Sultanahmet Square
Ahmediye, Hippodrome, Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı, Hippodrome of Constantinople
Turkey, Istanbul
The main square of Istanbul, located in the historical center of the city in the Sultanahmet microdistrict of the Fatih district. It consists of two parts: the square between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome Square itself, on which columns and obelisks erected in the Byzantine period have survived to this day, and the German Fountain, donated to the city and Sultan Abdul-Hamid II by Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Part of the square is located on the site of the ancient Hippodrome. The size of the structure was about 450 meters long and 120 meters wide, the capacity of the hippodrome was about 100,000 people. The entrance to the hippodrome was on the north side, approximately where the German Fountain is now installed. The hippodrome was decorated with the famous quadriga, taken to Venice in 1204. Chariot races were held at the hippodrome. After the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453, the Hippodrome was used as a venue for various performances, fairs and other entertainment events.
The Egyptian obelisk or obelisk of Theodosius (Dikilitaş) was brought from Luxor in 390 by order of Emperor Theodosius I and was installed at the Hippodrome on a specially made marble pedestal. The pedestal depicts various scenes with the participation of Emperor Theodosius and the scene of the installation of the obelisk at the Hippodrome. The obelisk is the oldest "building" in Istanbul, its age dates back to the 16th century BC. e., it is made of white-pink Aswan granite, its weight reaches 300 tons. On all sides of the obelisk there are Egyptian hieroglyphs depicting the heroic deeds of Pharaoh Thutmose III, in the upper part the pharaoh and the god Amon are depicted. During transportation, the original obelisk, 32.5 meters long, was shortened; at present, its height, together with the pedestal, reaches 18.80 meters.
The Serpent Column (Yılanlı Sütun) was brought from the Delphic Sanctuary of Apollo in Greece in 326 by order of Emperor Constantine the Great. The column symbolized the victory of 479 BC. e. Greek city-states over the Persians under Plataea. In the original, this column, 6.5 meters high, consisted of three intertwined snakes and was crowned with a three-legged golden bowl, and the snakes themselves were cast from the bronze shields of the fallen Persians. The bowl was lost in ancient times, and the snake heads were broken in 1700. Today, one of these heads is among the exhibits of the Istanbul Archaeological Museum. Currently, the height of the column is 5 meters.
Colossus (Openwork stone column) (Örme Dikilitaş or Konstantin Dikilitaşı) was built from stone blocks by order of Emperor Constantine VII in honor of the memory of his grandfather Basil I. The original height of the column was 32 meters, it was covered with gilded bronze (according to another version - copper) sheets that were torn off and melted down by the crusaders during the 4th crusade (1204). Currently, the height of the column is 21 meters.
The German Fountain (Alman Çeşmesi) is a gift from the German Kaiser Wilhelm II who visited Istanbul in 1898. The fountain was made in Germany and brought in disassembled form and installed on Hippodrome Square in 1900. The fountain is made in the neo-Byzantine style in the form of an octagon and is decorated from the inside with golden mosaics. On the inside of the dome, supported by columns, you can see the monogram of Sultan Abdul-Hamid II and the initials of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
