A beautiful and interesting video showing Istanbul in 1967. The time that there were no intercontinental bridges, no skyscrapers, no traffic jams, and much fewer people.
There were only around 2 million people living in Istanbul in 1967. Now (as of 2014) at least 15 million, more than seven times of 1967.
Published by the British Pathé channel on YouTube.
“The city itself splits between two continents with only ferry boats threading it across that narrow exciting waterway that divides us from Asia and dramatically links Russia and the Black Sea with the Mediterranean and the world.” (There was no bridge over the Bosphorus in Istanbul in 1967 – now, as of 2021, there are three bridges over the Bosphorus)
Some of the places in the video are:
Hagia Sophia
From the date of its construction in 537, the Hagia Sophia was used as a church for 916 years but, following the conquest of Istanbul by Fatih Sultan Mehmed in 1453, it was converted into a mosque. Then it was converted into a museum in 1935, and again into a mosque in 2020.
Galata Tower
Built in 1348, The nine-story Galata Tower tower is 66.90 meters (220 feet) tall (62.59 meters / 205 feet without the ornament on top, 51.65 meters / 169 feet at the observation deck), and was the city’s tallest structure when it was built. The elevation at ground level is 35 meters (115 feet) above sea level. The tower has an external diameter of 16.45 meters (54 feet) at the base, an 8.95 meters (29 feet) diameter inside, and walls that are 3.75 meters (12 feet) thick.
The Bosphorus
The Bosphorus also referred to sometimes as the Istanbul Strait (Turkish: İstanbul Boğazı), is a strait that forms part of the boundary between Europe and Asia.
The Rumelian Castle
Rumelihisarı (Rumelian Castle, Rumelian means “greek land” in Turkşish) is a fortress located in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul, Turkey, on a hill at the European side of the Bosphorus. It gives the name of the quarter around it. It was built by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II between 1451 and 1452 before he captured Constantinople.
The Blue Mosque
It was built from 1609 to 1616, during the rule of Ahmed I. Its real name is the Sultan Ahmed Mosque and it’s not blue at all. Its popular name, the “Blue Mosque” comes from the blue tiles adorning the walls of its interior.
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