HOTEL  SILKROAD | ISTANBUL  TURKEY

Hotel Silkroad is a boutigue hotel that you will feel yourself at your home. Hotel is situated in the Surici, Sultanahmet area, Cankurtaran Square where is the oldest settlement of Istanbul. Our guests’ comfort and satisfaction is priority for us. Our main aim is 100% guest satisfaction. We are ready for service with our professional stuff.

According to the location, Hotel Silkroad is on the walking distance to many historical places like, Sultanahmet (Blue) Mosque, Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia Museum, Grand Bazaar, Egypt Bazaar, Underground Cistern, Suleymaniye Mosque and Hamam, Archeological Museum, Islamic Arts Museum, Binbirdirek Cistern, Cagaloglu Hamam, Gulhane Park…

Also there is easy transportation to the central places of Istanbul. Ataturk Airport is 25 min., Taksim Square is 15 min., Bosphorus is 15 min., Bakirkoy is 20 min. far from Hotel Silkroad by taxi and possibility of easy railway transportation for these places. There are very often boats to Anatolian Side of Istanbul during the day from Eminonu where is 5 min. from hotel. Cankurtaran Station of Sirkeci-Halkalı Train Line is 50m, Sultanahmet Station of Kabatas-Bagcılar Tram Line is 500m far from hotel. There is easy connection from Tram to Ataturk Airport Metro Line.

Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome of Constantinople (Sultanahmet Meydanı, At Meydanı) was a circus that was the sporting and social centre of Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire. Today it is a square named Sultanahmet Meydanı (Sultan Ahmet Square) in the Turkish city of Istanbul, with only a few fragments of the original structure surviving. It is sometimes also called Atmeydanı (Horse Square) in Turkish.

The word hippodrome comes from the Greek hippos , horse, and dromos , path or way. Horse racing and chariot racing were popular pastimes in the ancient world and hippodromes were common features of Greek cities in the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine eras.

Hippodrome monuments

Serpent Column

To raise the image of his new capital, Constantine and his successors, especially Theodosius the Great, brought works of art from all over the empire to adorn it. The monuments were set up in the middle of the Hippodrome, the spina. Among these was the Tripod of Plataea, now known as the Serpent Column, cast to celebrate the victory of the Greeks over the Persians during the Persian Wars in the 5th century BC. Constantine ordered the Tripod to be moved from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, and set in middle of the Hippodrome. The top was adorned with a golden bowl supported by three serpent heads. The bowl was destroyed or stolen during the Fourth Crusade. The serpent heads were destroyed as late as the end of the 17th Century, as many Ottoman miniatures show they were intact in the early centuries following the Turkish conquest of the city.Parts of the heads were recovered and are displayed at the Istanbul Archaeology Museum. All that remains of the Delphi Tripod today is the base, known as the "Serpentine Column".

Obelisk of Theodosius

Another emperor to adorn the Hippodrome was Theodosius the Great, who in 390[4] brought an obelisk from Egypt and erected it inside the racing track. Carved from pink granite, it was originally erected at the Temple of Karnak in Luxor during the reign of Tuthmosis III in about 1490 BC. Theodosius had the obelisk cut into three pieces and brought to Constantinople. Only the top section survives, and it stands today where Theodosius placed it, on a marble pedestal. The obelisk has survived nearly 3,500 years in astonishingly good condition.

Walled Obelisk

In the 10th century the Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus built another obelisk at the other end of the Hippodrome. It was originally covered with gilded bronze plaques, but they were sacked by Latin troops in the Fourth Crusade. The stone core of this monument also survives, known as the Walled Obelisk.

Statues of Porphyrios

Seven statues were erected on the Spina of the Hippodrome in honour of Porphyrios, a legendary charioteer in his time who raced for the two parties which were called "Greens" and "Blues". None of these statues have survived. Only the bases of two of them have survived and are displayed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.