The Qutub Minar is the tallest brick minaret in the world. The height of the tower reaches 72.5 meters, and 379 steps lead to the top of the structure. The minaret is located in the city of Delhi, India. The tower is considered a world heritage site and is protected by UNESCO.

The construction of the tower was started by the first Muslim ruler of India, Qutbuddin Aibak. He was impressed by the Afghan Jam minaret and decided to build a minaret that was in no way inferior to it and even surpassed it in beauty.

The foundation of the future tower was laid in 1193, but then construction stalled. Later, during the reign of Iltutmish (the heir of Qutbuddin), three tiers of the tower were erected. And only in 1368 the last fifth tier was completed.

Looking at the tower from the bottom up, you can trace how the architectural style of that time developed and changed.

The Qutub Minar was built on the territory of the oldest Indian mosque, Quwwat-ul-Islam, which translated meant “the power of Islam.” Before this, there were several Hindu places of worship, including the temple of the god Vishnu. Some walls of Hindu temples have survived to this day and peacefully coexist with the minaret.

The tower is made of red sandstone, and white marble was used above the third tier during construction. The tower was once crowned with a dome, but during the earthquake of 1803 it collapsed. They did not restore it, and its remains remained lying not far from the minaret.

The diameter of the base of the tower is 14.3 meters. With each tier, the tower narrows more and more, and on the fifth tier the diameter of the floor is only 2.7 meters. The walls of the tower are painted with intricate carvings, among which there are sayings from the Koran.

Having built such a high minaret, perhaps the main feature of such buildings was lost. As you know, the minaret serves as a place from which the muezzin’s calls to prayer are heard several times a day. However, the tower turned out to be so high that the muezzin’s cry was almost inaudible from it.

It is worth noting that in addition to the tower, there is another, no less interesting attraction - a small iron column, which is installed not far from the minaret. The height of this seemingly simple structure is only 7.2 meters, and its weight is about 6 tons.

If you believe the chronicles, the column was cast in 895 BC. The question arises: how could the column remain intact to this day and not rust?! Thanks to a series of tests, it was possible to establish that the chemical composition of the column is almost 100% pure iron.

It still remains a mystery how it was possible to obtain a similar composition of iron by smelting, since at that time this procedure was technically impossible! There are rumors that the material for smelting was a meteorite that fell to Earth almost three thousand years ago.

It is believed that if you hug the column and make a wish, it will certainly come true. The belief in such a mystical power of the column is so great that the administration of the minaret decided to fence the column for its better preservation.

In order to enter the minaret territory, foreign citizens (tourists) will have to pay $5. Photo and video shooting is not prohibited.

Islamic architecture is usually easily recognizable due to its characteristic vaults, specific domes and, of course, minarets, which we will discuss briefly below.

The meaning of the word "minaret" goes back to the Arabic word "manara", meaning "lighthouse". In addition, this structure is also called mizana or sauma. Architecturally, a minaret is quite easy to define - it is essentially an ordinary tower. But what makes a tower a minaret?

What is a minaret

A minaret is not just a tower, it is a structure that is being built near a mosque. Its functional purpose is somewhat similar to Christian bell towers - to notify believers about the beginning of prayer and to convene them to perform general prayer. But unlike their Christian counterparts, there are no bells on the minarets. Instead, people called muezzins call believers to prayer at certain hours with special exclamations. This word comes from an Arabic verb, which can roughly be translated into Russian with the words “shout in public.” In other words, the minaret is, in a sense, an elevation for the speaker.

Types of minarets

Architecturally, there are at least two types of minarets - round or square in base and section. Multifaceted structures are less common. In all other respects, the minaret is similar to the usual lighthouse or bell tower. Just like on them, on the upper tier of the sauma there is a special platform where the muezzin rises. It looks like a balcony and is called sherefe. The entire structure is usually crowned with a dome.

Square minarets, that is, tetrahedral at the base, are most often found in North Africa. Round-trunked trees, on the contrary, are rarely found there, but they prevail in the Near and Middle East.

In ancient times, in order to go upstairs, minarets were equipped with an external spiral staircase or ramp. Therefore, they often had a spiral design. Over time, stairs increasingly began to be built inside buildings. This tradition has spread and taken over, so now it is difficult to find a minaret that has an external staircase.

Like the mosque building, the minaret is often decorated in a distinctive Islamic style. This could be brickwork, carvings, glaze, or openwork balcony decorations. Therefore, a minaret is not just a functional structure, it is also an object of Islamic art.

If the mosque is small, as a rule, one minaret is attached to it. Medium-sized buildings are supplied with two. Particularly large ones can have four or more. The maximum number of minarets can be found in the famous Prophet's Mosque, which is located in Medina. It is equipped with ten towers.

Minarets in our time

Technological progress makes its own adjustments to the way of life of Muslims. Often today there is no longer any need for muezzins to climb to the top of the minaret. Instead, speakers are installed on the tower's balcony, like on pillars, which simply broadcast the muezzin's voice.

In some countries, minarets are completely prohibited. We are talking, of course, not about Muslim countries, but about Western regions and states. The first among such countries was Switzerland. In 2009, based on the results of a popular referendum, the construction of a misan was prohibited. Therefore, the minaret is a prohibited structure in this European country.

The words are the embodiment of all Islamic architecture. This tower is the most striking element of the structure, the main thing that makes it clear to an inexperienced tourist that in front of him is a mosque. Nevertheless, the decorative, architectural function is not the main thing in the minaret; its functional purpose is important.

What does minaret mean? Main theories of its origin

The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic term "manar", which means "lighthouse". The name, as we can see, is symbolic: the minaret, like the lighthouse, was created to notify. When the first minarets appeared in coastal cities, lights were lit on their tops to show ships the way to the bays.

About 100 years ago, Egyptologist Butler suggested that the Cairo minarets of the Mamluk era, which is a tower of several pyramids of different sizes placed one on top of the other, are a retrospection of the Lighthouse of Alexandria - a generally recognized architectural miracle of the ancient world.

Unfortunately, only the description of the Pharos of Alexandria reached contemporaries. Nevertheless, it is known for certain that the lighthouse was intact at the time when the Arabs entered Egypt, so the hypothesis that architectural forms were borrowed from it is quite plausible.

Some researchers believe that minarets are the architectural heirs of the ziggurats of Mesopotamia. For example, anyone familiar with the shape of the ziggurat can trace its similarities to the 50-meter high Al-Malwiya minaret in Samarra.

Also, one of the theories of the origin of the shape of minarets is the borrowing of their architectural parameters from church towers. This version refers to minarets with a square and cylindrical cross-section.

Purpose of minarets

It is from the minaret that the call to prayer comes every day. There is a specially trained person at the mosque - a muezzin, whose job responsibilities include announcing the beginning of prayer five times a day.

In order to climb to the top of the minaret, namely the sharaf (balcony), the muezzin goes up the spiral staircase located inside the minaret. Different minarets have different numbers of scarafs (one or two, or 3-4): the height of the minaret is a parameter that determines their total number.

Since some minarets are very narrow, there could be countless circles around this spiral staircase, so climbing such a staircase became a whole ordeal and sometimes took hours (especially if the muezzin was old).

Nowadays, the functions of the muezzin are more simplified. He no longer needs to climb the minaret. What happened, you ask, that changed Islamic rules so much? The answer is extremely simple - technological progress. With the development of mass notification technologies, all the work for the muezzin began to be done by a loudspeaker installed on the minaret scaraf: 5 times a day, audio recordings of the azan - the call to prayer - are automatically played on it.

History of the construction of minarets

The very first mosque with towers resembling minarets was built in Damascus in the 8th century. This mosque had 4 low square-section towers, practically indistinguishable in height from the general one. Each individual tower of this mosque vaguely resembled a minaret. What these turrets, remaining from the Roman fence that previously stood on the site of this mosque, meant is not known for certain.

Some historians believe that these Roman towers were not removed because they were used as minarets: from them muezzins called Muslims to prayer. A little later, several more pyramidal tops were erected above these sagging towers, after which they began to resemble the minarets of the Mamluk era, like those in Samarra.

Then a tradition developed according to which only the Sultan could build more than one minaret at the mosque. The structures that were built on the orders of the rulers were the pinnacle of architecture. To strengthen their ruling position, the sultans did not skimp on decoration and materials, hired the best architects and built mosques with so many minarets (6 and even 7) that sometimes it was no longer physically possible to build more one minaret. What such scale, pomp, and immoderation in the construction of mosques and minarets could mean, the following story can clearly show us.

When the Suleymaniye Mosque was being built, for unknown reasons there was a long break. Having learned about this, the Safavid Shah Tahmasib I set out to make fun of the Sultan and sent him a box with precious stones and jewelry so that he could continue construction with them.

The Sultan, enraged by the ridicule, ordered his architect to crush all the jewelry, mix it into building material and build a minaret from it. According to some indirect records, this minaret of the Suleymaniye Mosque shimmered with all the colors of the rainbow in the sun for a very long time.

Construction of minarets

The minaret as an element of the mosque creates together with it a single, inextricable architectural complex. There are several main elements that make up a minaret. What these elements represent visually can be seen in almost any mosque complex.

The minaret tower is installed on a solid foundation made of gravel and fixing materials.

Along the perimeter of the tower there is a sherefe curtained balcony, which, in turn, rests on muqarnas - decorative projections that serve as support for the balcony.

At the very top of the minaret there is a cylindrical Petek tower, on which a spire with a crescent is erected.

Basically, minarets are made of cut stone, because this is the most resistant and durable material. The internal stability of the structure is ensured by a reinforced stairwell.

"What's in front of her now? Winter. Istanbul.

The consul's grins. An annoying hum

market at noon. Class minarets

earth-earth or earth-turban

(otherwise - cloud). Zurna, antimony.

Another race."

Joseph Brodsky. "Ritratto di donna".
(Portrait of a Woman).1993

Traveling during the non-tourist season - from November to March - has its advantages. It gets dark early, early
Museums are closing, but there are noticeably fewer tourists. Cities, even southern ones, are not decorated
flowering trees and flower beds, but through the bare branches there are views that
in summer it hides dense foliage. How beautiful in combination with the exquisite pattern of the branch domes,
spiers, and in Istanbul - minarets so thin that they can be likened to tree trunks.

"Mosque of Princes" - Shahzadeh. 1548

However, for Joseph Brodsky, who strongly disliked Istanbul, the minarets evoked others
associations: "... the mosques of Istanbul! These gigantic ones, perched on the ground, are unable to tear themselves away from it
frozen stone toads! Only the minarets, most reminiscent - prophetically, I'm afraid -
ground-to-air installations, and indicate the direction in which the soul was going to move,"
- Brodsky wrote in his essay “Travel to Istanbul” in 1985.

Minarets of the Blue Mosque of Sultanahmet. 1616

Almost 30 years later, Brodsky’s prophetic fears became almost a reality.Europe
fears the expansion of Islam, quiet Switzerland votes to ban the construction of minarets,
politically correct Germany is seriously concerned that the minarets will rise higher
Cologne Cathedral.

But let’s not, like Brodsky, look for the shadow of a destroyed and desecrated city in Istanbul.
500+ years agoBYZANTIUM(Temple HAHA SOPHIA, converted into a mosque and overgrown
minarets!), let's try to distract ourselves from European hostility to modern Islam
and let's move to the Ottoman Empire of the 16th-17th centuries, a state, at that time,
very tolerant.

Suleymaniye Mosque. 1557 Fragments.

In Istanbul, as you know, Muslims, Christians and Jews once coexisted peacefully. Herself
the amazing geography of the city contributed to this - Muslims and non-Muslims lived side by side
side, but each on its own shore of the narrow and long, like a river, Golden Horn Bay. Bosphorus divides
Istanbul is divided into European and Asian parts, and the Golden Horn, in turn, is conditionally divided
the European part of the city to "Istanbul is truly Muslim" , on the south, and "Istanbul
Gentiles" - on the northern bank of the Golden Horn. In the European part of the city there is
the famous Pera (now Beyoglu) - an area where everything is just like in Europe, Christian
temples, the few remaining synagogues in the city, the Galata Tower, which offers a view
to the “Istanbul of the Faithful”, separated by a strip of water, with huge mosques on the hills and
the ancient Sultan's Palace Topkapi.

View of Istanbul from the Galata Tower. On the left is the Bosphorus and the Asian part of the city.
To the right is the Golden Horn Bay, behind it is old Istanbul with palaces and mosques.

Beautiful! Even Brodsky could not help but admit: “Against the background of the sunset, on the crest of a hill, their (mosques)
silhouettes make a strong impression; hand reaches for the camera, like a spy at the sight
military facility. There really is something menacingly otherworldly about them,alien,
absolutely hermetic, shell-like. And it's all the samedirty brown, like
most buildings in Istanbul. And all this onbackground of the turquoise Bosphorus."

View of the Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn from the Galata Tower

So my hand reached out to the camera, although the sun was shining straight into my eyes and the conditions for
The photo sessions weren't the best. As for the “armor-shaped” mosques, the comparison
really spot on! The mosques lay down like huge turtles by the water, climbed onto
hills. Their squat monochrome bodies (all the beauty and brightness is inside!) would be completely
awkward, if not for the minarets, but for the silhouette of the city without multiple verticals
minarets would have lost unspeakably.

Let's look at the minarets without bias - they are very slender, graceful, and up close
does not resemble a rocket at launch. The word "minaret" comes from the Arabic "manara", "lighthouse",
since in coastal cities minarets served as lighthouses. Istanbul minarets -
round, sometimes with grooved grooves, very narrow, with a pointed cone-shaped
completion. From above their trunks are surrounded by one or two or three openwork balconies -
shurfe. The balconies below are often decorated with characteristics characteristic of Muslim architecture
"muqarnas" or "stalactites" - decorative reliefs located above each other
another prism.

Dolmabahce Mini-Mosque (1855) on the shores of the Bosphorus near Dolmabahce Palace

The larger and more significant the mosque, the more minarets it has - from one to four, and the more
they are taller. The only minaret of a small quarterly mosque does not reach 50 meters,
and the minarets of the Sultan’s mosques rise almost a hundred meters, however, they cannot compete
with skyscrapers of modern Istanbul.

Minaret of the Blue Mosque (1616) with balconies decorated with “stalactites”

Inside the mineret there is a spiral staircase along which the muezzin in former times
once a day he went up to the shurfe balcony to call the believers to prayer. Sometimes
inside the minaret there were two or three spiral staircases, so that those walking along them
haven't met each other. These days, the muezzin no longer ascends the minaret, but broadcasts
through a loudspeaker mounted on it.

Blue Sultanahmet Mosque with six minarets. 1616

It would seem, why build four minarets when one is enough? How
The more minarets, the more glorious and significant the mosque. How important this is proves
a story that is quite boring to me (all the guides happily tell it and repeat it
all guidebooks in all languages) about the six minarets of the Sultanahmet Mosque (or Ahmediye or, as
It was called the “Blue Mosque” for the incomparable beauty of its tiles). Sultan Ahmet allegedly said
to the architect that he wants to build golden ("Altyn") minarets, and the somewhat deaf architect heard
"alti" - six. Because of this misunderstanding, a mosque with six minarets was built. Muslim
the world perceived this as insolence, since only the Beytullah Mosque in
Mecca, so Sultan Ahmet had to build another - the seventh - minaret for the mosque
Beytullah, and balance was restored.

Byzantine temple HAHA SOPHIA, converted into a mosque.

There’s a separate conversation about it, so let’s look at it through the jets of the fountain .

View of the “New Mosque” of Yeni Jami (17th century) from the Galata Bridge.

The number of balconies is also not accidental. So the four minarets of the Suleymaniye Mosque are decorated in
a total of 10 shurfe as a symbol of the fact that Suleiman, who built the mosque, is the 10th sultan
Ottoman dynasty.

Suleymaniye Mosque (1557) with 10 balconies on four minarets

In the evening, the minarets are especially spectacular - illuminated, they sparkle against the dark sky,
like burning pillars.

Blue Sultanahmet Mosque illuminated at night

Whatever you want, there is something in these minarets that far exceeds the desire of Gothic architecture to free itself from materiality and rush as high as possible to the sky, to where “God and angels live, where paradise is located.” An extremely narrow cylinder of snow-white stone is erected, a narrow spiral is cut inside it and a herald is sent up along it, so that from the carved balcony of the mosque he glorifies the prophet and, with his trembling voice, calls believers to heaven, where they can go if they are ready to give up even their own for faith life.., From history we know that there were countless such hunters.

In the southeastern corner of Aya Sophia we were shown a strange five-fingered spot on a column. This is supposedly the handprint of Sultan Mehmed II, the conqueror of the Byzantine Empire. And how did the Sultan manage to climb to such a height! After all, the imprint is located at a level of six meters from the foot of the column!

It is said that he rode into the Temple of the Divine Wisdom, which was filled with the corpses of his soldiers and those of the defeated Byzantines, on the day of the capture of Constantinople. The horse, walking over the corpses, became frightened and reared up. And today tourists are shown the footprint on the place of the column on which he leaned with his bloody hand so as not to fall...

Symbolism of numbers

Entering the famous Suleymaniye Mosque, we immediately felt as if we were in the mid-sixteenth century. This is exactly what this mosque probably looked like in 1557, shortly before the end of construction, when the scaffolding that supported the vault was removed. This is exactly how it looked now, hung with a web of scaffolding that covered ornaments, the names of caliphs and complex designs of intricate Arabic writing. It was dark in the mosque: a wooden cobweb blocked access to the sun's rays, but in the courtyard they burned the dark backs of the workers who were cutting stones that were intended to repair this valuable architectural monument.

The mosque bears the name of the most famous Turkish Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Ottoman Solomon. It was supposed to become the spiritual center of the entire empire, so the buildings adjacent to the mosque were occupied by a high school and a medical faculty. Suleiman even ordered the construction of a hospital and a canteen for poor students here.

And in order to give the proper splendor to his creation outside, he ordered four minarets to be erected around the mosque. Two of them have three balconies, the rest do not have third balconies. This symbolism of numbers is not accidental. By the fact that there were four minarets, Suleiman wanted to emphasize that he was the fourth to own Istanbul. Ten balconies were supposed to proclaim to the world that he was the tenth Sultan of the Ottoman dynasty.

The balconies, faded with age, are in need of repair. At the foot of one of these stone “pencils” they are already beginning to stretch a web of scaffolding so that the stonemasons can reach the crinolines of the balconies by a different route than the path of the muezzins.

Beloved by Ahmed and the Baroque of Prague

Was it the deafness or the cunning of the architect Sultan Ahmed, which aroused the indignation of the Muslim spiritual hierarchy and almost led to a schism between Mecca and Istanbul?

The reason for this religious upheaval lies in the similarity of the sound of two Turkish words - “al-ty” and “altyn”. The first means “six”, the second means “gold”.

The architect left Ahmed with the order to build a luxurious mosque with “Altyn” minarets, a structure that would surpass even the Aya Sophia. It was truly no easy task. Therefore, it was not surprising that when the mosque was ready, there were no funds for the construction of “golden” minarets. Then the architect erected four minarets around the mosque he had built, and placed two more in the corner of the spacious courtyard in front of the mosque. Thus, there were six of them in total - “alty”.

The task was completed in its entirety, with the exception of only one little detail - the last letter in the word “Altyn”. But that is precisely why the clergy raised a terrible cry, accusing Ahmed of blasphemy. After all, the holiest mosque in Mecca had only five minarets, and suddenly a mosque with six minarets appears in Istanbul!

How it all ended is known. Ahmed capitulated, but instead of destroying the two magnificent minarets of his mosque, he agreed to build two more in Mecca, and thus Mecca regained the palm.

Nowadays this six-minaret mosque is called the Blue Mosque, and, believe me, it is the most beautiful among all in Istanbul. And not only with its six towering minarets, but also with the purity of style, the amazing proportions of the interior spaces and the breathtaking blue tiles with which the floor of the mosque is paved. Embedded in the migrab, a prayer niche in the façade of the mosque, is a piece of black holy stone from the Kaaba in Mecca. Therefore, it was in the Blue Mosque that the most solemn services were performed in the presence of the sultans, and therefore it was here that the birthdays of the prophet were always celebrated. Through two hundred and sixty multi-colored windows, rainbow light penetrates the blue of the mosque, which on special holidays competes with artificial lighting beating from hundreds of glass bells hung inside the temple.

Is there anything I can help you with? - suddenly a voice is heard nearby. This question was asked first in German, then in English and, just in case, in French. A man of about thirty, with an elegant, well-groomed mustache, stands, bowing respectfully, with the obligingness of a professional cicerone, waiting for us to pay attention to him.

But he quickly realized that he wouldn’t get anything from us, that when a person is busy filming, he doesn’t have time to listen to a story about how many tiles cover the floor of the mosque, who made them and what the names of Ahmed’s lovers were.

Having learned that we were from Czechoslovakia, he perked up and boasted in broken Czech that he was “writing with Prague.”

Prague Radio sent me the book I requested, Baroque Temples of Prague. But I didn't receive it. I wrote again. I was informed that the book was sent by registered parcel and that, just in case, they were sending me a second one. But I didn’t receive this one either.
He looked around cautiously and whispered:
- These disappearances are on the conscience of the Turkish police. They are afraid of communism.
“Sorry,” he said after this in English, “and headed towards a group of tourists who stopped at the entrance and raised their heads to the dome. They wore colorful shirts, and there was no doubt that they were Americans.

Tea party at the grave

If you yearn for silence and intimacy, if you want to take a break from the wild roar of the streets, run to the very end of the Golden Horn, to the charming Eyup Mosque. Here you will find not only pleasure from the fragile ornaments and pastel green carpets that cover every corner of the mosque. In the deathly silence, the cooing of pigeons can be heard, finding shelter in the rafters and niches. Here no one shouts at them, no one drives away the pigeons as they fly through the open gates from the courtyard, where pious pilgrims who have come to Istanbul's holiest mosque wash their lips and feet at the fountain. On the carpet lies a broken pigeon egg that has fallen from the nest. No one here kicks him away, none of the visitors trample on him or stain the soft carpet. Perhaps only in the evening, when the guard sees off the last pilgrim and prohibits entry, he will carefully collect the remains of the pigeon egg and take them out behind the mosque, under the spreading plane trees. Under their shadow is the tomb of Eyup, Mehmed's standard-bearer, who fell here in 670 during the first siege of Constantinople. Over the past centuries, the fence of his grave has been kissed so that at the window through which a high turban is visible, a depression has formed in the copper board.

Just a few years ago, these holy places were not dared to be seen by the eye of an unbeliever. Today, tourists come here every Friday to look at the crowd of thousands of believers, convinced that all their wishes will come true here...

A narrow road rises from the Eyup Mosque leading to the slope above the Golden Horn. And again, graves, graves, as if there were few of them along the fourteen-kilometer rampart in the west of Istanbul, as if there were few of them here, on the northern and southern slopes, above the Golden Horn, among the workers’ houses, among the sports fields and gardens!

Burials continue here to this day. Immediately behind the green fence by the road lies a marble slab and a marble turban - a sign that a man is buried here. Turbans alternate with rosebuds and fans carved from stone. They say that women are buried here.

Some graves literally hung in the air. The slab is about to come off, it is undermined, because a new century is making its way up the slope. The electric cable that is being laid here will soon supplant the oil hagans. They will be taken to the flea market, and electric light bulbs will appear in their place.

On the concrete parade ground, the soldiers line up, some corporal hits them on the heels, straightening the ranks. The sheep climbs onto the grave and gnaws at the daisies on it and at the same time bleats with pleasure. A little further on, several more sheep surrounded a shepherd boy with a pipe. So he stopped and played Constantinople pastorals to the ram lying down at his feet.

At a distance there is a wooden building - the famous coffee shop of Pierre Loti. In front of it, people sit at round tables and thoughtfully look down at the one and a half million anthill, at the minarets and chimneys of steamships that will set out into the open sea at dawn tomorrow.

A boy of about ten ran out of the kitchenette. In his hand, swinging on four chains, is a tray with three pot-bellied glasses of tea. Tea was ordered by three young people who were calmly sitting on a gravestone and admiring the sunset.

Melodies of Istanbul

Six thousand taxis are driving around Istanbul today. Half of the capital's total vehicle fleet. They determine the rhythm of movement and the color of the city of one and a half million people on the banks of the Golden Horn, giving it a character that can be expressed in one word: pandemonium. If you put traffic controllers here who are accustomed to normal traffic, then after an hour they will take off their white gloves, spit on everything and leave. Here they travel according to the right of the strong: who wins whom. You can overtake as you please, just choose a convenient moment to squeeze into the gap between the cars, push your neighbors' bumper apart and drive away. At your own peril and risk.

Turkish drivers have a passion for sound combinations. Ordinary sound signals do not satisfy them. Their horns play various melodies, hum, howl like a fire siren, and make sounds that are no different from the whistles of a steam locomotive. More than once we were frightened by such signals, and we expected with horror that a train would jump out of nowhere. According to the unwritten law of Turkish roads, when passing and overtaking, drivers greet each other with intricate melodies.

True, such a “circus” is not allowed on the streets of Istanbul, so at intersections drivers are content with shouting at each other, hitting the car with their palms if they want to catch a pedestrian.

Turkish drivers also have another passion. They decorate their cars not only with various mascots, but also with names and inscriptions. The most common inscription on buses is “MashaAllah!” - “God bless me!” This request perfectly characterizes the “basic law” of street traffic: step on the gas, and let everything else happen according to the will of God!

Drivers love plenty of lighting. We saw taxis and buses, the bumpers and cabs of which were hung with colorful lights, like Christmas trees.

Architecture and housing issue

It would be unfair to say that Istanbul is all slums, shops and mosques. A significant part of the city is occupied by stone residential buildings, which are gradually replacing wooden ones.

And today there is a lot of construction in Istanbul. In place of the ruins along the newly laid streets leading from the center outside the city, blocks of modern houses are gradually growing. And we must admit that they are built with taste. Architects borrow models from Italy, the United States, and Brazil. They are not afraid of bright colors, new shapes, new materials.

In the Beyoğlu district, we saw a whole street of new houses, sparkling with tastefully laid small mosaics, in harmony with the neighboring facades not only in color, but also in design. The houses have many balconies and terraces. Decoration with decorative flowers is not forgotten either. In another area, we were pleased to see that the concrete slabs in the front of the balconies were not made in the shape of a traditional rectangle, but in the form of a trapezoid, with its narrow part placed on the base. In addition, each trapezoid is painted in its own color, usually something cheerful. And the houses themselves are colorful - light green, orange, heavenly, soft pink. The facade of such a house smiles at you from afar. No barracks-style gloom and inexpressive grayness. Imagine how your eyes can rest here!

All this is good, but what about the rent? The answer to this question is not so happy. A four- to five-room apartment (smaller ones are not built for commercial purposes, it is unprofitable) costs a tenant 1,500 Turkish liras per month. A tram driver in Turkey earns three hundred liras a month, a skilled worker - from four hundred to eight hundred.

Thus, we also answered the question of how often working families move into such modern houses.

Small restaurant on the Bosphorus

Even in the days of ancient mythology, jealousy of their rivals was a distinctive feature of women.

Hera, the wife of Zeus, was also distinguished by this property, who took revenge on Io, Zeus’s beloved, by turning her into a cow at the very moment when she was sailing from the shore of one part of the world to the shore of another part. The first part of the world was Asia, the second was Europe, the water space between them has since become known as Bosporos - Bosporus, or translated from Greek - Cow Ford.

We are sitting in a small restaurant on the Bosphorus, in its narrowest part, not far from the Rumeli Hissary fortress. This is a famous fortress. In 1452, three thousand workers built it day and night to complete it in four months, as ordered by Sultan Mehmed II.

Over half a millennium, progress has advanced so much that the heirs of the Ottoman Empire are now thinking about how to reconnect the two continents that separated from each other hundreds of thousands of years ago. They are designing the construction of a bridge between Europe and Asia, seven hundred meters long and seventy meters high, so that the largest sea vessels can pass under it. In the future, the bridge should connect to the motorway that goes around the suburb of Beyoglu, and beyond the Eyup Mosque, which crosses the Golden Horn, connect to another motorway leading to Edirne, to the Bulgarian border. So, we are sitting in a small restaurant on the Bosphorus. A quiet night spread over the strait. Arabic music can be heard from the outdoor terrace. Below us, a police patrol boat rushes through the night, searching the surface of the water with searchlights, probing the Asian and European shores, and disappears somewhere behind the garlands of neighboring dance halls. A taxi stopped right under the terrace wall. The engine is about to stall. He coughs weakly for a while and then goes completely deaf. The driver calmly disembarks the passenger, who nods to the loser’s colleague and, without swearing, continues on his way in his car. The driver of the stalled veteran does not take this whole story to heart. With fatalistic resignation, he rolls the car to the side in his hands, pulls out a watermelon, and cuts it in half. Only after thoroughly refreshing himself does he pull out the tool and begin the repair...

You can’t say anything, Asia is also manifested in this - a part of the world, teasing us with clusters of lights on the nearby opposite shore. The part of the world that we will enter tomorrow. A part of the world that will be our home for the next few years...

Translation by S. Babin, I.R. Nazarova