Constantinople 1453

Explore the Landmarks

Religious Buildings

Palaces & Imperial Monuments

Civil Infrastructure

Gates, Towers & Walls

The remains of Constantinople are now intertwined with the streets of Istanbul.
Churches transformed into mosques, walls buried within the urban fabric, forgotten imperial columns…
Here are the places you can explore today, witnesses to a thousand years of imperial, religious, and civil history. All are visible, and sometimes overlooked by classic tours.

Constantinople at a Glance: Highlights

Hagia Sophia

Basilica Cistern

The Galata Tower and its panoramic view of the Golden Horn and Constantinople

Walls of Theodosius

Blachernae Palace

Stunning view of a Byzantine dome adorned with vibrant religious mosaics. — Chora Church

Ancient Hippodrome

Palaces and Imperial Monuments

Where the Basileus reigned.

Blachernae Palace

Great Palace of Constantinople

Column of Constantine

Column of the Goths

Boukoleon Palace

Column of Marcian

Column of Arcadius

Civil Infrastructure

Forums, cisterns, aqueducts: the ingenuity of an ancient capital serving a million souls.

Ancient Hippodrome

Sphendone of the Hippodrome

Forum of Constantine

Orphanage of St. Paul

The Milion – Milestone

Cistern of Theodosius

Cistern of Aetius

Cistern of Aspar

Rotunda of Myrelaion

Cistern of the Pantocrator

Basilica Cistern

Forum of Theodosius

Aqueduct of Valens

Religious Buildings

From the dome of Hagia Sophia to forgotten churches, Orthodox faith etched in stone.

Hagia Sophia (Mosque)

Stunning view of a Byzantine dome adorned with vibrant religious mosaics. — Chora Church (Mosque)

Ruins of the Stoudion Monastery

Myrelaion Monastery (Mosque)

Pantocrator Monastery (Mosque)

Stunning view of Hagia Irene, an iconic Byzantine architecture in Istanbul. — Hagia Irene (Museum)

Pantepoptes Monastery (Mosque)

Church of Theotokos Kyriotissa (Mosque)

Church of St. Theodore (Mosque)

Ruins of the Church of St. Polyeuctus

Church of Saints Sergius and Bacchus (Mosque)

Lips Monastery Church (Mosque)

Gates, Towers, and Walls

The stone scars that protected the city for a millennium.

Galata Tower

Walls of Theodosius

Gate of St. Romanus

Golden Gate

Gate of Charisius

Xylokerkos Gate

Gate of Rhegion

Kalligaria Gate – Eğrikapı

Prison of Anemas

Chain of the Golden Horn

Siege of 1453

Relive the decisive hours of the 1453 siege by exploring the places where Byzantines and Ottomans clashed, amidst walls, ports, and strategic hills.

April 20, 1453: Naval battle between 4 Genoese and Byzantine ships and the Ottoman fleet at the entrance to the Bosphorus

April 21, 1453: 70 Ottoman ships transported overland from the Bosphorus to the Golden Horn

April 22, 1453: The Ottoman fleet enters the Golden Horn, threatening Christian ships and the ramparts

April 27, 1453: Night attack by Venetian ships against the Ottoman fleet in the Golden Horn

May 29, 1453: Victorious Ottoman assault at the Gate of St. Romanus

May 29, 1453: Kerkoporta, the gate through which the first Ottomans are believed to have entered Constantinople

May 29, 1453: Gate of Charisius for the Sultan’s victorious entry before reaching Hagia Sophia.

Museums

Immerse yourself in Istanbul’s museums where Byzantine treasures and traces of the 1453 siege intertwine

Museum of the Siege of Constantinople in 1453

Great Palace Mosaic Museum

Hagia Sophia History Museum

Istanbul Archaeological Museum

Walk through time, observe the surviving stones, and imagine the city as it was before May 29, 1453.