Review: In Search of Constantinople, Sergi A. Ivanov 

By Luke Frostick

In 1930 the Turkish postal service finally stopped accepting letters addressed to Constantinople. However, the traces of the eternal city are still all around us and documented in Sergi A. Ivanov’s remarkable new book In Search of Constantinople: A guidebook through Byzantine Istanbul and its surroundings. 

Ivanov starts his book with story of Leo the Fifth’s assassination in 820ad. The emperor tries, unsuccessfully, to fend off the assassins with a censor snatched from the alter of the church of the Virgin of Paros. So where was the church? Of the Ivory gate also mentioned in the sources? Nobody really knows. 

And that is the truth of the Byzantine heritage of Istanbul. So much has been lost that even really important sites are only known through text. One of the things about the Byzantines is that they were prolific writers and in those texts we get glimpses of Constantinople as it was. Ivanov’s book is an attempt to connect this literary history with the city of Istanbul we see today. 

It is no easy task given the size of the city, the vast spans of time and the monumental changes that happened to the city both during and after the Byzantine era.  It is little wonder that Ivanov has been working on this book since 2001. 

The book covers a truly vast range of material. It includes extensive martial on well known sites such as the Hagia Sophia, the Cora Church and the Theodosian Land Walls. However, it also engages with fragments buildings, undercrofts in cafe basements, private exhibitions where faint traces of Roman Constantinople can be found.

The heart of the book is a series of walks. They are very much in the same vein as something the late John Freely would have written. As a framing device it is a good one. It adds a practical excitement to what could otherwise be quite dry material. Certainly the best way to experience the book is to tuck it under your arm and head into the city to see what you can find. The book includes exclusive maps, diagrams and images  in part provided by David Hendrix from The Byzantine Legacy.

I have only had the time to go out on one day out with the book, but it was a lot of fun.  I had an exciting time looking in the basements of cafes, the lobbies of hotels and on random bits of street for the bits and pieces that can be found there. I have lived in the city for years and seeing the streets with this new perspective was extremely refreshing. It was also pleasing to see how much can actually be found, some of it very impressive, when you have a guide experienced enough to show you were to look. 

Is the book accurate? I am not nearly enough of a historian, byzantanist or archeologist to critique the scholarship done here. However, I can say that the guide itself is accurate. I was able to find almost everything that the book suggested I should be able to. 

While the book maintains an optimistic and non-confrontational tone, it does highlight how state preservation of these sites is lacking in many areas. The book does highlights are as where good work is being done, for instance the IBB’s restoration of the Bukeleon palace seems promising. However, places like the archeological park remain closed and the Khora Church’s status and future is in in jeopardy. In addition, while some private business have taken efforts to make their byzantine legacy available to the public, private construction has also limited access to these sites. One of the take aways of the book is just how much more needs to be done to protect the byzantine heritage of Istanbul. 

In Search of Constantinople is a great book. It is absolutely essential reading for people interested in the history of Istanbul and is a really fun way to get out into the city and see a new side of it.