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Constantinople was founded in AD330 as the new capital of the Roman Empire. The city was the largest and wealthiest European city of the Middle Ages and shared the glories of the Byzantine Empire. The city's founder Constantine the Great decided to take his rich city under protection by building great walls, designed to keep enemies away for a thousand years.
Constantinople was eventually surrounded by triple walls of fortification: Marmara Sea, Golden Horn and Land Walls. This city wall complex of 22km in length in total comprises of 50 gates and 300 bastions. Marmara Sea Walls is a single row and was originally built where the sea ends; Golden Horn Walls revealed the ports to the ships as they approached. Today, in the city we now know as Istanbul, some fragments of these original walls can still be seen in the Topkapi Palace and The Naval Museum.
Land Walls were the most important part of the city's protection comprising 3 rows of different heights and a dyke (taphros) in front, sometimes filled with water. Enemies must first have crossed the dyke, then the 2-3 metre high first walls, 5-7 metre second walls and then the 11-13 metre final walls, which were supported by 24 metre bastions or fortresses. Land Walls were also known as 'Whispering Walls' because even whispers of enemies could be heard easily with bastions so close to each other.
Today, these incredible walls are a very real history code to Istanbul and Matiana Travel has introduced a private tour of the city walls, known as the 'Silent Guardians of Istanbul'. Each door of the city walls reveals a different facade of the city and its magical atmosphere as well as other historical highlights of Istanbul such as Hagia Sophia or The Grand Bazaar.
For more information, please visit www.matiana.com or visit stand D403 at ILTM Asia 2012.
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