The Great Walls

The Great Walls Review

The walls of Constantinople were the greatest fortifications of the medieval age and, although they were severely damaged by Sultan Mehmet II's canon in the siege leading up to the Ottoman conquest of the city in 1453, large sections still stand more or less intact today. The walls were built in the 5th century after the city outgrew the walls built by Constantine, and they stretched 6.5 km (4 mi) from the Marmara Sea to the Golden Horn. The "wall" was actually made up of a large inner and smaller outer wall, with various towers and gates, as well as a moat. Parts have been restored and you can even climb around on top; the easiest section on which to do this is near Edirnekapi, a short walk uphill from Chora Church.

From Edirnekapi, if you walk along the inside of the walls for a few hundred yards north in the direction of the Golden Horn, you will come to what is known in Turkish as the Tekfur Sarayi (Hoca Sakir Cad.), a large three-story building that has an impressive facade and is built into the city walls. This 13th-century edifice represents the only significant remains of the multibuilding Palace of Blachernae, which served as the Byzantine emperors' primary residence after they recaptured Constantinpole from the Latin Crusaders in 1261. Though the Tekfur Sarayi is supposedly being restored, little seems to have changed over the last several years, and entrance to the site is prohibited.