SERIES: Views From A Trip Around The World
ILLUSTRATIONS: Street Scene; View of Constantinople; Sophia Church; On the Bosphorus
SIZE: 3" x 5"
DATE: 1891
LITHOGRAPHER: Joseph P. Knapp, N.Y.
CONDITION: Fair, I'd say. This card is somewhat soiled, with slightly worn edges and corners. There's a damaged area beside the lady's face, where something apparently punched through the card, leaving a closed tear, visible from both front and back. There's also a vertical crease near the center of the card. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: CONSTANTINOPLE, TURKEY.
The location of this city--on a triangular strip of land on the west side of the southern entrance to the Bosphorus--is one of the finest in the world. An arm of the Bosphorus runs up the northern side of the city, forming a magnificent harbor called the Golden Horn, whose surface and depth can float over a thousand ships of the line. The walls of the city are of varied style, representing different and distinct epochs, some of them built fifteen centuries ago. Their entire circuit is about 13 miles. There are now but 7 of the original 43 gates. The approach to the city is very beautiful, displaying its mass of domes and minarets, backed by the dark Turkish Cypress of the cemeteries beyond. But the interior is repulsive with its steep-winding and ill-kept streets.
The Seraglio, built by Mohammed II, is triangular and nearly three miles in circumference, shut in by lofty walls and towers, its interior a confused mass of buildings erected at different periods by the various Sultans.
The most ancient Mosque is that of St. Sophia, commenced in the year 531 by the Emperor Justinian. Its erection required seven and a half years at fabulous cost. Its form is that of a Greek cross, 270 feet long by 243 wide, surmounted by a dome whose centre is 180 feet from the floor. Ten thousand workmen were employed under the supervision of one hundred master builders, and when completed cost five million dollars.
Two bridges of boats span the Golden Horn, uniting Galata to Stamboul, and a system of some 80,000 wherries ply on the waters, elegant in shape and very swift.
The vast forests of cypress skirting the city were planted from a belief that they could neutralize noxious exhalations from the cemeteries.
Population 1885 873 565.
