Çemberlitaş is a quarter in the

Fatih Fatih () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 15 km2, and its population is 368,227 (2022). It is home to almost all of the provincial authorities (including the mayor's office, police headquarters, metro ...

district of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

on the European side of the city. It takes its name from the Çemberlitaş Column, also known as the Column of Constantine, which stands beside the Çemberlitaş stop on the T1 tram line. The column is called ''Çemberlitaş'' (meaning 'hooped stone') because of the iron reinforcement hoops girdled around it during restoration works by the Ottomans in 1515 and in the reign of Mustafa II (1695–1704). Çemberlitaş abuts Sultanahmet to the east, Cağaloğlu to the north, Beyazit to the west and Gedikpaşa to the south. At the heart of Çemberlitaş is a large square framed to the south by Divan Yolu with the tramline running along it. On the east side is Çemberlitaş Hamamı, a

Turkish bath A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

probably designed by the famous 16th-century Ottoman architect

Mimar Sinan Mimar Sinan (; , ; – 17 July 1588) also known as Koca Mi'mâr Sinân Âğâ, ("Sinan Agha (title), Agha the Grand Architect" or "Grand Sinan") was the chief Ottoman Empire, Ottoman architect, engineer and mathematician for sultans Suleiman ...

with separate sections for men and women (it's still in business today). Adjoining it is the crumbling 17th-century Vezir Hanı. The Nuruosmaniye Mosque forms the northern side of the square, abutting the Grand Bazaar. On the south side of the tramline is the small mid-17th-century Köprülü Mosque built for the grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Paşa. Heading west from the main square run a string of small mosques and religious complexes: the late 15th-century Atik Ali Paşa Mosque, the Koca Sinan Paşa complex and the Çorlulu Ali Paşa complex are on the north side of the tramline while the Kara Mustafa Paşa complex is on its south side.

Forum of Constantine and the Çemberlitaş

Çemberlitaş was originally the site of one of the forums that dotted Divan Yolu. The original Forum of Constantine was an oval-shaped public arena surrounded by porticoes and filled with statuary. In 330, when he decided to make

Byzantium Byzantium () or Byzantion () was an ancient Greek city in classical antiquity that became known as Constantinople in late antiquity and Istanbul today. The Greek name ''Byzantion'' and its Latinization ''Byzantium'' continued to be used as a n ...

the capital of the

Eastern Roman Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

, the Emperor Constantine had a porphyry

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

erected in the middle of the forum with a statue of himself as

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

on the top of it. The column was badly damaged by an earthquake in 416 since when it has been held together by iron bands. The statue on the top survived until 1106 when it was replaced with a large cross that survived until the Conquest of İstanbul in 1453. I

References

Quarters of Fatih {{Istanbul-geo-stub