A column hunt through Istanbul - 8 places worth stopping for
- Martin
- 5 days ago
- 4 min read
From the Column of the Goths in Gülhane to what’s left of Arcadius’ monument in Fatih. A walk across the city and the columns that are still standing right in the middle of Istanbul.
I brought a camera and filmed a small video along the way. You’ll find it at the bottom of the post, together with a map of the locations.
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Columns are everywhere in Istanbul. Some you can’t miss. Others are easy to overlook - tucked in between trees, buildings or traffic. And then there are all the ones you don’t see at all, because they’re buried under the streets or built into something else.
I often move through the city doing what I call a “column hunt”. And honestly, it’s something I’d recommend doing yourself.
It’s not the kind of thing that fills guidebooks. But it’s still very much Istanbul. And it gives you a sense of the city that’s bigger than you might expect.
The Column of the Goths in Gülhane is one of those places.
I walk or cycle through Gülhane Park quite often, and almost every time I make a small detour to pass by it. It stands a bit up the slope towards the first hill - where, according to legend, King Byzas founded Byzantion.
The column dates from the late 3rd century AD - most likely connected to Emperor Claudius II’s victory over the Goths (268-270 AD).
It’s one of the oldest things still standing above ground in Istanbul.
The Milion, just opposite Hagia Sophia, is another place I always stop.
It was built in the early 4th century under Constantine the Great (306-337 AD).
Today, it’s just a fragment on a street corner by Yerebatan Street, next to the Basilica Cistern. But this is where distances across the Eastern Roman Empire were measured from. This is where the world was organised.
The obelisk on the Hippodrome is one I always end up lingering around.
I walk around it again and again. Looking at the hieroglyphs. Looking at the inscriptions on the base.
It was originally raised in Egypt around 1450 BC under Pharaoh Thutmose III and brought to Constantinople by Emperor Theodosius I in 390 AD.
It’s still there. More than 3,000 years old.
Right next to it is the Serpent Column
It was first set up in Delphi in 479 BC after the Greek victory over the Persians at Plataea, and later moved here by Constantine the Great in the early 4th century, when he made the city his new capital.
You almost need to know what you’re looking at. The serpent heads are gone - most likely removed or destroyed during the Ottoman period.
The Walled Obelisk is just about 20 metres further down
In its current form, it dates back to the 10th century, when it was restored under Emperor Constantine VII (913-959 AD). It used to be covered in bronze plates, but like so much else, they were taken during the Crusader sack of the city in 1204.
What’s left is the core.
Çemberlitaş.
This was a place people were drawn to from day one.
The column was erected in 330 AD as Constantine’s Column, right in the middle of the Forum of Constantine - the city’s main square and part of the emperor’s way of staging his new capital.
The forum lay along the main street, the Mese, which today more or less follows the same line as Divanyolu.
People passed through here. Gathered here. The city was put on display here.
Not so different from today.
The Column of Marcian.
In Fatih, in a residential area not far from the Aqueduct of Valens and close to the excavations in Saraçhane, you suddenly come across it.
It was erected between 450 and 452 AD in honour of Emperor Marcian (450-457 AD).
Marcian isn’t one of the emperors you hear much about. But he was the one behind the Council of Chalcedon in 451 - something that had a lasting impact on the Christian world. Even in a Danish context, where the national church still builds on decisions made there.
The Column of Arcadius.
On the seventh hill, in Cerrahpaşa, you find what’s left of it.
It was built between around 401 and 421 AD under Emperor Arcadius (395-408 AD).
The column itself collapsed after an earthquake in 1719.
Today, only the base remains.
A massive structure that doesn’t really look like anything else around it.
Standing at the foot of it, it’s hard not to imagine what once stood on top. Something that must have been visible from far away - out across the Sea of Marmara.
There are many more columns in Istanbul than these.
Many have been reused as spolia in mosques, basements, courtyards and buildings. Others are still buried underground.
But these are the ones I keep coming back to.
