1. Introduction

Due to its geographic-morphological relief, Constantinople is divided into 3 sections originally connected via naval transports and, later on, via bridges. The residential development of the walled city dates back to the 5^th century A.D. with relevance to the seven heights in the ground, hence the name “Heptalofos” (Seven Hills), and to the walls’ gates. These gates defined the road system, being also defined themselves by the basic avenue mappings, which lead to the great urban centres of the Byzantine Empire and, later on, the Ottoman Empire. The districts that constituted the urban plexus were never distinctly separated with inner walls, as was the case in European medieval cities; there are only few exceptions, such as the Petrion Castle area and the Xyloporta (Wooden Gate) area; districts in Constantinople were instead defined by the churches and mosques located in the surrounding area.

The city was built on a prominent location and since antiquity has been populated by a variety of inhabitants belonging to several ethnicities and religions, the Greek Orthodox community being the oldest. It is not difficult to trace the evidence of this cohabitation extending over two millennia, with the dominant presence of Byzantine remnants and the living presence, up to our days, of the Greek communities.

Churches, as well as other places of religious worship, have always been and still continue to be the main factor in the development of the landscape, even within the 17 million-resident metropolis of our time, despite the fact that contemporary urban concentrations are defined by large-scale transport works. Evidently, secular buildings of the 19^th century are obscured by the contemporary urban landscape, but the grand, distinctive buildings, such as high-schools, the hospital, communal establishments with educational and athletic facilities, even the graveyards, still define the city’s historical centre, as well as the centres of its several districts. This structured environment is an imprint of Constantinople’s long history.

Besides the natural formation of the extremes of the two continents, with the element of water acting as a catalyst, the consequences of the Fall defined the dispersion of the Greek Orthodox population mainly to the coastline section, but not only at the walled part of the old town and Galatas/Pera, but also on both shores of the Bosporus, as well as to the Prigkiponnisa island complex. Secondary centres accommodating different needs, such as Chalcedon – as a work place and residential area on the Asian coast – Therapeia and Pringipos – as summer resorts initially, but also places of permanent residency nowadays – became bishops’ seats; those, along with the dioses of Constantinople defined the areas were the Greek Orthodox minority settled and formed tight communities.

2. The changes that followed from Ottoman occupation

When Mehmed II the Conqueror seized Constantinople, the scarcity of population forced him to move and locate there several ethnicities. These obligatory displacements created the Greek districts – called mahalle-i Rumiyan according to 16^th century taxation records – chiefly on the Golden Horn shore and secondly along the ground walls and the coast of Propontis. The Armenians, ranking second in numbers as a minority ethnicity, also populated the same districts; however, they appeared to reside in the most holy Muslim quarter of Eyüp as well.

Administratively, the capital was divided into 4 kadılıks¹, meaning judicial districts headed by the Kadi, who besides his judicial responsibilities served as both a supreme political and administrative official and, simultaneously, directed all the public works in his district.² These districts were comprised of Istanbul, Scutari, Galatas and Chasia. The latter was comprised of the extra muros imperial lands and had Eyüp as its centre, which was the Byzantine Cosmidion area named after the monastery dedicated to the saints Cosmas and Damian. It was a huge extent of land, including 700 hamnets and 26 quarters from Silivria to Çatalca.

On the opposite shore of the Golden Horn, the walled Galata area – the Byzantine “Sykai” (“Fig Trees”) district –was developed from early on with the strong presence of both the Venetians and Genoese, as well as other residents hailing from the independent city-states of the Italian peninsula; they became the nucleus of a mixed cosmopolitan melting pot. The location of embassies in the Pera vineyards from the middle of the 16^th century onwards combined with the area’s proximity to Galatas, transferred the financial and social activities outside the city walls. The main intra muros suburbs were located on the two coasts of Bosporus, Propontis and the Prigkiponnisa islands, thus creating the 19^th century Ottoman capital’s multi-ethnic and multi-devotional character. The role played by epidemics, especially the plague, to the development of these settlements, as well as the detachment from the eye of the “Grand Seigneur” is currently undocumented.

The end of the Christian East, brought about with the seize of Constantinople, was the beginning of its development as the “Gate of Felicity” (Dersaadet) for the Muslims towards the West and its appropriation as a capital at the same time. Grand empires had to exhibit some kind of continuity despite religious differences or ethnic composition. The chair of the Caliph, who was also Ottoman Sultan, was defined by the co-presence of the Orthodox Patriarch, who was the religious leader of the Greek Nation, but also the Gregorian Patriarch of the Armenians and the Arch-Rabbi of the Jews; all these served as representatives of the monotheistic religions recognized by the Qur’an (milletbaşı).

The transformation of the Church dedicated to God’s Wisdom (Hagia Sophia) to the Camii-Kebir Aya-Sofia, a holy mosque for the Muslims, was followed by a constant transport of patriarchal sees for the next 150 years. During the tenure of Gennadius Scholarios (Patriarch Gennadius II), the Patriarchy was originally distanced from the administrative centre of the Constantinople peninsula and located in the Holy Apostoles church for a year; later on, however, the Conqueror (Fatih) built a Mosque of the same name there, thus naming the whole area. The following relocation to the Pammakaristos monastery, later Fethiye Camii, lasted longer – 132 years in total. For the next 12 or 13 years the Patriarchy was literary “homeless”, roofed here and there and roughly accommodated in buildings that belonged to the Princes of Walachia; in 1599, however, it finally settled in the same location where it lies nowadays, in the Petrion Castle in the Fener district.

3. Districts

The great enclosed market, the so-called Kapalı Çarşı, was established by Mehmed II as a wakf building to support and sustain Hagia Sophia by attracting merchants and tradesmen of all kinds of ethnicities that had been obligatory displaced to the centre of the empire in order to contribute to its reconstruction. In that way districts like Kontoskali, Psamathia with the 5 churches,³ as well as other quarters were created along the city walls. This area evolved into an important commercial centre for Constantinopolitan trade; therefore many hostelries and caravanserais were constructed, such as Valide Hanı in 1651, named after the Valide Sultan Kösem. The foundation there of the Egyptian Market (Mısır Çarşısı) in 1660 further increased its market value.

In the Golden Horn, districts usually extended from the inside of the coastal walls. In that sense, Fener, Balatas (Balat/Palation)⁴ and more quarters located along the city walls – and will be mentioned further down, followed northbound the parish of Agia – known as Cibali nowadays.

The wealthiest quarters of the 18^th and 19^th centuries were located along the Propontis coast from Eptapyrgio to Kondoskali (Kumkapı) and the galley port (Κadırga limanı, the Byzantine “port of Sophians”), just under the Hippodrome and around the church dedicated to the saints Sergius and Bacchus.

Armenians settle in Psamathia (Samatya) and neighbouring Narlikapı (Gate of Roses), Vlaga (Laga)⁵ and the general Kondoskali area, including Gedikpaşa and Yenikapı (“New Gate”), fourth after the gate of the Seray,⁶ where until our time the Gregorian Patriarchy is located. The extra muros suburbs of Makrychorion (Bakırköy) – the Byzantine Hebdomon – and Agios Stephanos (Yeşilköy), were also inhabited by mixed population thus enhancing the Ottoman capital’s multi-religious character.

4. Orthodox Churches

As far as the walled part of town was concerned, all the Byzantine churches were either transformed into mosques or destroyed, with the exception of the one dedicated to the Virgin Mary of the Mongols or Panagia Mouchliotissa, located next to the Great School of the Nation in Fener. The only Greek district not on the coast, but in the central part of town is Six Marbles (Altımermer) with the church of Virgin Mary Gorgoepikoos (Quick to Hear),⁷ recorded since the 16^th century. Specifically, Gedeon notes: “the residents of the Six Marbles quarter until the end of the 18^th century spoke the Turkish tongue, possibly originating from Asia Minor regions”. And they were not alone, since the people attending service in the St Kyriaki church in Kondoskali or the Sts Constantine and Helen church in Psomathia hailed from the Karman region, hence their name “Karamanlis”. Along the ground walls from the Belgrade Gate, called during the Byzantine period “Regios or Xylokerkos Gate”, the Virgin of Belgrade was located; its name originates from the Serb peasants, descendants of prisoners and farmers in the area, who built the village of the same name where the Bendia aqueducts were built on the Bosporus hills.

In (a) the St Romanos Gate (Topkapı) St Nicholas is located, in (b) the Adrianople Gate (Edirnekapı) St Demetrius of Sarmaşık, St George and the Virgin of the Skies of Salmatovroukion are located and in (c) Egrikapı the Virgin of Souda and the Virgin Chamtzeriotissa of Tekfurseray are located. Besides the 11 churches of the Ypsomathia district, a significant concentration of Orthodox churches is found around the seat of the dioces of Constantinople, the Fener district, where 15 churches operate, the St George Patriarchal church being the most significant. Also located in the neighbourhood are Virgin Mary of the Mongols or Panagia Mouchliotissa, St Nicholas of Cibali, St George Potiras or Antephonitos, the holy water fountain of the Virgin of Vlacherna and the Bulgarian church dedicated to St Stephen on the coastal avenue.

5. The Galata district

Galata was initially a Genoan district appealing to seamen and other professionals involved in seafaring. Greeks from Kaffa (in Crimea) and Chios were the first foreign inhabitants who climbed the hill of Pera following the embassies of the Great Powers of the time. The opening of the church dedicated to the Presentation of the Virgin Mary, which was the central church in the Stavrodromi (Pera) community – the most populous Greek community among the 40 that were established in Constantinople – dates back to 1804; the St Demetrius of Tatavla church, on the other hand, was built about 15 years earlier. Tatavla was mainly a place of residence for workers in the Kasım Paşa shipyards about 15 years earlier.

Since the reign of Süleyman II, the port was expanded along the Galata coast outside the Venetian walls, where the Academy of Fine Arts is located (the contemporary Mimar Sinan University), due to the construction of seaside palaces belonging to admirals (Kapudan Paşa) of the fleet; these mansions were built in Beşiktaşopposite Üsküdar, the Byzantine city of Chrysopolis. It was the closest location for the transportation of the troops across the sea to the Asian coast and a vocal point for operations to the Eastern front. Along both coasts of the seaside avenue that stretches 20 km in length and 1-1.5 km in width, Serai Gardens (Has Bahçe) were constructed, as well as country houses and mansions.

Turkish Beyoğlu and the Greek Stavrodromi (Crossroads) are 18^th century sites that owe their names to the tracing of the High Street of Pera, the central, rather narrow straight road, where the vertical streets of each side intersect and the communication between neighbouring districts is accommodated, like for example the Hamal başı street which linked the city with the Tarlabaşı district. Some of the significant Genonan monuments have survived through the ages, such as the Catholic church of San Paolo e San Domenico, which was transformed into the Arap Camii mosque after the location there of Muslims from Granada in the 16^th century.

The buildings that housed diplomatists representing foreign countries stationed in the Ottoman capital actually lead the multi-ethnic tide of people inhabiting other areas until the middle of the century to this part of town; the French lead the way building their “seray” on the hills of the Pera vineyards⁸ “des vignes de Pera” in 1535, followed by the British of the celebrated Levant Company, who initially settled in Tophane and 60 years later on the hills around the Golden Horn. The Russians build their embassy on designs made by the Swiss architect Giuseppe Fossatti in 1845; the building originally lay on the Southern part of the “Straight Road”, as did the Swedish and Dutch embassies. Much later, during the second half of the 19^th century (1877), the Germans and the Japanese⁹ would build their embassy on the Ayaspasa Avenue, close to the new palace, since there were no more available large properties in Pera.

6. Harbour infrastructure

The harbour infrastructure initially fromKasım Paşa, the shipyards of the Golden Horn, until Kabataş in Bosporus, defined the location of the large credit and monetary establishments, as they have concentrated since on the Bank Avenue, the contemporary Bankalar Cadesi;¹⁰ additionally they were followed by businesses belonging to the secondary factor, chiefly small practical trade enterprises on the coastal zone between the two bridges of the PerşembePazarıthat were accommodated by the portal infrastructure and naval yard.

7. 19th century Constantinople administration

In 1857 Constantinople is divided in 14 self-administered sections, analogous to the regions of the Byzantine Emperors. The difference is that this system copied the French arrondissement model, especially the sixième (sixth) arrondissement; it included the Pera, Galata and Yildiz district, where the summer palace of Abdul Hamid II had been built.

The administrative responsibilities included the issue of building permits and road-building, the market control and health services, the land register and sanitary facilities. The building where the sixth Pera section is housed, was built in 1879-83 by the Italian architect Barborini during the mayoralty of the Englishman Edward Blacque. This, of course, was preceded by the demolition of the Galata walls according to the Paris and Vienna example, and the construction of the Şişhane Square – built after the 1870 fire.¹¹ The frequent fires and their effect on the wooden buildings significantly effected the development of the new urban plexus, as well as the transition from the traditional lattice-windowed houses to the stone constructions with a mandatory partition wall for fire-safety.

8. District restoration and development in the middle of the 19th century

In the middle of the 19^th century and despite the frequent fires phenomenon, a most significant change occurs in both structure and landscape of Constantinople, the latter unseen since the conquest; this change related to the influence of the Western lifestyle on the structured environment where turcophone Muslims of the higher social class lived, namely the army and bureaucracy.

The transfer of the barracks outside the walls and on the hills of the Bosporus in Gümüş-suyu, in Taşkışla, in Taksim and on the Asian coast with the establishment of the Military Academy in Kuleli and of the barracks – prison nowadays – in Selimiye Kışlası, caused a strong tendency among the population to move towards the shore, to which the seafaring activities of the Şirket-i HayriyeCompany also contributed. Moreover, the construction of the Sultan’s palace in the Dolma Bahçe and Yildiz area, contributed to the development of new and expensive revenue-wise, even to this day, districts such as: Maçka, Nişantaşı, Pangaltı, Şişli and Beşiktaş. In this coastal area as early as the Byzantine period laid the Dioplokionion – a site thus called from the existing two pillars, possibly remnants of some ancient temple – as well as two churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the Natation of the Virgin Mary of the Old Bath and the Dormition of the Virgin Mary.

In the mainland and until the Hagioi Apostoloi of Feriköy community, the only religious establishment is the one of the Bulgarain Exarchate in Şişli, with the exclusion of some small Orthodox churches inside the cemetery and the Turkish poor-house of Darulaceze, which was built on the expenses of Abdul Hamid II. These small churches exist to this very day. From the 1880s to the beginning of the 20^th century, the Russian hospital and its chapel were located on Pangaltı, both destroyed after 1923.

9. Neighbouring villages

Turkish villages are located around the Bosporus castles. In addition, obligatory displacements gave life to previously inhabited yet deserted villages beyond Beşiktaş, in areas like Mesochori or Mesachoro (Ortaköy), Xerokrene (Kuruçeşme) – were Phanariot officials resided, Mega Revma (Arnavutköy) – area of location for Neo-Phanariotes, Bebek, Vafeiochori (Bogatsiköy), Steni (İstinye), and further down in Neochori (Yeniköy), Therapeia (Tarabya) – seat to the diocese of Derka, Vathyrryax (Büyükdere), Sarıyer and to the North in Yeni Mahalle, just to mention the settlements on the European coast. Analogous settlements, although less in number inhabited by Orthodox population, were to be found on the Asian coast as well, such as Beykoz, Paşabahçe, Kandelli, Cengelköy, Kuzkundzuk; churches still standing in the area document the Orthodox presence.

Greater in size and older – dating back to the Byzantine period – was the coastal suburb ofKadıköy in the Bosporus’ entrance, seat to the Diocese of Chalcedon. Its centre was the Holy Trinity church and next to it in the market and closer to the shore St Euphemia was located. Other churches were St Ioannis in Kalamisi, St George Yelderyirmen and, finally, the funereal chapel of St Ignatius, all including holy water springs.

All these villages, although not initially an active part of the urban plexus, became part of the greater financial activity of Constantinople thanks to the maritime transports executed with large oared boats. Specifically, they supplied the city with several fishery products, as well as fruit and vegetables cultivated on the hillsides and the gardens of the large state-or privately owned estates belonging to the lords of the “yaliya”.

Steam technology, introduced in the middle of the 19^th century, brought about a huge change, as did the construction of coastal roads. The establishment of the Şirket-i HayriyeCompany Steamboat Company in 1850 resulted in the construction of docks in every Bosporus village and island. The Constantinople residential network expanded, while transportations until the middle of the 20^th century were mainly naval. The works on the great docks of the Galata port were concluded in 1895, followed by the ones on the coast of Sirkeci cross the sea, 5 years later. This meant that the “Islands” became an integral part of urban life instead of a place of exile and isolation, as were their role for the most part of their history.

10. Pringiponnisa Island Complex