were located far outside the city, in a deserted area. Their aqueducts are more like triumphal arches - two-, three-level, with beautiful cornices, fine stone carvings, they are made as if they should have stood in the center of the city.
Aqueduct of Valens- part of this water supply. A two-tier trestle aqueduct, put into operation in 369, almost one kilometer long and 26 meters high. The city's busy highway, Ataturk Boulevard, now passes under it. Istanbul.
Through lead pipes laid along the top of the aqueduct, water flowed into the city until the middle of the 19th century.
Bringing water to Constantinople was the solution to only half the problem. Water had to be stored somewhere, but there was no place in the city. Byzantine engineers built an amazing system of underground reservoirs - cisterns. They were dug out in huge quantities - under palaces, churches, residential buildings and decorated very beautifully. Not like utility rooms, but like palaces - marble columns, high vaults, arches. The desire for beauty was in the Byzantines' blood. The Byzantines could not build without beauty. Everything they created had to be beautiful.
The largest of the reservoirs is Basilica Cistern (lV - Vl centuries) Construction of the cistern began under Emperor Constantine the Great and was completed under Emperor Justinian.
Entrance to the Basilica Cistern:
The dimensions of the underground structure are 145 by 65 meters, capacity - 80,000 cubic meters. meters.
The vaulted ceiling is supported by 336 columns 8 meters high, the walls are made of 4 meters thick fire bricks and covered with a special waterproofing solution.
Most of the columns were taken from various ancient temples, so they differ from each other in the type of marble and type of processing. At the base of two columns is the head of a Gorgon Medusa. It is unknown where they were brought from and which temple they belonged to before.
Column with scrolls. You are supposed to insert your finger into the hole, scroll and make a wish.
Nearby is a wishing pool where coins are thrown. Fish swim in large numbers, tourists feed them. Previously, residents of houses above the cistern fished without leaving their houses, through holes in the floor.
The cistern was actively used until the 15th century, then it was abandoned and heavily polluted. In 1987, the cistern was cleaned and a museum was opened in it.
Episodes of the James Bond film "From Russia with Love" were filmed here.
Next to the Basilica Cistern is a nondescript sandstone pillar. This Million Stone, mile zero of Constantinople, part of the Miliarium Aurelum gate, on which the distances to the most important cities were marked Byzantium.
Theodosius Cistern (420) - one of the underground Constantinople cisterns measuring 45 by 25 meters. The domed vaults are supported by 32 marble columns 9 meters high. Restored, protected by UNESCO, it is a museum, but is always closed.
Zeyrek tank (1118 - 1143) An underground reservoir, which is considered the third largest in Istanbul. Dimensions 50 by 20 meters. Closed for restoration.
The reservoirs maintained an adequate water supply to the city even in the summer, when the aqueduct provided very little water. Thanks to the system of reservoirs, the population of Constantinople grew to astonishing proportions for that time.
To be continued...
Column of Emperor Constantine
Both the foundation and the consecration of Constantinople consisted of a number of holidays, in which forms of ancient polytheism, and superstitions of modern magic for that time, and Christian rituals were encountered. The historian Joseph Strigovsky generally believed that Emperor Constantine’s dedication of the city to the Most Holy Theotokos was a pious later insertion. According to the most ancient evidence, the emperor, according to ancient customs, dedicated the new city to Fate and, along with the political name (“New Rome”, or Constantinople), gave it a secret priestly name - Anfusa (“Blooming”).
According to the “Easter Chronicle”, Constantine the Great back in 328 (that is, two years before the solemn consecration of the new capital) also called the Fate of the city Anthusa and made a bloodless sacrifice. This name also refers to the law of 334, in which Emperor Constantine calls his capital a city “quam aeterno nomine donavimus”. The same name is given by the first Byzantine chronicler John Malala and the historian Eustathius.
Emperor Constantine was convinced that the fate and happiness of the city depended on the palladium (an ancient image of the goddess Pallas Athena), which was secretly kept in it. And the Byzantines were clearly aware that “Constantine, having secretly carried away from Rome the idol called the palladium, placed it in the Forum, which he founded, under the column of his statue, and, as some of the Byzantines claim, it still lies like that.”
The first image of the allegorical Fate was erected by Emperor Constantine, probably in the same year 328. Then this statue, on May 11, 330, was solemnly transferred from Philadelphia (or Magnaurus) and placed on a column where a gigantic bronze statue depicting Apollo first stood (work of the great Phidias). Emperor Constantine ordered the head of the bronze statue to be taken off and replaced the image of the ancient god with his own. And on the very day of the consecration of the city, another statue (gilded wooden) was unveiled, depicting Emperor Constantine himself, holding the Fate of the city (Anfusa) in his right hand. By decree of the emperor, this statue was to be delivered annually to the Hippodrome in a solemn procession and carried in front of the imperial tribune. This custom, according to one version, was maintained until the reign of Emperor Julian, according to another - until Theodosius the Great.
Gradually, Christianity was cleared of paganism, and in Amartol this “idol” is already turning into a Christian shrine. He describes a column made of one stone, porphyry, “very amazing, which he (Constantine - N.I.) brought from Rome; on it he placed a statue that he brought from Heliopolis of Phrygia and had seven rays on its head.” The column was transported by sea for three years, and when it was delivered to Constantinople, it took another year by sea, it was so heavy and large. “Then, having placed in its foundation 12 baskets that Jesus Christ blessed, and the Honest Tree and holy relics for confirmation and protection, this amazing man erected it with much art, strength and wisdom, an all-amazing column of one stone.”
From the description it is clear that we are talking about a porphyry column, which now stands near At-Meydani Square. Originally, the column, composed of nine cylindrical pieces of porphyry placed one on top of the other, was covered with gilded bronze plates. A laurel wreath was sculptured at the junction of the cylinders, which is why the monument looked like a monolith with carved transverse columns. Already in ancient times, the Column of Constantine became the subject of the most fantastic cult, combining numerous folk legends related to the fate of the city and the emperor.
In order to preserve the Constantine Column, during the reign of Emperor Theodosius II, it was fastened with iron hoops. During the reign of Alexios I Komnenos, the statue of the emperor and the upper drums were knocked down by lightning, but the column itself was preserved. Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) corrected the monument by attaching a new Corinthian capital with Greek inscriptions to it, but instead of the statue he ordered a golden cross to be erected. During the siege of Constantinople by the Turks, the Byzantines crowded around the column, as there was a legend that Emperor Constantine would never allow conquerors into the city beyond his monument. And when the fatal moment comes, an angel will fly from the golden cross, hand a flaming sword to one of the defenders and order him to defeat the enemy.
Currently, Emperor Constantine's column is called Cemberlitash ("Burnt Column"). Some historians believe that the monument received this name after Nika's rebellion, when it was damaged by fire. Other researchers consider this version doubtful, since at that time the column stood in the center of the forum, and the flames could not have affected it. It suffered from a fire in the 17th century, when the entire Forum of Constantine was built up and the buildings reached the base of the column. After the fire, Sultan Mustafa I ordered to surround the burnt pedestal with stone cladding up to the second drum. The column was also seriously damaged by a fire in 1779. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I (1774-1789) completed the pedestal of the column and surrounded it with iron hoops. After this, the column of Constantine was renamed Cemberlitash.
Cemberlitash
Today the column, which reaches a height of almost 36 m, consists of six porphyry cylinders held together with iron hoops. The edges of the cylinders are decorated with images of laurel wreaths. There are still legends that the base of the column contains relics of Christian and other religions: a wooden sculpture of the goddess Athena, brought from Troy; the staff of Moses, with the help of which water flows on the rocks; Noah's ax and crumbs of bread that belonged to Jesus Christ... Thus, on the basis of legends, the connection between Christianity and other religions was proven.
From the book Empire - II [with illustrations] author6. Egyptian obelisk, serpent column, Gothic column, knight's statue of Emperor Justinian, name of Moscow Let's return to the Egyptian appearance of Thutmes III, which we described above. It can still be seen today in Istanbul, not far from the Church of St. Sophia, on the square where once
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One of the three columns installed in Sultanahmet Square in Istanbul is called Column of Constantine. The exact time of construction of the column is not known for certain, but historians tend to speculate about the fourth or fifth century AD. Initially, the height of the structure was thirty-two meters. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottoman troops, the column received a new name - Erme Syutun or translated into Russian - openwork column.
Some facts from history
In the tenth century, Emperor Constantine the Seventh decided to ennoble a tall structure made of limestone blocks tightly fitted to each other, securely fastened with concrete. The entire surface of the Column of Constantine is covered with sheets of copper, which sparkle brightly in the sun, as if gilded. Scenes of military exploits, pictures from everyday life, images of animals and birds are pre-embossed on the sheets. A copper ball is placed at the top of the structure, although according to other sources - a statue of a woman, which served as a weather vane. Having completed the reconstruction, Constantine Bagryanorodny (Porphyrogenitus) dedicated his works to Emperor Basil I the Macedonian (though, carefully reading history, it is difficult to call Basil’s military achievements feats).
Sometimes letters are more valuable than videos
Unlike us, ancient people especially understood the value of dedications carved on massive marble pedestals rather than those written on fragile paper. 
Just imagine for a moment the distant year 3013. Will future generations really study our history from unreadable “flash drives” or fragments of DVD discs accidentally discovered at the site of giant landfills? Work not worthy of respect. So, let's go back to the tenth century AD. On the marble pedestal of the high column, the inscriptions carved with a chisel are still easily readable. They are made in Greek. Their meaning is that the column of Constantine is conceived as a direct competitor to the Colossus of Rhodes. Indeed, the obelisk in Istanbul has stood for more than a millennium (although it has become quite dilapidated), and the statue of the Sun God Helios disappeared without a trace in the merciless millstones of world history.
Sack of Constantinople
It is known that during the fourth crusade, Constantinople was completely sacked. Not only Christian shrines were damaged, but palaces, buildings and structures were plundered, including the hippodrome, on the back of which (see the three-dimensional computer model above) rare historical monuments were installed. The Column of Constantine remained intact, but all the copper plates, as well as the laurel wreaths that once adorned the pedestal, were mercilessly torn off from its surface. It is in this pitiful form that tourists can see the building in our time.
Openwork column
I still don’t understand why the Ottomans called the column openwork. Maybe for a special laying? At the same time, difficult weather conditions are gradually destroying the openwork column in the Turkish metropolis. On one side of the obelisk, the stones are chaotically discolored, like teeth from the inflamed gums of a scurvy patient. The need to restore the openwork column is the subject of constant fierce debate. The warring parties have been unable to come to a final and unanimous opinion on the feasibility of repairs for years. Is it right to fill the holes with new bricks? Won't he lose openwork column of Constantine authenticity? But, you must admit, it is impossible to leave the building in this form; it is extremely disrespectful towards the ancient monument of human history.
April 26th, 2018
Cemberlitas Square is located on the site of the ancient forum of Emperor Constantine, of all the structures of which only the Column of Constantine has partially survived, which can already be seen in the distance as we move. Also on this square are the Nurosmaniye Mosque, the Atik Ali Pasha Mosque (it is now on the left in the photo above and below), the central gate of the Grand Bazaar, and Cemberlitash Hammam.
03.
Cemberlitas Square.
(Greek: Φόρος Κωνσταντίνου) - one of the forums of Constantinople of the Byzantine era. It was built around 328 when the city was founded by Emperor Constantine the Great. Every year, imperial processions passed through the forum. A 37-meter column of Constantine was erected in the center - the only structure in the forum that has survived to this day. The oval-shaped forum of the city's reconstruction can be seen on the far left of the image of Constantinople below.
04.
Panorama of Constantinople. Reconstruction by Antoine Helbert.
This is what it once looked like (image below). The Forum of Constantine was built just outside the walls of ancient Byzantium and was the first in a series of city forums located on the main street of the city ("Mesa"). The latter connected it with the Augusteon Square and the Great Palace in the east, as well as with the forums of Theodosius and Amastrian in the west. The forum had an oval shape: from the north and south it was surrounded by a two-tiered semicircular colonnade, and from the west and east there were two large monumental arches made of white marble, connecting the square with the main street of the city. In the north of the forum stood the city's first senate building. According to the 11th century description, it was a rotunda with a portico supported by four large columns (image below).
The famous bronze quadriga was kept here, which originally included a statue of Constantine in the form of the Invincible Sun (Sol invictus) riding horses. At the forum there was the busiest and most expensive market in the city. There was a lively trade in furs, silk, linen, leather and clothing, as well as candles and horse harnesses. The forum was not only a gathering place for traders and beggars - it also hosted a vibrant social life.
05.
Forum of Constantine. Reconstruction by Antoine Helbert.
Here in 336 the founder of Arianism, the heresiarch Arius, died. Walking through Constantine Square, accompanied by his bodyguards, he felt ill. Having learned that there was an aphedron (latrine) behind the square, he headed there. Arius did not come out for a long time, and finally, when the door to the aphedron was broken down, people saw his dead body “with disintegrated entrails.” The history of the square is also connected with the Orthodox Saint Andrew the Fool (? - 936). According to one of the many descriptions of his life, the saint loved to walk around the territory of the forum, stopped in front of the main doors of the Senate to look at the titans depicted there, and also went to the tavern in the northeast of the square)
Both the foundation and the consecration of Constantinople consisted of a number of holidays, in which forms of ancient polytheism, and superstitions of modern magic for that time, and Christian rituals were encountered. The historian Joseph Strigovsky generally believed that Emperor Constantine’s dedication of the city to the Most Holy Theotokos was a pious later insertion. According to the most ancient evidence, the emperor, according to ancient customs, dedicated the new city to Fate and, along with the political name (“New Rome”, or Constantinople), gave it a secret priestly name - Anfusa (“Blooming”).
Emperor Constantine was convinced that the fate and happiness of the city depended on the palladium (an ancient image of the goddess Pallas Athena from Troy), which was secretly kept there. And the Byzantines were clearly aware that “Constantine, having secretly carried away from Rome the idol called the palladium, placed it in the Forum, which he founded, under the column of his statue, and, as some of the Byzantines claim, where it still lies.”
07.
Column of Constantine. Reconstruction by Antoine Helbert.
The first image of the allegorical Fate was erected by Emperor Constantine, probably in the same year 328. Then, on May 11, 330, this statue was solemnly transferred from Philadelphia (or Magnaurus) and placed on a column where at first there stood a gigantic bronze statue depicting Apollo (the work of the great Phidias). Emperor Constantine ordered the head to be separated from the bronze statue and thereby replaced the image of the ancient god with his own. And on the very day of the consecration of the city, another statue (gilded wooden) was unveiled, depicting Emperor Constantine himself, holding the Fate of the city (Anfusa) in his right hand.
Gradually, Christianity was cleared of paganism, and in Amartol this “idol” was already turning into a Christian shrine. He describes a column “of one stone,” porphyry, “very amazing, which he (Constantine) brought from Rome; on it he placed a statue that he brought from Heliopolis of Phrygia and having seven rays on its head.” The column was allegedly transported by sea for three years, and when it was delivered to Constantinople, it took another year by sea, it was so heavy and large. “Then, having placed in its foundation 12 baskets that Jesus Christ blessed, and the Honest Tree and holy relics [an ax from Noah’s ax, a crosshair, part of the staff of Moses and the remains of the bread of Jesus] for strengthening and protection, he set it up with much skill, strength and wisdom This man is amazing, an all-amazing column made of one stone.”
08.
Column of Constantine in different periods of time. Reconstruction by Antoine Helbert.
Throughout its history, the column was constantly damaged by earthquakes and fires. In 416, Emperor Theodosius II (r. 408-450) ordered the column to be strengthened with iron brackets. During the earthquake of 600-601, the statue of Constantine collapsed, and the column itself was also badly damaged. Under Emperor Heraclius (project 610-641), the statue was restored. In 1106, under Alexei I (r. 1081-1118), the statue was again damaged by lightning. Only during the reign of Emperor Manuel I (r. 1143-1180) the structure was put in order, but in 1150, during a strong storm, the statue collapsed again, this time taking with it the three upper drums of the column.
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Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (1143-1180) corrected the monument by erecting a new Corinthian capital with Greek inscriptions, but instead of the statue he ordered a golden cross to be erected (see image 08 above), and on the upper drum he put the inscription: “The pious Manuel strengthened the sacred work of art, damaged by time."
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The nail from the Holy Cross, fused into the statue of the emperor, was removed and transferred for storage to the Church of the Virgin Mary of Pharos on the territory of the Great Palace east of the Forum of Constantine.
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The square was completely burned down in a fire in 1204, started by the Crusaders who invaded and sacked the city during the Fourth Crusade. The foundation of the column was weakened by a tunnel dug by “European barbarians” to search for relics. The invaders tore out gilded bronze plates from the column, and also broke out a white stone bas-relief from its base. It is believed that this was the sculpture "Four Tetrarchs", now located in St. Mark's Basilica in Venice. It is believed that it depicts the co-emperor emperors of the tetrarchy period, or the heirs of Constantine the Great. There is also an opinion that this bas-relief was not located in the Forum of Constantine, but in Philadelphian Square to the west of it.
The Forum was decorated with numerous antique metal statues: among them figures of a dolphin, an elephant and a hippocampus, statues of Palladium, Thetis and Artemis, as well as the sculptural group “The Judgment of Paris”. There may have been statues of Poseidon, Asclepius and Dionysus. However, today it is almost impossible to determine their appearance or exact location. In 1204, they were all melted down by the crusaders who captured the city. Today the place of the Forum of Feodosia is occupied by Cemberlitas Square, significantly inferior to it in size.
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Atik Ali Pasha Mosque on p.Cemberlitas horses.
Construction of the mosque began in 1748 (according to other sources in 1749) during the reign of Sultan Mahmud I (1730-1754) in honor of an employee under Sultan Bayezid II and was completed in 1755 during the reign of Sultan Osman III. The mosque was built in Baroque style. The complex was built on the site of another mosque (Fatma Khatun Mosque), destroyed by fire.
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According to tradition, the mosque was named after the founder, but Sultan Mahmud I died before construction was completed. His successor, Osman III, gave the mosque the name Nuruosmaniye (Turkish Nur-u Osmani - Sacred Light of Osman).
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A very remarkable building by the way. The mosque is also interesting because it is a smaller copy of the first Fatih Mosque, destroyed by an earthquake in 1766. Previously, the mosque had a madrasah, a dervish abode and an inn, but these buildings were lost.
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However, let us continue to explore the history of the Forum and the Column of Constantine.
During the siege of Constantinople by the Turks, Byzantine citizens gathered around the column, as there was a legend that Emperor Constantine would never allow conquerors into the city beyond his monument. And when the fateful moment comes, a radiant angel will fly from the golden cross, hand a flaming sword to one of the defenders and order him to defeat the enemy. The cross was removed from the top of the column by the Ottoman Turks just days after their capture of Constantinople in 1453 (Photo 08).
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Currently, the column of Emperor Constantine is called Cemberlitash ("Burnt Column"). Some historians believe that the monument received this name after Nika's rebellion, when it was damaged by fire. Other researchers consider this version doubtful, since at that time the column stood in the center of the forum in an open place, and the flames could not touch it.
It suffered from a fire in the 17th century, when the Forum of Constantine was completely built up and the buildings “approached” close to the base of the column. After the fire, Sultan Mustafa I ordered to surround the burnt pedestal with stone cladding up to the second drum. The column was also seriously damaged by the fire of 1779. The Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid I (1774-1789) completed the pedestal of the column and carried out work to “girth” it with iron hoops. After this, the column of Constantine was renamed Cemberlitash.
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Column of Constantine in 1870.
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Column of Constantine in 1912.
The top of the column.
Column of Constantine the Great - 1) commemorative column, inaugurated on May 11, 330 at the Forum of Constantine in Constantinople , dedicated to the Roman Emperor Constantine I the Great (306-337). It was installed on a 5-meter porphyry base in the form of a truncated regular 4-step pyramid, on which there was a square column chair, decorated with a bas-relief. The trunk, 25 m high, consisted of 7 porphyry drums with a diameter of 2.9 m, surrounded by metal hoops covered with gilded bronze wreaths. The eighth upper drum was marble. The structure was crowned by a marble capital, on the abacus of which there was a golden statue of the emperor in the form of the god Apollo in a crown of seven rays, with the Holy Nail fused into it from the Cross of the Son of God, therefore the people of Constantinople initially called this monument the “Column of the Nail.” In the right hand of the statue there was an orb, and in the left, probably, a labarum with Christian symbols. The total height of the monument was about 38 m. Under the base of the column, during the consecration ceremony of the new capital of the empire, the emperor, in the presence of Christian church hierarchs and senior representatives of pagan priests, personally walled up the ax handle from Noah’s ax, the cross of Moses, the remains of the bread of Jesus and the “palladium” - a wooden a figurine of Pallas Athena from Ilion, previously kept in Rome. The monument was surrounded by a vaulted-arched tetrapylon with an altar. Next to the column, the Chapel of St. Constantine was later built, forming a single architectural ensemble with a tetrapylon. At the end of the reign of Emperor Mauritius, during the earthquake of 600-601, the statue of Constantine the Great was destroyed, and the column itself was severely damaged. Completely restored under Emperor Heraclius (610-641). Under Emperor Alexei I (1081-1118), the statue was again damaged by lightning in 1106. The monument was restored only under Emperor Manuel I (1143-1180), but soon another collapse of the statue occurred, and it was replaced by a cross, after which the monument received a new colloquial name - “Column with a Cross". The Holy Nail was removed from the statue of the emperor and transferred for storage to the Church of the Mother of God of Pharos on the territory of the Great Palace in Constantinople. After 1204, the structure suffered greatly from the atrocities of the Crusaders: the foundation was weakened by an adit, dug to search for relics, and the bas-relief was removed and taken to Western Europe. Currently, part of it (the so-called “Tetrarchs”) is embedded in the wall of St. Mark’s Cathedral in Venice. According to one version, this sculptural group depicts the four heirs of Constantine the Great: the sons - Constantine II, Constantius II and Constant, as well as his nephew - Dalmatius the Younger. Supporters of a different version see in the four figures the actual tetrarchs, emperors - the predecessors of Constantine I: Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius and Constantius Chlorus. Due to the fact that the bas-relief was damaged (part of the left leg of one of the figures was missing), the Venetians restored it from local stone. During archaeological excavations in Constantinople in the second half of the 20th century. the missing element of the bas-relief was discovered, currently stored in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. In early June 1453, after the fall of Constantinople, the Turks threw down the cross from this column. And in 1779, after a severe fire, the blackened and cracked column, by order of Sultan Abduhamid I, was strengthened with additional iron hoops, and its base with bandage masonry. The current Turkish name for the monument is “Çemberlitash” (“Rock with Hoops”); among Europeans the name “Burnt Column” is more common. A drawing of this column, dated 1574 and stored in the library of Holy Trinity College in the English city of Cambridge, has been preserved; 2) a memorial column with an equestrian gilded statue of Emperor Constantine the Great (306-337), unveiled in 330 on the Military Field outside the walls of Constantine, near the Memorial Column erected in honor of the founding of New Rome. On the high pedestal there was an inscription expressing to the emperor the gratitude of the Senate and the people for his activities for the benefit of the state. At the beginning of the 5th century, after the construction of the walls of Theodosius, it ended up on the territory of Blachernae - the 14th region of the capital of Byzantium. After 1204, the fate of this monument is unknown.
