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©TIE
2004-2008
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Walking along Divan
Yolu from Sultanahmet to Beyazit
Square and the Grand
Bazaar, you come to Çemberlitas ('stone
with hoops'), a tall, obviously very
old and dismal-looking porphyry column.
It was erected on May 11, 330 by Constantine
the Great to celebrate
the designation of Constantinople as
the new capital of the Roman
Empire.
The column was the centerpiece in
the Forum of Constantine,
a grand colonnaded plaza which
may have resembled the one designed
by Bernini and built in front of St
Peter's basilica in Rome. Statues of
pagan gods and Christian saints decorated
the forum.
Atop the column was a gigantic
statue of the Emperor
Constantine dressed and adorned as Apollo.
The statue toppled in a hurricane
in 1106 and was later replaced by
a huge cross. After the Ottoman conquest
the cross was removed.
In 1779 a conflagration destroyed
this whole neighborhood and left the
column with black scorch marks, earning
it the nickname 'Burnt Column.'
Sultan Abdülhamit I had the column
restored after the fire, and added
the present masonry base.
The original 4th-century base is
about 3 meters (10 feet) below the
present surface, so the 35-meter (115-foot)
column you see is actually only part
of the column's original height.
Its iron
hoops were replaced in the
1970s to keep it upright for a few
more centuries (19 and counting).
In 2004 it was shrouded in scaffolding
as extensive repairs and restoration
were begun, and continued into 2007.
The Çemberlitas Hamami,
one of Istanbul's most popular Turkish
baths (hamam), is right next
to the Çemberlitas.
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Above, Istanbul's Burnt
Column: a relic from
the founding of Constantinople in
330 AD.
Below, wrapped
for repairs (2004) and still
wrapped in 2007.
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