Open up a world of Turkish inspiration with a Cornucopia digital subscription

Buy or gift a stand-alone digital subscription and get unlimited access to dozens of back issues for just £18.99 / $18.99 a year.

Please register at www.exacteditions.com/digital/cornucopia with your subscriber account number or contact subscriptions@cornucopia.net

Buy a digital subscription Go to the Digital Edition

Extract

Cry, the beloved city

Setting the scene

  • The view from Beyoğlu, 1773. Antoine de Favray's panoramic view of the Serağlio Point, now in the Pera Museum

This sweeping panorama of Istanbul, painted in the 1770s by the Chevalier Antoine de Favray, and a key work in the collection of the Pera Museum, shows the familiar landmarks of Istanbul, many of them still visible today. Leander’s Tower, or the Maiden’s Tower (Kız Kulesi), where the Bosphorus flows into the Sea of Marmara, is remarkably unchanged. On the European side we see the perky turreted domes of the Tophane Foundry, where cannons were made for the Ottoman fleet, and nearby the Kılıç Ali Pasha Mosque, completed by Sinan in his nineties. Most of all, it shows the unchanged glories of Seraglio Point (Sarayburnu): the Topkapı, Ayasofya, the Blue Mosque. 

Like other Western artists, de Favray is thought to have painted his panorama from the safety of the European embassies in Pera, in particular the Russian Palace, whose gardens appear in the foreground.  These days the views can be enjoyed at leisure from countless restaurants, notably the new Divan on İstiklâl Caddesi or the Leb-i Derya in Kumbaracı Yokuşu. But a few minutes’ walk from the Pera Museum you can find an unrivalled vantage point.

Go early on a Sunday to beat the rush for what has been the greatest vista of the greatest city in the world since it was built by the Genoese in 1348. The Galata Tower, begun 70-odd years after the Tower of Pisa, is very much open to the public, and has kept its stunning outlooks…

Good places to stay
Related Issues
Related Places
Related Destinations
Cornucopia Digital Subscription

The Digital Edition

Cornucopia works in partnership with the digital publishing platform Exact Editions to offer individual and institutional subscribers unlimited access to a searchable archive of fascinating back issues and every newly published issue. The digital edition of Cornucopia is available cross-platform on web, iOS and Android and offers a comprehensive search function, allowing the title’s cultural content to be delved into at the touch of a button.

Digital Subscription: £18.99 / $18.99 (1 year)

Subscribe now