Nice poems and songs have been written for seven hilly Istanbul. Well, what are these seven hills, did you ever wonder? As the saying goes, today people are thinking of Beykoz hill, Çamlıca hill. But it is not!

A look at the historical peninsula from Galata Tower

Historically, "Istanbul" is the historical peninsula part of Constantinople (Konstantinapolis), which is known by its historical name, starting from Sarayburnu and surrounded by Yedikule city walls. Here, seven hills of Istanbul are on this historic peninsula. It is reported that the Romans have benefited from astronomy while building the city. Based on 5 known planets, Sun and Moon at that time, 7 hills were selected and the city was established by drawing its borders. Those seven famous hills are:

  1. Sarayburnu hill: Today Topkapi palace, Haghia Sophia and Sultanahmet mosque is the area.
  2. Çemberlitaş Tepesi: When the Roman Empire was divided into two, and the new capital of Eastern Rome was built in Istanbul, Emperor Constantine built the current Cemberlitas place as the forum area of the city. In addition, the Cemberlitas column in the Orda was also erected in the time of Constantine. Today the Nuruosmaniye Mosque was built on top of the hill.
  3. Beyazit Tepesi: Beyazit Mosque, the campus of Istanbul University today and the Süleymaniye Complex. If you look at the Golden Horn by the Bosphorus, you will see the majesty of Suleymaniye already
  4. Fatih Tepesi: Fatih district, where the Fatih camiininin area.
  5. Yavuz Selim Tepesi: It is the hill that goes up by the Golden Horn to Balat. Yavuz Selim Mosque and today's Fener Greek High School (Kırmızlı Building) area.
  6. Edirnekapı (Kariye) Hill: It is a Kariye Mosque, Kariye Museum, Tekfur Palace and Mihrimah Sultan Camisin.
  7. Kocamustafa Paşa Tepesi: Area left in Aksaray-Topkapı-Yedikule-Marmara region. Haseki and Cerrahpaşa are the hospitals. This area is Haseki Sultan Mosque.

As you can see, in the Roman / Byzantine period, and in the Ottoman period, the most magnificent constructions were made in these 7 hills. When we want to count the hills, we remember the places of those hills by remembering the big mosques of Istanbul today.

The other side of Golden Horn from Süleymaniye hill, Bosphorus and Anatolian side view

                                        Sarayburnu view from the Anatolian side.

                                                THANKS FOR STOPPING BY........