Wall, Arch, Dome

One of the most outstanding characteristics of İstanbul's Byzantine monuments, as captured by Ottoman photographers, is their role as priceless documents in the city's history. The period between the second half of the 19 ^th century and the turn of the 20 ^th century is marked by profound changes in İstanbul with respect to urban structure, historical texture and monuments. A careful eye readily notices the considerable transformations spread over a hundred / hundred and fifty years in İstanbul city walls, Galata Tower, Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome area. These photographs are full of valuable clues for today's researchers, restorers, architectures and urban planners.

Nonetheless, there is something beyond the obvious in these images: İstanbul's remaining city walls, arches, and domes of a far away past continue to survive in another form of existence in these old photographs, which reflect an age closer to us in time, yet just as rapidly vanished. The discoloured surfaces permeating an indescribable sense of the old add another layer, another epoch to the historical richness of the city.

Comprised of a selection from the Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation Old İstanbul Photographs Collection, “Wall, Arch, Dome” exhibition -much like “From Konstantiniyye to İstanbul” exhibition in late 2006 to early 2007,- took us on a journey in a different time dimension. Yet, on this occasion, we find ourselves in a İstanbul more ancient, more distant than the Republican or Ottoman days; it is a Byzantine İstanbul of monuments, ruins and almost imperceptible traces from thousands of years past...