Print from steel engraving titled „Constantinople“.Artist and engraver unknown.From journal „ Plans of the most important cities and towns of continental Europe, accompanying the special edition of Bradshaw‘s continental railway, steam transit, &c. Guide, and general handbook“. Published in 1903.Notes: 5.Constantinople was the capital city of the Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman empires. It was reinaugurated in 324 AD at ancient Byzantium, as the new capital of the Roman Empire by Constantine the Great, after whom it was named, and dedicated on 11 May 330. In the 12th century, the city was the largest and wealthiest European city. Eventually, the Byzantine Empire in the east was reduced to just its capital and its environs, falling to the Ottoman Empire in 1453. Following the Muslim conquest, the city prospered as the Islamic capital of the Ottoman period. After the founding of the modern Republic of Turkey — the successor state of the Ottoman Empire — the city was renamed İstanbul in 1923. Constantinople was famed for its massive defenses. Although besieged on numerous occasions by various peoples, it was taken only in 1204 by the army of the Fourth Crusade, in 1261 by Michael VIII Palaiologos, and in 1453 by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. A first wall was erected by Constantine I, and the city was surrounded by a double wall lying about 2 km (1.2 miles) to the west of the first wall, begun during the 5th century by Theodosius II. The city was built on seven hills as well as on the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara and thus presented an impregnable fortress enclosing magnificent palaces, domes, and towers. It was also famed for architectural masterpieces such as the church of Hagia Sophia, the sacred palace of the emperors, the hippodrome, and the Golden Gate, lining the arcaded avenues and squares. Constantinople contained numerous artistic and literary treasures before it was sacked in 1204 and 1453. It was virtually depopulated when it fell to the Ottoman Turks, but the city recovered rapidly, becoming once again by the mid-1600s the world's largest city as the Ottoman capital.Approx. image size 27, 7 x 19, 9/30, 8 x 21, 1 cm.

Condition: after restoration.