Istanbul culture

  A holiday for people   The Republic Day is considered a highly important holiday by all Turks regardless their age and profession. On a wonderful autumn day, the country celebrates the proclamation of the Republic of Turkey and collapse of the Ottoman Empire, which happened in 1923 and became a new step in the development of the country.   The celebrations usually start some days before, and the Turkish cities are already ready f… read more

  February: Cirque du Soleil tour   The legendary Canadian circus company Cirque du Soleil is going to perform their famous Saltimbanco show in Istanbul this February. The guests of the festival will see miracles, performed by 50 professional actors from 20 countries, brightly colored clothes, unusual illumination, humor, and fascinating music. Cirque du Soleil was created by two acrobats Guy Laliberte and Daniel Gauthier in 1984. Nowad… read more

December, 1Dances of 7 RegionsPlace: Educational Public Center of Kadikoy districtEvent: Dancing show by professional dancing groups (dances of peoples, living in Turkey), master-classes for non-professional dancers.  Cultural Heritage of IstanbulPlace: Department of Culture and Tourism in RegionsEvent: Press conference and round table concerning the conservation of the cultural heritage in the regions of Turkey. The Ottoman Bank — the… read more

Orhan PamukOf course, he had to be the first. The Nobel Prize winner, the most famous Turkish writer, Orhan Pamuk loves Istanbul whole-heartedly. He has even written a novel of the same name. 'Istanbul' by Pamuk has been one of the first in the world ratings of book bestsellers for half a year. In addition, in his homeland Pamuk is known for his principled position concerning minorities, no matter who they are: Kurds, women, or simply poor people… read more

«Kemanci»This is the most popular rock-club in Istanbul, the tickets to which local youth buys months before an event or concert that takes place here. The club is separated to several large rooms, the bigger one – for more than three hundred places, and the smaller one – for one hundred places. Sometimes in the club there are held two concerts simultaneously, each of them - in its own room. The only minus of the club, whe… read more

Cemil Topuzlu  It is one of the biggest theaters of Istanbul. This open-air theater seats 4,500 people, and its atmosphere reminds the time, when the city was called Constantinople. Its exterior looks like the theaters of the Ancient Greece, for a Hellenic amphitheater was taken as a model for the construction of Cemil Topuzlu. The theater was built in the 50-s of the 20th century to hold performances in summer and spring. Later concerts and… read more

There are presented the most important and interesting cultural events, which will be held in Istanbul in the end of the spring and in the beginning of the summer. Ice museumIn the shopping center of Istanbul 'Forum Istanbul' there was opened the museum of ice figures 'Magic Ice'. The winner of the Eurovision-2009 Alexander Rybak participated in its official opening. In the museum there are 34 ice figures, made of 70 tons of ice. The constant tem… read more

The cultural and architectural heritage of Istanbul can be divided into 4 parts: the first period lasted before the Roman rule, when Byzantium was a free city. The second one was the Roman epoch, when the city became a part of the Roman Empire. Then the period of Byzantium, when the city was called Constantinople, comes. Later it was the Ottoman period, when the city was given a new name Istanbul and remained the capital of the empire, but in thi… read more

  One of the first persons who started to develop the military art of Istanbul was a native of Armenian type, the commander Narses. Armenian history is tightly connected with Constantinople and Istanbul. From time immemorial Armenians from noble families were sent to serve the Greek emperors and later - the Ottoman sultans. One of these Armenians was the ancestor of the commander Narses, famous in the sixth century for the fact that he consi… read more

To learn all about the culture of the Ottoman Empire its rulers organized a forty-year expedition across all the parts of the country and the capital.The first thing that sultans of the Ottoman Empire made when they conquered Byzantium, a part of Europe and Asia was strengthening the cultural ties between parts of the state. The wise rulers knew: the real unity does not arise due to the force. There should be something else. That very "else" was … read more