49 Fun Facts About Istanbul

Istanbul lies on the strait between the Black Sea and which smaller inland sea?

The Bosporus links the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara, which opens through the Dardanelles to the Aegean; about two-thirds of the city's 15 million people live on the European shore.

Which city replaced Istanbul as Turkey's seat of government in 1923?

The Republic chose Ankara as capital in 1923, but Istanbul remains the economic, cultural and historical centre.

The city was founded around 657 BC by Greek colonists from Megara under what name?

Byzantium was founded by colonists from Megara around 657 BC; legend traced them to Byzas, son of Poseidon and the nymph Ceroëssa, and a Thracian village called Lygos may have stood there first.

Which Roman emperor refounded the city in 324 AD, initially calling it New Rome?

It was proclaimed capital of the Roman Empire on 11 May 330 and kept his name for 1,600 years.

The name 'Istanbul' is commonly held to derive from a Medieval Greek phrase meaning what?

Istanbul comes from the Greek eis tḕn Pólin, 'to the city', since it was the only major city around; the Ottomans also nicknamed it Dersaadet, the 'Gate of Felicity'.

Which Byzantine dynasty retook Constantinople from the Latin Empire in 1261?

Michael VIII Palaiologos's general Alexios Strategopoulos slipped into the city on 25 July 1261, ending the Latin Empire; the Palaiologan dynasty then ruled Byzantium until 1453.

Which crusade was diverted in 1204 to sack Constantinople and set up the Latin Empire?

The Fourth Crusade, originally bound for Egypt, was diverted to Constantinople and sacked it in April 1204, setting up the Latin Empire; much of the loot, including the bronze horses of San Marco, went to Venice.

Which Ottoman sultan captured Constantinople on 29 May 1453?

Mehmed II, 'the Conqueror', took the city on 29 May 1453 after a siege of 53 days; the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI, died in the fighting, and Mehmed styled himself Kayser-i Rûm, Caesar of Rome.

During the 1453 siege, how did the Ottomans get their ships past the chain blocking the Golden Horn?

The fleet slid over the Galata hill on 22 April; the floating chain itself had been ordered by Constantine XI to prevent a repeat of the 1204 crusader breach.

Orban, who cast a giant bombard for the Ottoman siege of 1453, is usually described as what nationality?

Orban is usually called a Hungarian, though Wallachian and German origins have also been claimed; he first offered his services to the Byzantines, who could not pay him, and Ottoman founders such as Saruca cast most other siege guns.

Who was the chief architect of Suleiman the Magnificent's reign, designer of the Süleymaniye?

Mimar Sinan, chief royal architect from 1538 until his death in 1588, designed the Süleymaniye, completed in 1557, and hundreds of other buildings across the empire.

The name Constantinople was officially changed to İstanbul in which year, inspiring a later novelty song?

The Turkish Postal Service Law of 28 March 1930 made İstanbul the sole official name and renamed Smyrna as İzmir; the Four Lads' novelty hit 'Istanbul (Not Constantinople)' followed in 1953.

The last Ottoman sultan left the city into exile aboard a British warship in which year?

Mehmed VI sailed from Istanbul aboard HMS Malaya on 17 November 1922, sixteen days after the Grand National Assembly abolished the sultanate; he died in Sanremo, Italy, in 1926.

Which future president launched his political career as mayor of Istanbul in 1994?

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was elected mayor of Istanbul in March 1994 for the Welfare Party and became prime minister in 2003 and president in 2014; his AKP lost the mayoralty to Ekrem İmamoğlu in 2019.

What is a native or resident of Istanbul called in English?

English uses Istanbulite; in Turkish it is İstanbullu, and the name is spelled with a dotted capital İ, which the Turkish alphabet distinguishes from the dotless I.

Hagia Sophia was completed in AD 537 under which Byzantine emperor?

Justinian I commissioned it after the Nika riots of 532 and dedicated it in 537; Isidore of Miletus and Anthemius of Tralles gave it a pendentive dome over what was then the world's largest interior space.

In which year was Hagia Sophia's museum status revoked and the building redesignated as a mosque?

A presidential decree of 10 July 2020 annulled the 1934 museum status and reopened Hagia Sophia for Muslim worship; it had been the world's largest cathedral for nearly a thousand years and a mosque from the 1453 conquest.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque, built 1609–17, is popularly known by the name of which colour?

Thousands of İznik tiles and painted floral motifs in blue give it the nickname; Sedefkâr Mehmed Ağa built it for Ahmed I, facing Hagia Sophia.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque is unusual for having how many minarets?

Folklore says the architect misheard the sultan's request for 'altın' (gold) minarets as 'altı' (six), a number until then unique to the mosque at Mecca.

Topkapı Palace was the Ottoman administrative centre until the court moved to which palace in 1856?

Sultan Abdülmecid I moved the court to Dolmabahçe, completed in 1856 on the Bosphorus shore; Topkapı kept the treasury, library and mint before becoming a museum in 1924.

The name Topkapı, given to the palace in the 19th century, means what in Turkish?

Topkapı means 'Cannon Gate', after a shore gate by the vanished Topkapı seaside pavilion; it was originally the 'New Palace', distinct from the Old Palace at Beyazıt Square, and its treasury holds the Spoonmaker's Diamond.

The Grand Bazaar's Turkish name, Kapalıçarşı, translates as what?

Kapalıçarşı means 'Covered Market': the bazaar has 61 covered streets and more than 4,000 shops, and in 2014 it topped Travel + Leisure's list of the world's most-visited attractions with over 91 million visitors.

The Grand Bazaar's core began in 1455/56 as a hall for trading which goods?

Mehmed II's Cevâhir Bedestan, the 'Bedesten of Gems', opened in 1461 as a hall for trading textiles and jewels; it was endowed to the charitable foundation of the Hagia Sophia mosque.

The Spice Bazaar has been Istanbul's main spice market since which century?

The Spice Bazaar (Mısır Çarşısı) dates from the 17th century, completed in 1664 as part of the New Mosque complex at Eminönü; the open-air Mahmutpaşa Bazaar links it to the Grand Bazaar.

The Galata Tower was built in 1348 as a watchtower by colonists from which Italian city?

Colonists from Genoa built it in 1348 as the Christea Turris, crowning their walled colony of Galata; at 66.9 metres it was then the city's tallest building, and the Ottomans later used it as a prison and fire lookout.

Who supposedly strapped on wings in 1638 and glided from the Galata Tower across the strait to Üsküdar?

Evliya Çelebi's account credits Hezarfen Ahmed Çelebi with gliding from Galata to Doğancılar in Üsküdar in 1638, a tale of doubtful authenticity; Istanbul's Hezarfen Airfield keeps his name.

Istanbul's Basilica Cistern is famous for column bases carved with whose head?

Two columns in the north-west corner rest on Medusa heads, reused from an earlier building and set sideways and upside down; the French scholar Petrus Gyllius publicised the forgotten cistern in the 1540s after being rowed among its columns.

The Maiden's Tower on its islet off Üsküdar is also known by the name of which figure from Greek myth?

It is also called Leander's Tower, after the Hero and Leander legend that properly belongs to the Dardanelles; another tale has a princess locked there to dodge a prophesied snakebite, killed by an asp in a fruit basket.

The first bridge across the Bosphorus, linking Europe and Asia, opened in which year?

The Bosphorus Bridge, renamed 15 July Martyrs Bridge in 2016, opened on 30 October 1973; the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge followed in 1988, the Marmaray rail tunnel in 2013, and the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge and Eurasia tunnel in 2016.

The Marmaray, opened in 2013 beneath the Bosphorus, was the first rail link between which two regions?

The Marmaray tunnel, opened on 29 October 2013, was the first rail link between Thrace and Anatolia, the European and Asian halves of Turkey; from 2019 it has carried the commuter line from Halkalı to Gebze.

The Tünel funicular, the world's second-oldest underground railway, opened in which year?

The Tünel opened on 17 January 1875, hauling passengers from Karaköy up the Galata hill to Beyoğlu; only London's Metropolitan Railway of 1863 is older, and Istanbul's modern metro arrived with the M1 line in 1989.

Sirkeci Terminal became famous as the eastern terminus of which legendary train service from Paris?

International rail service began in 1889 with a line to Bucharest; the station closed for Marmaray works in 2012.

Which airport, opened in 2001, is the main one serving the Asian side of the city?

Sabiha Gökçen Airport, named for Atatürk's adopted daughter and Turkey's first female combat pilot, opened at Pendik in January 2001; Atatürk Airport closed to passengers in 2019 when the new Istanbul Airport took over.

Which Istanbul club, founded in 1903, is the oldest of the big three and carries the Turkish flag in its logo?

Beşiktaş JK was founded in 1903 as a gymnastics club, two years before Galatasaray and four before Fenerbahçe; its crest carries the red and white of the Turkish flag.

Istanbul's most heated football rivalry pits Galatasaray against which club from the Asian shore?

Fenerbahçe, based in Kadıköy on the Asian shore, has met Galatasaray in the 'Intercontinental Derby' since their first match in January 1909; the fixture crosses a continental boundary as well as a city.

Which stadium hosted the 2005 Champions League final, Liverpool's comeback from 3–0 down against AC Milan?

The Atatürk Olympic Stadium staged the 2005 final, won by Liverpool on penalties after trailing Milan 3–0; its 2020 and 2021 finals were moved to Lisbon and Porto by the pandemic, and it hosted again in 2023.

Istanbul Park circuit hosted which Formula One race between 2005 and 2011 and again nine years later?

Istanbul Park, opened in 2005, hosted the Turkish Grand Prix from 2005 to 2011 and again in 2020 and 2021; Felipe Massa won there three years running from 2006 to 2008.

Galatasaray High School, the oldest public high school in Turkey, was established in which year?

Galatasaray High School traces its origin to the Galata Sarayı palace school founded in 1481; Istanbul University claims 1453, and Istanbul Technical University of 1773 is among the world's oldest engineering universities.

What Turkish word describes Istanbul's illegally built squatter houses, literally 'built overnight'?

Gecekondu means 'landed overnight', for houses thrown up in a night on public land; migration from Anatolia after 1950 swelled the city from about one million people to over fifteen million.

What are the waterside summer mansions Ottoman elites built along the Bosphorus called?

Yalıs are the waterside wooden mansions Ottoman elites built along both shores of the Bosphorus from the 17th century; the Amcazade Hüseyin Pasha Yalı of 1699 is the oldest survivor.

Which animal, numbering from 100,000 to over a million, is considered a symbol of Istanbul's streets?

Feral cats, estimated at anywhere from 100,000 to over a million, roam freely and are fed by residents; the 2016 documentary Kedi celebrated them, and rose-ringed parakeets have also colonised the city.

Which sultan sent a fleet to evacuate Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492?

Bayezid II sent the navy under Kemal Reis to bring Sephardic Jews expelled by Spain's 1492 Alhambra Decree to Ottoman lands; in the city they could practise any profession and came to dominate medicine.

From about 1500 to 1750 Istanbul was the largest city in Europe, until it was overtaken by which city?

London overtook Istanbul around 1750 to become Europe's largest city; Constantinople had earlier displaced Rome as the world's largest around 500 CE, jostling with Baghdad and Chang'an for centuries afterwards.

The 2013 nationwide protests in Turkey began over plans to redevelop which Istanbul park?

Plans to build over Taksim Gezi Park by reconstructing the Ottoman Taksim Military Barracks, demolished in 1940, sparked the protests of May–June 2013 that spread across Turkey.

Which fault, locked beneath the sea just south of the city, makes Istanbul earthquake-prone?

The North Anatolian Fault runs beneath the Sea of Marmara just south of the city and produced the earthquakes of 1766 and 1894; the 1999 İzmit quake on the same fault struck about 100 km east of Istanbul.

Which Istanbul district covers old walled Constantinople on the historic peninsula?

Fatih, named for Fatih Sultan Mehmed, the conqueror of 1453, covers the walled historic peninsula on the southern shore of the Golden Horn, facing the old Genoese citadel of Galata.

Obelisks in which Istanbul square mark the site of the Byzantine Hippodrome?

Sultanahmet Square occupies the Hippodrome, where the Obelisk of Theodosius and the Walled Obelisk mark the old spina; Septimius Severus built the arena and Constantine enlarged it to seat tens of thousands.

Istanbul's pedestrianised İstiklal Avenue, with its nostalgic trams, runs through which district?

İstiklal Avenue runs through Beyoğlu, the old Pera, from Tünel to Taksim Square; its 1990 pedestrianisation sent traffic onto the new Tarlabaşı Boulevard, and the nostalgic tram returned the same year.

The Bosphorus is described as the world's narrowest strait used for what?

At about 700 metres across at its narrowest, the Bosphorus is the world's narrowest strait used for international navigation; tens of thousands of ships pass each year, and Canal Istanbul was proposed in 2011 as a bypass.