Constantinople Today - A City of Three Separate Parts - Pera-Galata From the Heights of Stamboul

Oct 19, 2026

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Constantinople Today presents a reflective travel and cultural account of the city’s transformation, contrasting its former grandeur with contemporary decay and western influence. It describes the city’s changing streetscape, infrastructure, and social customs, then frames Constantinople through its geography and three-part division: Stamboul, Pera-Galata, the Golden Horn, and Scutari. The text also highlights the busy harbor life, the Allied presence, shifting trade routes, and the symbolic loss of old charm.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages34

Reading Time52 min

AccessFree to download

PERA-GALATA FROM THE HEIGHTS OF STAMBOUL

THE BUSY PORT OF STAMBOUL

A SKETCH MAP OF CONSTANTINOPLE

THE GALATA BRIDGE HAS LOST ITS COLOR

CONSTANTINOPLE TODAY By SoLITA SoLANO YZANTIUM is dead.New Rome they sat down to fill books with ecstaticis dead. Constantinople is ill. praises. Soon this one-time Queen City of Practical modernity has left its markthe East will be replaced by a modern everywhere,especially since the city'sEuropean center of business and com-occupation by the Allies,and soon themerce,functioning on the most famous pictorial appeal that now remains will becross-roads in the world.Stamho111_ home of Roman emperors.gone forever.It will be a clean,decent,capital of magnificent sultans,scene ofcivilized city—but no longer Constanti-nople. fabulous tales which every one has read—is now falling into decay upon its sevenhills.Everything has an air of beingsecond-rate and outworn.Acres laidbare by careless fires constitute one-fourth of the city's area,and the remain-der is for the most part covered byunpainted,weather-stained houses withrotting window lattices above and small,dirty shops beneath.Mosques and tombsare dusty and neglected. Already there are on all sides thechanges due to western influence—trams,electric lights,telephones,unveiled women,and a new,safe bridge.Gone are thebrilliantly colored costumes,the groupsof faceless women guarded by eunuchs,the pariah street dogs,the Sultan's pom-pous ceremonies,the harems,the life inthe palaces along the Bosporus.And,al-though the foreign ministers of GreatBritain,France,and Italy,at a conferencein Paris in March,agreed to restore theTurks to full authority in their capital,itis safe to assume that the magnificent mis-rule of the Sultans has come to an end. Yet,in spite of all this,Stamboul re-tains its magic of a uniquely situated city,and from afar has still a beauty that isincomparable.It is seen at its best inthat famous approach from the sea to theGolden Horn,in which is reflected,as ina bright mirror,the city of Constantine,of Justinian and Theodora,of Theodosiusand Mohammed II,with an effect so un-familiarly lovely that it is like an artist'sdream in which minarets and great domesseem to float above the mist. A CITY OF THREE SEPARATE PARTS Constantinople's geographical positionhas made her sanguinary history,for shecontrols a highroad of commerce betweenAsia and Europe,and Nature herselfplanned the ports.The city is dividedinto three separated quarters.Stambouland Pera-Galata lie on the European side,the Golden Horn between them,andScutari squats on the Asiatic side,acrossthe Bosporus.Like outstretched arms,the two straits come up from the Sea ofMarmora to the south(see map,p.650). Then,at close range,the picture fadesand one becomes suddenly disenchanted,as if a once beautiful woman had droppedher veil and revealed the ravages of time. MODERNITY HAS LEFT ITS MARK EVERY-WHERE Few places in the world have exercisedGalata and Pera are the Europeansuch a power of attraction for travelers asquarter,opposite Stamboul,where theConstantinople,or have had such wide-representatives of foreign powers havespread reputation for being picturesque.long maintained their embassies andThe severe,classic art of Athens is nothomes.Once the suburbs of Stamboul,found here;nor the dignity of Rome;this part of the city was known as Justin-nor the exciting,sullen spirit that perme-ianapolis until the Genoese made it intoates Peking.It is not gay like Paris,nor an Italian town and fortified it with wallslearned like Berlin. An archeologist and many towers,one of which,thewould be better pleased with gypt.But Galata Fire Tower,still stands,a loftythis is the place before which Gautier,lookout station from which fires are re-Byron,Loti,De Amicis,and Lamartine ported and signals flashed to ships afterwept and swooned with delight before dark. 648 Photograph from Rear-Admiral C.M.Chester # PERA-GALATA FROM THE HEIGHTS OF STAMBOUL As one looks northeast from some eminence of Stamboul,the native city on the site of Byzantium,one can see the low-lying quarter of Galataand the ridge of Pera,w

FAQs

What changes does the text say western influence has brought to Constantinople?

It mentions trams, electric lights, telephones, unveiled women, and a new safe bridge, along with the disappearance of older costumes and palace life.

How is Constantinople geographically divided in the article?

The city is divided into three separated quarters: Stamboul and Pera-Galata on the European side, the Golden Horn between them, and Scutari on the Asiatic side across the Bosporus.

What is described in the “Sketch Map of Constantinople” section?

It outlines Constantinople’s strategic position and the political-military arrangements after decisions by Great Britain, France, and Italy, including an Allied occupation and an international commission for navigation.

Oct 19, 2026

Upload by Kyle