Sultanahmet: Squares of Two Empires

1. 01
   History

   Pass Through the Three Gates in Order

   Begin at Topkapı Palace, whose construction started around 1465 and whose Imperial Gate inscription shows 1478. The palace is organized around three monumental gates and the courtyards beyond them, with access becoming more restricted at each stage. In the mid-19th century the court moved to Dolmabahçe, and in 1924 the palace became a museum.

   Bâb-ı Hümâyun, Topkapı Sarayı, Istanbul, Turkey
2. 02
   History

   Measure the Dome from Beneath

   Visit Hagia Sophia, completed in 537 for Emperor Justinian I by Anthemios of Tralles and Isidoros of Miletos. Its dome, about 31 meters across, partially collapsed in 558; the younger Isidoros rebuilt it about 6 meters higher, and the building reopened in 562. In 1453 it was converted into a mosque.

   Hagia Sophia visitor entrance, Istanbul, Turkey
3. 03
   Exploration

   Turn into the Street by the Wall

   Walk into Soğukçeşme Street, squeezed between the outer wall of the palace and Hagia Sophia. It is lined with a single row of wooden houses, and just a few steps from the noise of the square the scale changes completely, with cobblestones and painted façades. From one end, you can see all the way to the other.

   Soğukçeşme Sokağı entrance by Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Turkey
4. 04✦
   Nature

   Sit in the Palace Garden

   Pause in Gülhane Park, once the outer garden of Topkapı Palace and now one of the city's largest central parks. Paths under plane trees run along the palace wall, and the northern terrace opens toward Sarayburnu, the mouth of the Golden Horn, and the opposite shore. It is the right place to let the day’s fatigue fade.

   Gülhane Park Soğukçeşme gate, Istanbul, Turkey
5. 05
   History

   Count the Six Minarets from the Courtyard

   Enter the courtyard of the Sultan Ahmed Mosque, built between 1609 and 1620 by Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa. Its 22.40-meter dome rests on four massive piers and is supported by semi-domes in four directions. Inside, more than twenty thousand tiles from İznik and Kütahya workshops are arranged in over fifty different compositions.

   Sultanahmet Camii courtyard gate on the Hippodrome side, Istanbul, Turkey
6. 06
   Culture

   Walk the Carpets in Historical Order

   Visit the Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum, housed in the restored İbrahim Paşa Palace since 1983 after the museum was originally founded in 1914 at Süleymaniye. This 16th-century structure is the only surviving private palace outside the dynastic palaces. Its handwoven carpet collection stretches from the 13th to the 20th century and is considered one of the richest in the world.

   Türk ve İslam Eserleri Müzesi entrance, Istanbul, Turkey
7. 07
   History

   Find the One Hundred Fifty Figures in the Floor

   Explore the Great Palace Mosaic Museum beneath Arasta Bazaar, where floor mosaics from the peristyle courtyard of the Great Palace are preserved. They date to roughly 450-550 and depict daily life, nature, and mythology, with around ninety subjects and nearly one hundred fifty human and animal figures. Excavations began in 1935 and continued through the 1950s.

   Büyük Saray Mozaikleri Müzesi entrance, Arasta Çarşısı, Istanbul, Turkey
8. 08
   Art

   Notice the Stone in the Mihrab

   Climb to Sokollu Mehmed Paşa Mosque in Kadırga, begun in 1568 and completed in 1571-72 by Sinan. Its hexagonal plan set within a rectangle carries a 13-meter dome. Because it was built on a slope, Sinan designed a two-level courtyard: revenue-generating shops below, and the madrasa and mosque above.

   Sokollu Mehmed Paşa Camii street gate of the madrasa courtyard, Istanbul, Turkey
9. 09
   History

   See the Rehearsal for Hagia Sophia

   Visit Little Hagia Sophia Mosque, originally the Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus, built in the first half of the 6th century for Justinian and Theodora, both named in the inscription running around the column capitals. Its octagonal core set within a square and topped by a dome is considered a small-scale version of the solution later tried at Hagia Sophia.

   Küçük Ayasofya Camii courtyard gate, Istanbul, Turkey
10. 10
    History

    Look for the Balcony in the Sea Wall

    Finish at the ruins of Bukoleon Palace, the Byzantine emperors’ palace attached to the sea walls, of which only the eastern section survives today. Among the remains are the terrace thought to have overlooked the Marmara, the sea-side landing place, and cistern sections. Work begun in 2021 revealed columns that had been buried under rubble.

    Bukoleon Sarayı ruins on Kennedy Caddesi, Istanbul, Turkey

Check opening hours before you go. Hours, access conditions and weather can change.