Unspecified/General

Few monuments in Istanbul have stood as long or witnessed as much as the Column of Constantine, a battered porphyry pillar that has marked the heart of the city for some seventeen centuries. It was raised by the emperor Constantine the Great to mark the dedication of his new capital, Constantinople, in the early fourth century, and once stood at the centre of a grand oval forum, crowned by a statue of the emperor in the guise of the sun god. The drums of deep red Egyptian stone, bound together with metal rings, have survived earthquakes, fires and the loss of the original statue, which was toppled in a storm in the twelfth century; the iron hoops that now gird the shaft, and the masonry repairs, are the scars of this long life, and gave the monument its Turkish name Cemberlitas, meaning the hooped stone. Tradition held that precious Christian relics, including fragments said to be of the True Cross, were buried beneath it, lending the column a sacred aura through the Byzantine centuries. Today it stands a little forlornly beside a busy tramway, its base fenced and its surface darkened by age and the great fire that once swept the district, yet it remains a direct physical link to the founding of the city and to the Roman world from which it grew. Set on the old processional avenue that once ran from the imperial palace to the land walls, it sits within easy walking distance of the Grand Bazaar, the Cemberlitas hamam and the monuments of Sultanahmet, and most visitors encounter it in passing rather than as a destination in itself. For those who pause, it offers a quiet reminder of how deep the city's history runs beneath the modern street. Restoration work in recent years has cleaned and stabilised the monument, and information panels nearby help passers-by make sense of what might otherwise seem a curious old pillar beside the road. Standing in what was once the second forum of the imperial city, it anchors a district that takes its Turkish name from the column, and the great domed Cemberlitas Hamam built by the architect Sinan stands close by, so the area rewards a short pause for those interested in the layers of the city's past. For the historically minded, the column is among the very oldest standing structures in Istanbul, predating the conquest, the great mosques and even Hagia Sophia in its present form, a survivor that has stood through the entire span of the city's life as a capital of empires.

Type: Tourist Attraction

Address: Istanbul, Turkey