With its magnificent location connecting Asia and Europe, Istanbul has been a source of fascination for all its visitors throughout the centuries. Established by Constantine in the fourth century as the New Rome, Istanbul remained as an imperial capital city until the end of the First World War. Although it is not anymore the capital of Turkey, it still is the unrivalled cultural and commercial capital of the country. This highly cosmopolitan city attracts artist, travelers, students, diplomats, businesswomen and businessmen from all over the world. The streets and architecture in Istanbul testify to history and blend the past and the present, tradition and modernity, Europe and Asia together.
Today, Istanbul is the largest city in Europe. The city spreads over an area of 5500 square kilometers. The population of Istanbul is 12 million according to the 2007 census and as such it is the 5th most populated city in the world. The population density is very high with around 2400 people per square kilometer. The city has 39 administrative districts.
Starting in the middle 1980s urban administrators and local academics began to debate widely the opportunities and challenges of transforming Istanbul into a global city. The major industrial areas such as Haliç (Golden Horn) turned into places of culture. International film, dance, theater, music festivals, art exhibitions and design weeks crowd the cities calendar. Its designation as the European Capital of Culture in 2010 confirms an already acquired achievement of the city, as Petrus Gyllius recognized centuries before: “It seems to me that while other cities are mortal, this one will endure as long as there are men on earth”.
Books on Istanbul:
Ara Güler’s Istanbul: 40 Years of Photographs, Ara Güler, Thames Hudson, 2009.
Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power: The Topkapi Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries, Gülru Necipoglu, MIT Press, 1992.
Istanbul: Between the Global and the Local, Caglar Keyder, Rowman & Little Field Publishers, 1999.
Istanbul: Memories and the City, Orhan Pamuk, Vintage, 2006.
Modernism and Nation Building: Turkish Architectural Culture in the Early Republic (Studies in Modernity and National Identity), Sibel Bozdogan, University of Washington Press, 2001.
Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital Europa? ,Levent Soysal, Deniz Göktürk, İpek Türeli (eds.), Routledge , 2010.
Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City,Hillary Summer Boyd, John Freely. Tauris, 2009.
The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire, Gülru Necipoglu, Reaktion Books, 2007.
The Emergence of Modern Istanbul: Transformation and Modernisation of a City Murat Gul, Tauris, 2009.
Useful Links:
Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts
National Geographic Istanbul City Guide
Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture
Time Out Istanbul
Go to Turkey
Istanbul.com
