A beautiful square with a very beautiful fountain. It is located between the two "lights" of Istanbul - Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque. Sultanahmet Square (Ahmediye, Hippodrome; tour. Sultanahmet Meydanı is the main square of Istanbul, located in the historical center of the city in the Sultanahmet subdistrict of Fatih district. It consists of two parts: the square between Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque and the Hippodrome Square itself (At Meydanı tour), where columns and obelisks erected during the Byzantine period have been preserved to this day, and a German fountain donated to the city and Sultan Abdul Hamid II by Kaiser Wilhelm II. The square was named after the Sultan Akhmet Mosque (Blue Mosque) located on it. Part of Sultanahmet Square is located on the site of the ancient Hippodrome, the construction of which was begun by the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus in 203, when the city was still called Byzantium. In 330-334, Emperor Constantine, creating a new capital, completely rebuilt the Hippodrome. After the reconstruction, the structure measured about 450 meters long and 120 meters wide, and the capacity of the racetrack was about 100,000 people. The entrance to the racetrack was on the north side, approximately where the German Fountain is now installed. The hippodrome was decorated with the famous quadriga, brought to Venice in 1204. Chariot races were held at the hippodrome. The heat of passion among the fans led to major brawls, and sometimes riots. Fans of circuses (gladiatorial fights, and then, with the introduction of Christianity, circuses and hippodromes) In both the old Roman and Eastern Empires, they were divided into several groupings by color, in particular, the chariots they supported and maintained.: red, white, blue, green. For several centuries, the largest and most influential were two main categories — "blue" (Veneti) and "green" (Prasins). Usually, the emperors favored a particular group. Anastasius I — Prasinam, Justin I, Justinian the Great[2] and his wife, Empress Theodora — Venetam. As a child, after the death of her father, a keeper of animals in the circus, Feodora was rejected by the prasins, and the family was given shelter and a job by the "blues"[3]. Only the philosopher-emperor Marcus Aurelius once declared that his heart had never supported either the Prasins or the Veneti. The largest revolt of the united Veneti and Prasins, which was called the Nika Uprising, occurred during the reign of Emperor Justinian in 532. As a result of the uprising, Constantinople was significantly destroyed, and during its suppression, about 35,000 people were killed at the hippodrome. After the Turks conquered Constantinople in 1453, the Hippodrome was used only as a venue for various performances, fairs and other entertainment events. The Janissaries organized performances and protests here. In the XV-XVI centuries, the structure was gradually dismantled for the construction of the Topkapi and Ibrahim Pasha palaces, as well as the foundation of the Sultanahmet mosque. The sphendon of the building remained intact, but the Turks had bricked up the windows in it. Surveys have discovered huge empty rooms in sfendon, partially flooded with groundwater. Underground passages leading to the Ibrahim Pasha and Topkapi palaces were also discovered under the surface of Sultanahmet Square.

See original · Русский

Илья Шайкевич

Level 30 Local Expert

A beautiful fountain, we walked nearby in the evening. There are benches around, you can sit and eat pretzels.

See original · Русский