Monuments in Turkey

Built as a cathedral in 537 and for nearly a thousand years the largest enclosed space in the world, converted to a mosque in 1453, made a museum in 1935, and reconverted to a working mosque in 2020. That last change is the one to plan around: it is a functioning mosque now, not a museum, so entry is free but modest dress is required, women cover their heads, shoes come off, and the ground floor closes to visitors around prayer times. The Byzantine mosaics are seen from the upper gallery.

The Ottoman court for about four hundred years from 1465, and not a single palace but a walled series of courtyards, pavilions and gardens that you walk through in sequence. Two parts are ticketed separately and both are worth it: the Harem, which is where the domestic politics of the empire actually happened, and the treasury. Allow three hours and go at opening, because the Harem queue builds fast. It closes on Tuesdays.

The Blue Mosque, finished in 1616 and named in English for the tens of thousands of Iznik tiles lining its interior, which are more turquoise than blue. It has six minarets, unusual at the time and controversial because it matched Mecca. It is a working mosque and free, closed to visitors during the five daily prayers, and a long restoration of the interior ran for several years, so check what is currently open. It faces Hagia Sophia across the park.

A sixth-century underground water cistern built under Justinian, 143 metres by 65, its brick vaults carried on 336 marble columns standing in shallow water. Many of the columns were taken from older Roman buildings, which is why two of them rest on carved Medusa heads. It reopened in 2022 after a long restoration that added lighting and an art installation, so it looks different from older photographs. It is cool and dim, which makes it the best stop in August.

The palace the Ottoman court moved to in 1856 when Topkapi was judged too old-fashioned, on the European shore of the Bosphorus, and built in a European style throughout: crystal, gilt and a staircase with banisters of Baccarat glass. The ceremonial hall holds a four and a half tonne chandelier. Ataturk died here in 1938 and the clock in his room is stopped at the time. Visits are guided and timed, and it closes on Mondays.

A stone tower of 1348 built by the Genoese as part of their colony's walls, on the hill across the Golden Horn from the old city, and for centuries the tallest structure in Istanbul. It is on this list for the view rather than the building: a full circle over the Horn, the Bosphorus and the old city rooftops. The lift goes most of the way and there are stairs at the top. Queues are long from late morning, so come at opening.

The masterpiece of Mimar Sinan, the Ottoman court architect, finished in 1557 for Suleiman the Magnificent and, by most reckonings, the finest Ottoman building anywhere. It sits on the third hill above the Golden Horn, so the terrace outside has a better view than most paid viewpoints. It is quieter than the Sultan Ahmed and the interior is lighter. Suleiman and Roxelana are buried in the garden behind, and Sinan's own small tomb is at the corner of the complex.

The Castle of St Peter, built from 1402 by the Knights Hospitaller using stone taken from the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, which stood a few hundred metres away. It now houses the Museum of Underwater Archaeology, and that is the reason to go: the Uluburun shipwreck of about 1300 BC, one of the oldest ever excavated, is displayed here. The harbour views from the towers are the other half of it.

The mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, completed in 1953 on a hill above Ankara, and the most visited monument in Turkey by domestic numbers. It is deliberately austere: a long colonnaded approach, a wide ceremonial court and a single stone hall. The changing of the guard happens on the hour. The museum underneath covers the war of independence and the founding of the republic and is more substantial than visitors expect. Entry is free.

The Byzantine Hippodrome, where chariot races were held for a thousand years, now an open square between Hagia Sophia and the Sultan Ahmed Mosque. Three monuments still stand on its central spine: the Obelisk of Theodosius, brought from Karnak and already 1,800 years old when it arrived; the Serpent Column, taken from Delphi; and the Walled Obelisk. The square is free and open, and it is the natural starting point for the old city.

A tomb sanctuary at 2,134 metres in the southeast, built by Antiochus I of Commagene in the first century BC for himself, and inscribed by UNESCO in 1987. Colossal stone heads of gods and of the king, toppled from their bodies by earthquakes, sit on the east and west terraces. It is visited for sunrise or sunset and it is cold at the top whatever the season. Access is from Adiyaman or Kahta and the road is usually closed by snow from roughly November to April.