Sept 11…..Discovering Istanbul

We woke up refreshed and, after a hearty breakfast, were ready to start discovering Istanbul . My travel consultant, extraordinaire, had figured out the exact route we needed to take on the metro to get us to the old part of town. We arrived with ease and found ourselves at the entrance to Gulhane Park, the oldest public park in Istanbul. One could walk through the park to arrive at both the Topkapi Palace, that we had visited five years earlier when we were in Istanbul for only two days, as well as the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, the city's top museum attraction, which was where we were headed.

When we arrived and entered the Museum of the Ancient Orient we, erroneously, thought that this massive 1883 building, filled with a collection of pre-Islamic items gathered from the expanse of the Ottoman Empire, WAS the entire Archaeology Museum.   We marveled at the series of large blue and yellow glazed brick panels depicting real and mythical animals such as lions, dragons and bulls, that once lined the processional street and the Ishtar gate of ancient Babylon. The antiquity of the statues and fragments was mind boggling, particularly two fragmentary tablets, written in the cuneiform script, one of the earliest systems of writing, that dated to around 1700 BC . We got scolded by one of the museum people for taking a photo of Bill leaning against one of the ancient statues. I had to laugh at the thought of them thinking that the statue would somehow be damaged by Bill touching it when it had survived for thousands of years. However, I admit, it probably was bad decorum.

When we were finished viewing what we thought was the whole museum, we were stunned to discover that it actually consists of three separate buildings: the Museum of the Ancient Orient, the Archaeology Museum and the Tiled Pavilion. These three museums, combined, house the palace collections formed during the late 19^th century and include exhibits displaying ancient artefacts, classical statuary and an excellent exhibit that conveys the staggering history of this metropolis, from the legend of its founding right up to the Ottoman era.

We were already in a state of sensory overload but there was no way we could not visit the other two buildings . The next museum we viewed was the magnificent Tiled Pavilion, which is one of the oldest surviving Ottoman buildings in Istanbul. Built in 1472 and wonderfully preserved, the architecture shows a clear Persian influence. It was originally built for Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror as a rather grand spot for him to watch games and sports. The displays were filled with gorgeous Iznik pottery and tiles. This decorated style of ceramic is named after the town in western Anatolia where it was made and was produced from the last quarter of the 15^th century until the end of the 17^th century. The meticulous designs and vibrant cobalt blue color combined traditional Ottoman arabesque patterns with Chinese elements.

Across from the Tiled Pavilion was the Archaeology Museum, and the final building in the museum complex. We didn’t think it was open, as part of the imposing neo-classical building was wrapped in scaffolding and tarpaulin as it was undergoing some renovation. It was open, however, and we did find a passageway into the museum and, after spending another few hours viewing the extensive collection of classical statuary and a sprawling exhibit documenting Istanbul’s history, our sensory overload reached new heights when we went through a separate entrance which led to an impressive collection of ancient grave-cult sarcophagi from Syria, Lebanon, Thessalonica and Ephesus and, the museum’s major treasures, the sarcophagi from Sidon, unearthed in 1887 by Osman Hamdi Bey . Unfortunately, the two most famous of the collection, Alexander Sarcophagus and Mourning Women Sarcophagus weren’t on display during the renovation. Even without these two masterpieces, we were completely blown away by the detailed stelae (stone slabs, erected as a monument for commemorative purposes), and the sarcophagi that were on display, most dating from between 140 and 270 AD. The one that was beyond belief was the Sidamara Sarcophagus from Konya that was carved from one huge piece of marble. We must have circled this gigantic monument, that looked like a tiny temple, twenty times, trying to figure out how it could possibly have been carved from one massive piece of marble. All four sides were filled with detailed figures, standing or reclining, in flowing robes, warriors on horses with interlocking legs as well as lions and other beasts, and playful cherubs adorning the lid of the sarcophagus. Neither of us had ever seen anything like it and we left the last building of the museum complex exhausted and in a state of awe.