On a hill overlooking the meeting of the Bosphorus, the Golden Horn, and the Sea of Marmara, stands a monument to over 400 years of Ottoman rule, Topkapi Palace. Built by Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror in 1453, once the nerve center of the entire Ottoman Empire, Topkapi is a sprawling pastiche of differing architectural styles, elaborated on by each new sultan. Four major fires did much to destroy what architectural unity might have existed. The only original buildings left from the time of Mehmet are the Treasury building (his original palace), and the outer and inner walls of the Tiled Pavilion, now a museum for Turkish porcelains.

egyptian obelisk (dikilitas)

After the world hegemony had passed to Rome, this column was brought from Egypt to Constantinople in 390 A.D. by Emperor Theodosius and placed on a square pedestal in the center of the hippodrome in the spina.
The obelisk could also be called as Theodosius Column. Reliefs on the pedestal depict Theodosius watching the races in the hippodrome and tell the story of how the column was erected. The Egyptian hieroglyphics on the column itself tell about sacrifices that thePharaoh Tutmosis made to the god Amon-Ra.

The hippodrome, which was built during the reign of Septimus Severus, on the square next to where Sultan Ahmet mosque is located, was 480 meters long by 117 meters wide and could contain 100,000 people. Many sculptures adorned the walls of the hippodrome. By means of special underground passageways, the emperor could reach the hippodrome or Hagia Sophia without leaving the palace. In the center of the arena was the spina around which the horse chariots would race. The hippodrome occupied a very important place in Byzantine social life. The most exciting of the many amusements that took place there were the chariot races between four teams representing the four elements: the blues