I SAINT G SOPHIA Ä MUSEUM
i SAINT g SOPHIA Ä MUSEUM TÜRKİYE TURİNG VE OTOMOBİL KURUMU YAYINI t t- y SAINT SOPHIA MUSEUM FERİDUN DİRİMTEKİN TOURING AND AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF TURKEY ISTANBUL Ş.İ-- MESSAGE TO TRAVELLERS COMING TO ISTANBUL Istanbul is, without a doubt, the only city in the world which adds to its incomparable natural beauties, so admirably described by numerous writers such as Lamartine, Théophile Gautier, Henri de Régnier and Loti, not simple vestiges, but intact mas terpieces of so many different civili zations; the only city in the world which, since over fifteen centuries, has uninterruptedly been not only the capital of the largest states, but the center of gravity of the synthesis of both European and Asian art. While the whole of Turkey is a land of legends and history which preserves imperishable souvenirs from Antioch and Tarsus to Ephesus, from Konya to Edirne, of Christianity as well as of Islam, Istanbul embraces in its bosom live images of the most brilliant periods of the Roman, By zantine and Turco-Ottoman Empires. Istanbul is not, such as certain other cities of the Orient a city of myths which childish imaginations nebuloously evoke. It is a city of poe tic reality or of real poetry, of beauty, of harmony and of majesty which are actually alive, visible, tangible. In no other metropolis of the old continent, including Rome and At hens, can one observe, study and compare simultaneous, side by side in one expanse, the most varied ma nifestations of social and artistic evo lutions throughout the centuries. With St. Sophia -splendid Byzan tine edifice of the VI th Century built by two Anatolian architects, restored several times and surprisingly well preserved by the Turks- and the mag- nific'ent Suleymaniye - which, like all imperial mosques, towers, in its so ber majesty, over its numerous ap purtenances which form a vast city of schools, libraries, hospitals, hotels, ppblic kitchens, caravanserais, hans, mausoleums, baths and fountains - Is tanbul obviously remains the world’s richest center of historical monu ments.
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