The third sacred building on the site to bear the name, the existing Haghia Sophia ('Divine Wisdom') was dedicated on 26 December AD 537 by Emperor Justinian. He had come to...

The sheer size and wealth of this place says as much about the military's continued clout in Turkey, as it does about the country's bloody history. For many years, this was one...

Overlooking the Hippodrome, the museum occupies the restored 16th-century palace of Ibrahim Paşa. A Greek convert to Islam, Ibrahim was the confidant of Süleyman I and in 1523...

Owned by one of Turkey's wealthiest businessmen, this museum is housed in a fabulous villa right on the shores of the Bosphorus, built for Egyptian royalty in the 1920s. The...

Directly behind Haghia Sophia are the walls shielding Topkapı Palace. Part command centre for a massive military empire, part archetypal Eastern pleasure dome, the palace was...