On the map of human existence, Istanbul throughout the
age of empire represented the administrative power
center. Rome, Byzantium and the Ottoman Empire each
took its place in history as a ring of civilization that formed
around this center. To view history from this perspective
means to read the story of humanity in its pages and, in a
sense, to rediscover each time this dazzling star that
shone in the skies of Anatolia, the Balkans and the
Medite ...