Istanbul

City of Forgetting and Remembering

Richard Tillinghast

• Publisher: Haus Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781909961159
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

With its varied and glorious history, Istanbul remains one of the world's perennially fascinating cities. Richard Tillinghast, who first visited Istanbul in the early 1960s and has watched it transform over the decades into a vibrant metropolis, explores its rich art and architecture, culture, cuisine, and much more in this book.Istanbul was known in Byzantine times as the "Queen of Cities" and to the Ottoman Turks as the "Abode of Felicity." Steeped in Istanbul's history, Tillinghast takes his readers on a voyage of discovery through this storied cultural hub, and he is as comfortable talking about Byzantine mosaics and dervish ceremonies as Iznik ceramics and the imperial mosques. His lyrical writing brings Istanbul alive on the page as he accompanies readers to cafés, palaces, and taverns, perfectly conjuring the atmospheric delights, sounds, and senses of the city. Illuminating Istanbul's great buildings with tales that bring Ottoman and Byzantine history to life, Tillinghast is adept at discovering both what the city remembers and what it chooses to forget.

Table of contents

• An Armchair Traveller’s History of Istanbul
• Contents
• Part I: Arrival
• 1. First Impressions
• 2. Istanbul and Constantinople
• 3. Istanbul As It Used To Be
• 4. Neighbourhoods
• 5. Türkçe
• Part II: Roman and Byzantine Constantinople
• 6. Constantine the Great
• 7. Justinian and Theodora: A walk through imperial Constantinople
• 8. The Holy City
• 9. Looking at Byzantine Art
• 10. Haghia Sophia and Ayasofya
• Part III: Ottoman Istanbul
• 11. Mehmed the Conqueror
• 12. Mehmed the Conqueror and Gentile Bellini
• 13. Looking at Islamic Art
• 14. Sinan, Imperial Architect
• 15. Topkapı Palace
• 16. The Archæological Museum and the Çinili Köşk
• 17. In the Shadow of the Blue Mosque
• 18. Ahmed III
• 19. A Walk through Sultanahmet beyond Haghia Sophia
• 20. A Gem by Sinan, and the ‘Little Ayasofya’
• Part IV: Modern Istanbul
• 21. Atatürk and the Difficult Birth of Nodern Turkey
• 22. The Worldly City: Beyoğlu and Galata
• 23. Orhan Pamuk’s Istanbul
• 24. The Turkish Kitchen
• 25. Crossing over into Asia
• 26. Dervishes
• 27. The Lost World of the Pashas
• 28. The Call to Prayer
• 29. The Bosphorus
• 30. Foreigners, Expats and Blow-ins
• 31. Beyazit: Café and Mosque
• 32. Constantinople, Cavafy and the Mediterranean World
• Short Chronology
• Rulers of Istanbul
• Further Reading
• Historical Gazetteer
• A Brief Guide to Turkish Pronunciation
• Glossary of Turkish Words
• Acknowledgements
• Author’s Note