Exhibition Celebrates Byzantine and Ottoman Istanbul — SkimNews
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- Constantinople was inaugurated as the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire on 11 May AD330 under Emperor Constantine, becoming a center of Christian and classical preservation.
- The Byzantine Empire preserved ancient Greek culture and defended Constantinople until its fall in 1453, when Ottoman forces equipped with cannon breached its walls.
- The Ottoman Empire transformed Constantinople into Istanbul and repurposed Hagia Sophia as a mosque, maintaining its architectural integrity while inspiring their own domed mosques.
- Sultan Mehmed II commissioned Renaissance artist Gentile Bellini to paint his portrait in 1480, reflecting Ottoman cultural engagement with European art.
- Hagia Sophia served as a museum from 1935 to 2020 before being reconverted into a mosque by presidential decree under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
- The exhibition features artifacts such as a 6th-century mosaic from Constantine’s palace, a 16th-century golden zerbaft kaftan likely worn by Sultan Selim II, and a Quranic chest shaped like a dome inspired by Hagia Sophia.
Why it matters: The exhibition reframes Istanbul not as a succession of fallen empires but as a living continuum of imperial aesthetics and religious transformation, where Byzantine and Ottoman legacies coexist materially and spiritually, influencing global architecture and cultural memory. The recent reconversion of Hagia Sophia underscores how these historical layers remain politically resonant today.
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