All language subtitles for Ancient Invisible Cities Series 1 3of3 Istanbul 1080p

-I'm Darius Arya,
and I'm off to explore

three of the most amazing cities
on the planet --

Cairo, the gateway
to Egypt's ancient wonders;

Athens, the cradle of democracy;

and, in this program, Istanbul,

a boisterous treasure trove
of architectural genius.

For over 2,000 years,

East has met West
here in Istanbul,

the strategic middle ground
fought over and contested

by some of the world's
mightiest empires.

But many of its secret treasures
are hidden...

Oh!

...out of sight

or underground.

How deep is it?
[ Chuckles ]

-Be careful.

-Using the latest
3-D imaging technology,

our scanning team will help us
see the city

as no human eye ever could...

diving through layers of history
to show how the city

has had to reinvent itself
over and over.

As a professor of Roman history,

I'm floored by
the Hagia Sophia Cathedral...

and the drama
of its Roman racetrack.

♪♪

I'll be using virtual reality...

I'm going through the dome.

...to get to the heart
of the city's hidden wonders.

This is Istanbul

as even the locals
may never have seen it.

Welcome to "Invisible Istanbul."

♪♪

-Istanbul, Turkey --

the meeting place
of East and West.

The bridge between
Europe and Asia.

And I'm arriving
on the mighty waterway

that put this city on the map.

♪♪

This is the Bosphorus.

It runs north to the Black Sea,
down south to the Mediterranean.

Asia is on this side.

Europe is on this side.

Everything comes into focus
right here.

Now, over 2,500 years ago,

this was a Greek town,
Byzantium.

Then it was renamed
Constantinople,

capital of the Roman Empire.

Many considered it
the center of the world.

Perhaps Napoleon said it best --

"If the world
were a single state,

then Constantinople
would be its capital."

I love how the city's
tempestuous past

has created one of the most
vibrant cities on Earth.

This place has been
built by Romans,

rocked by earthquakes,

sacked by Crusaders,
and besieged by Ottomans,

and you can see evidence of
all of that all over the city,

but there's also
an invisible world

hidden under the surface
of modern Istanbul,

and that's where the key to
understanding this ancient city

can be found.

Even the most famous places
have their surprises.

The Hagia Sophia is Istanbul's
most iconic building.

It embodies the history
of the entire city.

♪♪

It began life as a Christian
cathedral built by the Romans.

It was then converted into
a mosque in the 15th century.

And now it's a secular museum.

Called "Ayasofya" in Turkish
and "Hagia Sophia" in Greek,

it means the Church
of the Holy Wisdom of God.

In its day, it was
the largest religious building

in the Christian world.

♪♪

♪♪

Your eyes are drawn up
to the beauty

and the size
of the great dome.

This is absolutely massive.

It's 110 feet across.

It's 180 feet
above the marble pavement.

It was the highest dome
of the world.

Can you imagine

to be a person living
in 6th century Constantinople,

how overwhelming
that experience would've been,

how its massive size
dominated the entire city?

I'm blown away by this place.

This 10th century gold mosaic
shows the two Roman emperors

responsible for the existence
of the Hagia Sophia.

This is Constantine the Great.

He moved the imperial capital
here from Rome in 324

when the empire was in turmoil.

Thanks to his conversion
to Christianity,

it soon became the official
religion of the entire empire.

But it was this emperor,
Justinian I,

who built this cathedral
in the 6th century.

♪♪

Its size and open spaces

make it an astonishing
piece of engineering

for the time --
and even today.

Our scan team is using
laser technology

to reveal the genius
of Justinian's engineers.

By recording each location
as data,

we can analyze how it was built
and changed over time,

and this place has survived

1,500 years of earthquakes,
riots, and wars.

Hey, Matt.
-Darius.

-Hey, man.
-Good to see you. You okay?

-Nice to see you.
Yeah, good, man.

-This is Tom.
-Hi. Nice to meet you.

-So, how's work?
How's scanning?

-Yup, scanning away.

The laser is firing out

over a million times
a second now.

-God.

Now, I've got
a question for you.

I've always wondered
why this structure's

actually still standing

despite all the different
things, like earthquakes.

Do you think the scan can
tell us some of those answers?

-That's the plan.

So, we'll scan
from multiple positions

around the whole building.

By the time we finish that,
we'll have over a billion points

all tied together in this
millimeter-perfect 3-D model.

-Unbelievable.
Now, I'm going to be going to,

like, a lot of other sites
throughout Istanbul.

You guys are going to be
doing the same thing?

-Yep. We will scan
every location

with exactly
the same technology,

so we'll get all of these
individual sites

down to that level
of millimeter-precision.

-Unbelievable.
Well, I can't wait to see

the big thing,
but if you don't mind,

if I steal you away
for just a minute,

I'll show you something
really on a micro scale --

real gem of a detail.

-Okay. Fantastic.
-Right over here.

You know, Justinian
spared no expense

when he built this church,

and, I mean, he had 10,000 guys
working to build it

day-in and day-out.

For example, maybe he used
up to 40,000 pounds of silver

to decorate it, to say nothing
of the gold and the marble.

-Yeah. The most expensive
building in the world, I hear.

-Absolutely, and this thing --

he said that this was
more magnificent

than Solomon's Temple
in Jerusalem.

And we have a lot of stories,

but here, let me show you
a piece of history.

I can step right down into it.
-Okay.

-And there's this weird little
groove that you can see here.

-Yeah?
-What made this?

Well, this is
the emperor's gate.

So, one story that's told
is that actually,

from all the years
and all the centuries

of all the guards
that stood here

wore this groove.

That's the neat thing --

the mystery that we still have
with this history.

It's up to us to unravel it.

-So, speaking of mysteries,
I need to go and solve some.

Let's get the scanning done.
-All right, take it easy.

See you later.
-See you later. Take care.

-All right,

ciao.

♪♪

I've always thought of
the Hagia Sophia as a symbol

of the city's ability
to adapt and to survive.

For me, it's a powerful
pivot point, still today,

between East and West --
religion and politics.

I mean, it's been a church,
a mosque.

Today, it's a museum.

It's an important mixture
that embodies

all of the great history
of this city.

To reveal the secrets
of Istanbul's past,

our scan team is creating
a 3-D map of the Old City.

-We're going to employ a process
called photogrammetry --

taking thousands and thousands
of individual photographs,

and we pump
all of those images in,

and these are
very clever algorithms,

and then we're able to compute

a really, really accurate
3-D model of Istanbul.

-When they add in the scans,
we'll have a complete picture

of how Constantinople was built
and how it survived.

♪♪

I can't wait to see what the
Hagia Sophia scans will show us.

Hey.
-Darius, hi.

-How's it going, Matt?

-Very good.
How are you doing?

-Good to see you.
All right.

-Take a seat.
-Oh! This is the show.

-Yeah, this is
our photogrammetry.

-Phew!
-We have this 3-D map

of the extent of Constantinople,
I guess.

And, obviously, at the core
of that is Hagia Sophia.

-Beautiful.
-So, here it is.

Just think of everything on
the screen here as digital dust.

It's millions and millions
of individual points,

and that means
the laws of physics

have kind of stopped
applying for us.

So, we can just zoom on in here
straight through the ceiling...

-Wow.
-...and we're inside.

-Incredible.

You can get
any perspective you want,

even from beneath
the surface of the floor.

-Exactly. Yeah.
-Huh.

-Our eyes are always drawn up
to the central feature

of this space,
which is, of course, the dome.

-Yeah.

-So, there it is.

And it's here
that we started to notice

the first kind of
slightly strange things

that we weren't picking up on.

So, this dome -- this seemingly
perfect spherical structure

actually is not a perfect circle
down at the bottom here.

So, you see, as you take this
circle around the edge here,

it's got quite a lot
of deformations.

-Yeah.
-Quite a lot of kinks.

There's a flattening off.

There's this really
quite substantial dink

into the side of it here.

And there's one place where

these anomalies are actually
really, really quite clear.

-Mm-hmm.

-I'm just going to strip off
the outside.

♪♪

So, what we're left with
here is...

I mean, look at that alone.
-That is quite deformed.

My God.
That is incredible.

Because you can't do that
in real life.

You can't --
We don't have X-ray vision.

-Yeah. No.
-Incredible.

-I mean, we've literally
skinned the building here.

We're just left
with this inside surface.

And that is a major lump.

-It's like it's gotten bashed
in a bad fight or something.

-Yeah. Well, you say a fight.

I mean, it's this earthquake
shaking this thing,

and, you know,
this dome first collapsed

26 years after it was completed.
-Right.

-Rebuilt, repaired,
patched up over the centuries.

-Of course, there's just got
to be so much weight, right,

from the dome all the way down,
being transferred?

-Yeah. Those ribs
are transferring the load

from that dome
down past these windows

onto this circular area here.

-Mm-hmm.
-But that's not where it ends.

That then comes down
to these triangular features.

There's four of these,
and they are the pendentives.

These pendentives take the load
from a circular position

down into a square.

So, each pendentive leads
to an enormous column

that transfers the load
down to the ground.

-And each one
has an angel on it,

so that's like the angels
are supporting

the dome of Heaven up above.

-Yeah, exactly.

So, I'm just going
to put us a slice

right the way
through the middle...

-Ah, nice.
-...of the building there.

There's still
this enormous pressure

pushing down and outwards,

so we can start to see
some of the solutions

that stop the building
from splaying out there.

And that's this
whole series of buttresses

that turn this
almost into a mountain.

-It really has revealed why the
Hagia Sophia is still standing,

sometimes rebuilt
and buttressed,

changed and adapted over time
to survive.

♪♪

Good morning.
-Oh, welcome.

-Hi.

When Emperor Constantine
built this city,

he wanted to outdo Rome itself.

Thank you.

He built public baths,
aqueducts,

a library, marketplaces,
and palaces.

-Thank you.
-Okay. Bye-bye.

The population soared
from 20,000 to 200,000.

The emperor also had big plans
for the city's racetrack,

the Hippodrome.

Great public places were ways
to attract rich and poor alike,

and back in the day,

this was the most popular
attraction in the entire city.

Today, this space is
a park and a school,

but our graphic shows
how the Hippodrome

once dominated the heart
of ancient Constantinople.

This immense structure
held twice as many spectators

as Rome's Colosseum
or Yankee Stadium.

♪♪

Hello, Kerim.
How are you?

-Hi, Darius.
-Nice to see you.

-Nice to see you, too.

-Professor Kerim Altug

is an expert on the Hippodrome.

-It will be fantastic.

-So, if the starting block's
over there,

where's the actual racetrack?

-The racing track was the road
running around today's square.

It perfectly follows the line
of chariot-racing track.

-Perfect.
That's amazing.

So if we go back in time,
we're right in the line of fire.

That's not where you want to be.

And then screaming fans
are up in the stands.

How many?

-Some say
the hundred thousands.

-So, that's a big part
of the population here

watching the chariot races,
watching someone race to victory

or crash and burn and die.

So, there's a lot of drama
that's here,

people that are pushing
in the stands.

It's just like any Roman city --

like Rome,
like the Circus Maximus.

-Exactly.
-It's intense.

-Exactly, and now, I've got
something even cooler

to show you in the underground.

-Oh. Lead the way.
That sounds great.

-Yeah. Let's go.

♪♪

-Amazing.
This is just so enormous.

-Yes.

I'm going to show you
the archways

forming the entrance and exits
of the Hippodrome,

now walled-up.

-Oh, yeah.

-And now, we are going
to the foundations.

♪♪

-Ah, that's a little door.
-Yeah.

We have a lock here.

-Doesn't look like
it's too frequently visited.

No, no.

Wow.

Now, this is
really interesting.

You've got all these
massive foundations.

What was this place?

-This is the substructure
of the seating.

-Ah. Okay.

So the Hippodrome is above,

and this is what's supporting
all those stands.

Now, what about -- I see some
other holes and passageways.

What about over there?

-Yeah, there are a lot of them,

but I don't want you
to get lost down there...

-Okay.
-...so you'd better follow me.

-All right.
You're the boss.

What was this place right here?

-These are the passageways,

but some say these
also used as a prison...

-Hmm.
-...or for the executions.

-What about down here?
Does it continue?

What is it?

-Let's take a look inside.
-Should I go?

-Go on. Why not?

-All right.

♪♪

Ooo-kay.

I think we're going to need
a little more equipment.

I think we're going to need
some better lights.

Slipping into something
a little more comfortable.

Shimmy, shimmy, shimmy.

Not exactly what I expected
I was going to do today.

All right, Kerim,
I'm ready to go.

-All right.
-Let's do this.

-All right.
Good.

♪♪

-Wow, this is...

Incredible staircase here.

♪♪

How deep is it?

[ Chuckles ]

-Be careful.

-Whoa.
This place is huge.

-This vault chamber
converted into cistern,

probably in the 6th century.

-This improvised water tank
is over 30 feet high

and could hold over
2 1/2 million gallons of water.

-So, this is one
of the largest

covered cisterns
of Constantinople there is.

-And I actually -- I'm getting
stuck in mud and water...

-Yeah, be careful.
-...which is -- Thank you.

It still holds the water,
that's for sure.

-Yeah.
-What about over there?

Can we -- Ugh!
Can we check that out?

-Be careful.
-Yeah.

-So, you can see
how the walls are plastered

with waterproof
hydraulic mortar.

-Yeah, amazing.

-Clearly shows us
this a cistern.

-And obviously it still works,

because we're walking in a place
that's filled with water and mud

and God knows what else.

-Yes. You can also see how
the hydraulic plaster ends.

This indicates the maximum
storage level of the cistern.

-Pretty big capacity here.
Pretty impressive.

Constantinople had few
natural sources of fresh water.

Concealed beneath
the Hippodrome's seating,

these abandoned passageways

were converted
into water-storage tanks.

Ingenious.

For over 1,000 years,
this was the city's insurance

against drought,
fire, and siege.

So, this one really
impressive cistern.

It surely couldn't be
the only one, though.

-We were able to identify
more than 200 cisterns

in the historical peninsula.

-This place is simply amazing.

You know, thanks so much
for bringing me here,

because I can't believe
that something

that was created as a hippodrome
in the 4th century --

you showed me that it's been
converted into a cistern

in the 6th century,

and then we're standing
right here today,

in the 21st century.

-Yes. This is one of the hidden
treasures of the city.

-Thanks to our scan team,

we can now see how
the Hippodrome was adapted

to the changing needs
of the city.

This vast structure entertained

the first citizens
of Constantinople,

and, later, as a cistern,

it kept them alive by storing
precious water for 1,000 years.

Now, this reservoir
is all but forgotten,

except to those who know
invisible Istanbul.

The Bosphorus
has always provided

unrivaled transport
and trade routes

that allowed
this city to thrive,

but finding fresh water
has always been a problem.

-Was in 2012...

-Professor of Art History
at Istanbul University

Ferudun Ozgumus,

has promised to show me
how fresh water

took on a sacred significance
in the ancient city.

-Something important
in this carpet shop.

-All right.

I'm intrigued to find

that our journey begins
in this carpet shop.

So it's, like,
a recent discovery.

I mean, that's just like
the other day.

Yeah, yeah.

We're going down pretty deep
here in the basement.

-Yes.

♪♪

-Oh, and it just keeps
on continuing down.

Oh, this is getting pretty deep.

Right.

Oh, thanks.

♪♪

All right.
So, what is this?

Is this it?

Ah, very impressive.

Yeah, a big portion of it, too.

Now, what is this part of?
What was it?

♪♪

Our photogrammetry shows
a layer cake of civilizations,

with today's carpet shop
sitting right above

the Great Palace
of Constantinople.

And there's another
hidden level below that.

Okay.

Okay.

Ah, and we're going to
go down further for this?

-Yes. Yes.
-Amazing.

[ Key jingles ]

Wow. Now, this --
this is impressive.

Actually lower than
the level of the church.

-Yes.

♪♪

-All right, something else.

Ah!

Yeah.

But this is a spring?

That, I would not expect
underneath a church.

Oh, yeah, right down there.
What is that there?

Okay.

But it looks like Greek.

Okay.

Mm-hmm.

So, for a very long time, then,

people are coming
to this church,

coming down below here,

and they were able to
potentially purify themselves...

-Yes.
-...before their...

That's fascinating, because
this was a precious commodity.

This was not a city of water.

So, this is a real rarity

to have a spring
that still flows even today.

Our scans show
how Istanbul is built

on layer upon layer of history,

with only a tiny trickle
of fresh water

deep in the foundations
of the city.

But if Constantinople
was to grow,

its people would need
the miracle

of Roman hydraulic engineering.

♪♪

One of the most
magnificent places

to observe some of
that hydraulic engineering

is

not

but rather
while just sitting here,

sipping a tea, or chai,
as they call it,

if you're underneath
an aqueduct.

♪♪

This is the Valens Aqueduct.

It's the city's major
water supply in Roman times.

It's over 100 feet high
and over half a mile long,

and the water channel descends
on top into the city.

It was a masterful
engineering feat,

and today it still dominates
the city landscape.

Our scanning team
is already at work

on this mighty aqueduct bridge.

It was completed
by Emperor Valens

in the late 4th century.

The Western half of
the Roman Empire was in decline,

but Constantinople was still
on a building spree.

This is just one
of 30 such bridges,

part of a vast and complex
system of water channels

and underground piping

bringing water
to the heart of the city.

I think it's one of the greatest
engineering and surveying feats

of the entire ancient world.

-Hi, Darius. Come on up.
-All right.

The man to tell us about it
is Professor James Crow

from Edinburgh University.

It's a big ladder, man.

-Yep, just keep on holding.
-Oof. Yeah.

He's doing a research project

to map that
water-supply system...

All right, don't let go.

...the crucial structure
in keeping the city alive.

Whew! Nice!

Great view.
And sunny.

-Yep.

-So, Jim, how did you
and your team figure out

all of this complicated system?

-Well, we knew -- it was known

there were sources
outside of the city,

but they'd never been
properly mapped before,

so we set about
sort of creating maps,

finding out more evidence

for where the bridges
and channels were.

It's a deeply forested area,

so it's not laid out
in front of you,

so you really have to work hard.

You have to find from traces
and then join the dots

in many instances.

-So much of Constantinople
is colossal --

I mean, the Hagia Sophia,
the Hippodrome, and now this.

This must've carried
a lot of water.

-Yes, this huge bridge,
nearly a kilometer long,

has two channels in it.
-Unbelievable.

-One we know about is probably
as tall as you and this wide,

and this brought water
for over 150 kilometers

in a direct line
with the spring,

but in total length, probably
exceeding 300 kilometers.

-Amazing.

I'm a Roman guy,
so don't tell me,

"It's better than Rome."

-It's different to Rome,
but in some ways,

it exceeds Rome in terms
of the length of the channels

and the way that the channels

tend to cut through
really difficult countryside.

So, it's a real engineering
achievement in the way --

much more than Rome is.

-Our scans reveal
that the water flowed

through two great channels
inside the aqueduct bridge.

Jim's research confirms
that the water

was then directed into
cisterns across the city --

209 of them --

some small, some improvised,
like the one in the Hippodrome,

and some purpose-built
and as big as a football field.

They were fed
by two supply lines

coming all the way
from forest springs

up to 125 miles away.

Altogether, there were
over 360 miles of channels

in the longest and most
sophisticated water system

of the ancient world.

♪♪

Aqueduct bridges like this
were essential

to Constantinople's growth

into one of the greatest
cities in history.

♪♪

♪♪

The city's success inevitably
attracted envy...and enemies.

Today, people drive
past walls like this

and think nothing of it,

but it was once
a beautiful palace.

This overgrown mess
is the Palace Boukoleon.

It was once part of the great
Palace of Constantinople.

Now, when it was built
in the 5th century,

the sea came right up
and crashed against these walls.

We're told that there were 500
rooms covered in gold mosaics,

but all that's left
of its faded glory

are these few
marble window frames.

♪♪

I've been told that you can get
into the palace through here.

What a garden.

When this palace was built,
Constantinople was said

to possess two-thirds
of the world's wealth.

The remains
of the Boukoleon Palace

are a melancholy reminder
of the city's lost glory.

This is major architecture.

The scale is huge,
and, of course,

this must have been
some sort of estate room.

The walls would have been
lined with marble.

You could imagine mosaic floors,
painted vaults,

and, of course, in antiquity,
it's right on the water's edge.

What a spectacular view
you would have had.

Still pretty spectacular today.

♪♪

♪♪

Our graphic gives us
just an idea

of the grandeur and scale
of this magnificent palace.

So far, our scan team
has recorded ruins

that tell the story
of the rise of Constantinople.

Here, the ruins tell us
about its decline.

And the people who caused
the destruction here

were Western Christians.

♪♪

Rome and Constantinople were
at the center of a dispute

over religious doctrine in 1054.

From that point,
Crusaders from the West

saw the people here
as Eastern heretics.

This was once a chapel covered
in gleaming, resplendent marble,

but it's all charred black
from fire.

Today, this is a refuge
for the homeless,

but the real destruction
took place over 800 years ago,

when, in 1204,
this city was sacked

by Western European Crusaders.

They pillaged.

They trashed this palace
and this city.

Constantinople was on the ropes.

♪♪

The Western invaders occupied
Constantinople for 57 years.

They desecrated
Eastern Orthodox churches,

burned down the library,
and looted the palaces.

By the 15th century,
the population of Constantinople

had plummeted like a stone
down to 70,000, tops.

The Roman Empire, the greatest
power the world had ever seen,

had now shrunk
to this single city.

Those who remained soldiered on,
growing their own food,

surviving the best they could.

With the city's cisterns
for collecting water

and agricultural land

for raising crops
within the city walls,

the city was virtually
self-sufficient

within a ring of stone.

The tradition continues today.

The people of Istanbul
still raise vegetable crops

in the moat and in the area
between the city walls.

Constantinople stood alone...

and the East was rising.

The Muslim Ottoman Empire

had the Christian city
completely surrounded.

By 1453, the only way
supplies could reach the city

was by ship,

and the Ottoman leader,
Sultan Mehmed,

was about to increase
the pressure.

He built this huge fortress
to lay siege to the city.

♪♪

It's on the European side
of the Bosphorus

at its narrowest point,

less than 800 yards from
Mehmed's fort on the Asian side.

♪♪

The name of this stronghold,
Rumelihisari,

literally means
"fortress of the Romans."

Now, let's think about that
for a second,

because the year was 1453.

I mean, 50 years later,
Columbus discovered America,

and still Constantinople was
the capital of the Roman Empire.

The original name
is even better --

Bogazkesen Castle,
literally "throat cutter,"

because we're at the choke point
here at the Bosphorus,

and it was meant to cut
the throat of the Bosphorus.

And it worked.

When a Venetian ship
sailed right out front

and ignored the warnings
from the fort,

a single cannon was fired
from one of the towers,

hitting the ship.

The crew was taken off
and beheaded,

and the captain,
well, he was impaled,

and his cadaver was hung
out front like a scarecrow

as a warning to all others.

Mehmed didn't want any
assistance to get to the city.

But Constantinople had
a final line of defense --

an iron chain laid
across its harbor inlet,

the Golden Horn.

Mehmed's ships couldn't
get past it to attack.

But Mehmed had
a brilliant solution.

He ordered the construction
of a road made of logs,

heavily greased,
around the chain barrier.

Then, on April 22, 1453,
he orders his troops

to drag the ships
off the water, on the road,

around the chain barrier,
and into the estuary.

Now the city's 5,000 defenders
were entirely surrounded

and trapped in a siege
of bombardment and starvation.

Despite this --
despite being surrounded

by 200,000 enemy troops --
Constantinople still resisted.

The main tower
of the Rumelihisari fortress

was a strategic command post
for Mehmed's whole operation.

Its secrets are locked away,

but we're getting
to see them...

Shall we take a look?
-Yes.

-...with local historian
Ali Zirek.

♪♪

It's kind of dark and spooky.
-Yeah.

-Wasn't expecting to find

one of the most
important artifacts

in the history of the city
just lying on the floor.

Is this the chain

that Constantinople used
to stop Mehmed?

-Yes.

-That's incredible.
I mean, this is the real chain?

It's the real thing?

-Very strong.

-Very strong, and it's rusty,

but, I mean, it's hundreds
of years old and still intact.

[ Grunts ]

It's very heavy.

I'm really curious to find out
what else Ali wants to show me,

and he's taking me up
all the way to the top floor.

Wow.

This is an amazing space.

What happened here?

Oh, so it's, like,
a council chamber.

It's unbelievable.

I'm thinking about the decisions
that he made in this castle,

maybe even in this very room.

I mean, this is where
history happened.

I think it really --
kind of get a sense of that,

can almost smell it.

♪♪

Mehmed's fortresses were among
the most advanced of their time.

Our scans allow us to really get
under the skin of this tower.

♪♪

They reveal a seven-story weapon
of ruthless efficiency,

with walls up to 23-feet thick

that protect
Mehmed's council chamber...

crenellated lookout positions,

arrow slits
and firing positions,

toilets, grain storage,

living quarters
for 400 soldiers,

a water cistern, of course,

a chute to drop boiling oil

onto an invader
at the front door,

and an unrivaled view

to guard the narrowest part
of the Bosphorus.

On April 6, 1453,

the sultan launched a 53-day
siege of constant bombardment,

and he was using the
biggest cannons in the world.

Mehmed concentrated his efforts
on a section of old wall

in the northwestern part
of the city,

and he hammered with his cannons
that section relentlessly

until eventually
a part of the wall collapsed.

Now, the defenders
defended themselves valiantly,

but they were no match
for the sultan's elite troops,

the Janissaries,

and with the prospect of
the horrors that would follow,

many of the city's inhabitants
decided to commit suicide,

jumping from the city walls.

The pillaging and looting
went on for three days.

The legend goes that

instead of letting
their enemies get the loot,

the people of Constantinople

threw so much of their wealth
into the Golden Horn

that the waters
sparkled with gold.

♪♪

The invaders closed in
on the Hagia Sophia.

They smashed down the door
and burst in

on the city's women,
children, old, and injured.

The last citizens of
Constantinople were raped,

slaughtered, and enslaved.

Mehmed himself lamented
the devastation he had caused,

saying, "What a city
we have given over

to plunder and destruction."

This was the final fall
of the Roman Empire.

The people we know as
the Byzantines were finished.

Constantinople was no longer
a Christian capital.

It became Muslim Istanbul,

Mehmed's capital
of the Ottoman Empire.

The East now held sway.

♪♪

The best place to see
how the city changed

is back at the Hagia Sophia.

From that day,
the cathedral became a mosque.

Over time,
the four minarets were added,

and the mosaic crosses
were decorated to disguise them.

Eight enormous panels
were erected much later,

spelling out the name of Allah,
the Prophet Muhammad,

his grandsons,
and the four caliphs.

To this day, they are the
largest in the Muslim world.

There are lots
of Islamic additions.

Case in point is this
recessed niche right here.

It's off-center from the apse,

off-center
from the whole church.

There's a reason for that.

It's the mihrab,
and it indicates Mecca,

and that is the direction
that Muslims pray.

♪♪

Sultan Mehmed became known
at Fatih, "the Conqueror."

But he was also a builder.

He repaired the water supply,
rebuilt the city walls,

and established
one of the greatest

economic centers of its time --

the Grand Bazaar.

♪♪

♪♪

Hi.
-Hi, sir.

-How you doing?
-Fine. You?

-Good.
-These look okay?

-Yeah, these are very nice.

Within two centuries,

the population rebounded
from 70,000 to 700,000.

Okay. Thank you.
-You're welcome, sir.

♪♪

-As the Ottoman Empire grew,
so did the bazaar.

Today, it has over 4,000 shops
on 61 covered streets,

visited by up to 400,000
shoppers in a single day.

The Grand Bazaar became
the center of Istanbul's wealth,

and Istanbul became the center
of the Ottoman Empire.

It must have felt like
the center of the world.

-Thank you.
-Thank you.

-[ Speaking native language ]
-Oh, thank you.

Thank you.

♪♪

Islamic and Turkish cultures
certainly have added

to what the Romans and
the Christians had established.

Turkish cuisine is famous for
a rich variety of ingredients,

but sometimes you just
want something simple.

You want a balik ekmek,
a fish sandwich,

and the best place
to have it in Istanbul

is in Eminonu, right here
at the Galata Bridge.

And certainly, eating this
at the Golden Horn

amidst all of this history
adds to the flavor.

♪♪

♪♪

But not everywhere in Istanbul
is so hectic.

Islands of peace can still
be found in the Old City,

like this mosque,
just north of the Grand Bazaar.

♪♪

♪♪

This is so peaceful.

It's hard to believe that
I'm in the midst

of a teeming city of 15 million,

but this place gives you
a sense of calm, tranquility.

I see community.

It's about being with yourself.

It's about having opportunity

to meditate on many things
before going forward to prayer,

and this is
an amazing opportunity

to start that reflection.

♪♪

A century after Sultan Mehmed,
his successor,

Suleyman the Magnificent,
had a new mosque built in 1557

to outdo anything
that had come before it --

the Suleymaniye Mosque.

Inspired by the grandeur
of the Hagia Sophia,

this mosque is the epitome of
the Ottoman Empire's golden age.

The genius of the mosque
is found in its grand design

and its smallest details.

Much is invisible,
but not to my guide --

architectural historian
Olcay Aydemir.

♪♪

Wow.

Amazing.
This is spectacular.

-Yes.
-I mean, there's so much light.

There's so much space.

Just an incredible volume.

It's just so massive.
It's so tall.

Absolutely.

Though inspired
by the Hagia Sophia,

Suleyman'S mosque
had innovations of its own.

So, I'm looking at
the illumination here,

and, of course,
I mean, this is electric,

but what was it like
in the 16th century?

Okay.

Now, I see,
you know, interspersed

between these electric lights,

I mean, there's some sort
of suspended ball

or egg-like thing.

What is that?

Ostrich shells, okay.
-Yes.

-And is that intentional
as well,

or is that something from --

Okay. It's very beautiful
and eco-friendly.

-Yes.
-So, technology,

sustainability,
incredible architecture,

incredible design.

-Yes. It was genius.
-It's so impressive.

-Yes.

-But there's more.

Our scans reveal
an invisible ventilation system

hidden in the walls.

It drew up the soot from the
lamps through hidden funnels

leading into a secret room.

The soot was
scraped off the walls

to make black ink
for precious manuscripts.

Today, only graffiti remains.

♪♪

Sultan Suleyman
wanted his mosque

to be a social-welfare complex.

A hospital was built,
six schools, Turkish baths,

a travelers' inn,
a bakery, a medical college,

and a public kitchen
for the poor.

In the 19th century,

there was even a place
called Addicts Alley

where cafés sold
hashish and opium,

though I doubt if

that
was part of Suleyman's plan.

-So, as we go through...here,
there are lots of monuments,

and they're all over the empire.

-This is the mosque's
public kitchen, or imaret.

It fed over 1,000 of
the city's poor every day

in a way that allowed people
to keep their anonymity

and their dignity.

Very nice. So, I can take this
anonymously, as well?

-Yes, of course, please.
-Thank you.

Buon appetito.

This was a sultan's mosque
meant for everyone.

Suleyman's kitchen was designed
to feed Muslims,

Christians, and Jews alike.

Today, it's a commercial
restaurant in this modern city.

♪♪

I've been invited by Matt
to go back to the Old City,

but this time,

I'm going to experience it
in a whole-new way.

The scan team are eager
to show me

how the city comes alive
in virtual reality.

Cool. I've never seen --
-It doesn't look like much now,

but this little backdrop here,
together with this headset,

this is your portal into
our digital model of Istanbul.

There you go.

-Wow.
This is amazing.

-So this is the whole peninsula.
-Beautiful.

And right down there, that's
the curve of the Hippodrome.

That's right where we went
into the cisterns.

Oh, that's right
where we entered, ha,

and down the stairs.

Oh, look at that corridor.
[ Chuckles ]

You just can't smell it,

but otherwise,
it's like I'm there.

I can get underneath it too.
-Yep, worm's-eye view.

-Ah, man. And now, I mean,
I'm just walking right over top

the entire Hippodrome
towards the Hagia Sophia.

-So, you're free to drop
your head inside.

-Whoa.
There's everything inside.

Oof.

Space is incredible here.

I see all these
little outlines of people --

children, adults,
just in motion.

-These are the ghosts
of the tourists

that were there on that day.

They're all moving around
a little bit quicker

than we can scan them.
-Okay.

-And we can actually start
to go and inspect this building

a little more thoroughly.

-Okay.
Oof, going up the elevator.

Oh, slow down.

Yeah, you get
a little vertigo here.

Wow.

Really fast.

Wait. Okay.
Going through the dome?

All right. Okay.

Whoa.

-So, here we are.

-Wow.

I'm going to need
to take your hand here.

-[ Chuckles ]

-It's really disorienting,
though.

You feel like you could just
fall right through.

-And check out -- I mean, the
lumps that we saw previously,

they've become this kind of
golf course of mounds around us.

-Oh, my God. Yeah.

Oh, back down again?
Okay. Whoa.

The VR makes me
really appreciate

what an extraordinary feat of
engineering the Hagia Sophia is.

Oh, coming down.

It's like this whole city
and its people --

They've been knocked around,

but they've always
found ways to survive.

♪♪

They've adapted buildings
like the Hippodrome

to stay alive
through drought and war...

♪♪

...and kept fresh water
flowing to everyone

through their elegant aqueducts.

♪♪

This is a city that has
built upon its layers

of history and culture.

As the battered dome of
the Hagia Sophia reminds us,

the people of Istanbul

have fought both armies
and earthquakes

to preserve their city
against all the odds.

♪♪

This ancient city has been
the fulcrum of the world

for two millennia.

And in the 21st century,

the tug-of-war
between East and West

remains as intense as ever.

Turkey is rising in prominence
in international politics

and looking to strengthen
its Islamic ties,

looking to the past,
the Ottoman Empire,

for inspiration.

All eyes are focusing once again

on the city
at the center of the world.

-Wow.

And if you'd like
to explore the Hagia Sophia

for yourself in 3-D,

visit pbs.org/
ancientinvisiblecities.

♪♪

-"Ancient Invisible Cities"
is

available on DVD.

To order, visit Shop PBS

or call 1-800-PLAY-PBS.

This program is also available
on

Amazon Prime Video.

♪♪

♪♪