01 / 6th century · Read in EnglishAnother city beneath the city
While life moved above, an empire’s water waited below.
Read the story: The Basilica Cistern ↗Thingstodoeverywhere · 9 April 2012 · CC0. Image record and rights ↗
One story opens another.
Start with a place, a written trace or a moment of change. This fixed selection brings together ten stories from our archive.
This collection page is fully in English. All ten linked stories are available in English. Existing films remain in Turkish.
Explore the ten stories ↓Where will you begin?
Istanbul’s hidden layers
From the square to the cistern, then towards the palace’s lost rooms.
- The Basilica Cistern ↗ (Read in English)
- The Hippodrome ↗ (Read in English)
- Anemas ↗ (Read in English)
- Blachernae ↗ (Read in English)
From stone to spoken word
A city, an inscription and a narrative: how does memory travel?
- Troy ↗ (Read in English)
- Orkhon ↗ (Read in English)
- Dede Korkut ↗ (Read in English)
Traces that changed a city and its time
A dome, two shores and a line hidden beneath the sea.
- Istanbul 1557 ↗ (Read in English)
- Sinan and Mihrimah ↗ (Read in English)
- Nusret ↗ (Read in English)
Stay where curiosity takes you.
01 / 6th century · Read in English
02 / Byzantine Istanbul · Read in EnglishWho lived in the place we call a dungeon?
Can a name cast an entire building into darkness?
Read the story: Anemas ↗Isabeau · 2 July 2018 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Image record and rights ↗ CC BY-SA 4.0
03 / 11th–15th centuries · Read in EnglishWhy did the emperor’s address change?
A capital’s centre sometimes moves away from its most conspicuous landmark.
Read the story: Blachernae ↗Geçmişin Haritası · illustrative film frame; not an archival photograph.
04 / From Roman to Ottoman times · Read in EnglishThe crowd fell silent. The square still speaks.
The monuments we walk among once stood at the centre of the races.
Read the story: The Hippodrome ↗Jaba1977 · 22 July 2023 · CC BY-SA 4.0. Image record and rights ↗ CC BY-SA 4.0
05 / 1550–1557 · Read in EnglishA whole city beneath one dome
Look at Istanbul’s skyline in 1557. Then lower your gaze from the dome to the street.
Read the story: Istanbul 1557 ↗Geçmişin Haritası · illustrative film frame; not an archival photograph.
06 / Bronze Age and later · Read in EnglishForget the wooden horse for a moment
Beyond the shadow of a war, a city with thousands of years of history awaits.
Read the story: Troy ↗Geçmişin Haritası · illustrative film frame; not an archival photograph.
07 / 8th century · Read in EnglishPause where stone speaks
Why would a ruler leave a warning for the future?
Read the story: Orkhon ↗Photograph: Vezirtonyukuk · Tonyukuk monuments · 3 November 2015. Original image record ↗ · CC BY-SA 4.0. Existing Geçmişin Haritası film frame: cropped/zoomed photograph with Turkish text added. This derivative is shared under the same licence.
08 / From oral tradition to writing · Read in EnglishCan a story outlive its last storyteller?
The heroes’ names survive. What of the voices that kept them alive?
Read the story: Dede Korkut ↗Historical miniature, public domain; later Turkish film text and crop. Image record ↗
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09 / 16th century · Read in EnglishLarger than a love story
We look at two mosques. How much do we see of a woman’s place in the city?
Read the story: Sinan and Mihrimah ↗Geçmişin Haritası · illustrative film frame; not an archival photograph.
10 / 7/8–18 March 1915 · Read in EnglishAn invisible line across the sea
Work carried out one night would be felt in the battle ten days later.
Read the story: Nusret ↗Australian War Memorial · P04411.003 · c. 1915 · Public domain. Image record and rights ↗
Carry one question between stories
Choose two stops on the same route. In the first, find one visible detail; in the second, find a written source. Ask what each can tell you and what remains uncertain. The full stories hold the evidence and image records.