Step Into History
Walk Istanbul in AD 550
AI rebuilds Constantinople (Istanbul) street by street, and you walk through it in your browser.
Step Into History · City walk
Justinian's Constantinople, 550
Constantinople under Justinian is the empire's ceremonial heart a generation after Hagia Sophia's dome first astonished the city; the Great Palace, Hippodrome and the colonnaded Mese shape a dense, public centre ringed by mighty land walls. This walk follows the peninsula from the southern approach, through palace forecourts, markets and the racing Hippodrome, and finishes atop the Theodosian ramparts with a view across the Golden Horn.
35 scenes — 22 streets, squares and views, 13 interiors to step inside. Planned from the Wikipedia record of Istanbul as it stood in AD 550 (“Constantinople”).
The route, scene by scene
- 1. Sea of Marmara View
- 2. Bucoleon Harbour
- ↳ Shipwrights' Harbour Shed · interior
- 3. Great Palace Seawall
- 4. Palace of Daphne
- ↳ Peacock Mosaic Audience Hall · interior
- ↳ Palace Private Chapel · interior
- 5. Chalke Gate
- ↳ Bronze Vestibule of Chalke · interior
- 6. Augustaion Square
- ↳ Augustaion Receiving Hall · interior
- 7. Hagia Sophia Exterior
- ↳ Main Nave Under the Dome · interior
- 8. The Milion
- ↳ Milion Imperial Niche · interior
- 9. Lower Mese Colonnade
- ↳ Covered Mercantile Stoa · interior
- 10. Forum of Constantine
- ↳ Colonnaded Curia of Constantine · interior
- 11. Forum Tauri
- 12. Forum Bovis
- 13. Baths of Zeuxippus
- ↳ Zeuxippus Great Bath Hall · interior
- 14. Hippodrome Spina
- 15. Hippodrome South Stand
- ↳ Imperial Loge Above the Arena · interior
- 16. Basilica Cistern Entrance
- ↳ Columned Cistern Hall · interior
- 17. Upper Mese Colonnade
- 18. Column of Arcadius
- 19. Golden Gate
- ↳ Golden Gate Ceremonial Hall · interior
- 20. Theodosian Walls Rampart
- 21. Blachernae Quarter
- 22. Golden Horn View