Turkey

Here it is all about theater, because Aspendos has the best-preserved theater in Asia Minor. As with... Selge at the middle reaches of the former river Eurymedon (Köprü Cay), the foundation of the city on the fertile plains of the Köprü delta goes back to Calchas, who passed here with the Greek army around 1200 BC during his retreat from Troy. In the 6th century BC the Lydian king Croesus captured Aspendos, followed by Alexander the Great and the Romans, under whom the city began to flourish. The silting of the harbor in late antiquity then marked its end. The great Roman theater of Aspendos (2nd century AD) is in such a good condition and has such great acoustics (contrived by the architect Zenon) that today, every year in June and July, the International Opera and Ballet Festival takes place here. The semicircle with 40 rows of seats, at that time for up to 20,000 spectators, has a 98 ft (30 m) high jutting stage, which served as a backdrop. Compared to this, the ruins of the upper town are a little less spectacular, but on a double hill you can find the remains of an agora, a marketplace, a nymphaeum and an aqueduct. more

Istanbul's most famous mosque was built by Sultan Ahmet I in the early 17th century within just seven... years. The many cascading half-domes of the only mosque in the world with six minarets are perfectly shaped and lead up to the main dome. The interior is dominated by four massive circular pillars, a prayer niche and pulpit decorated with white marble. 21,000 blue-green faiences, due to which the building is also called the Blue Mosque, decorate the walls with their 260 windows showing flowers, vines, fruit, cypresses and other symbols of paradise. more

The Turkish Museum of Calligraphy is housed in Beyazit Medresesi, a former Koranic school, whose domed... halls are grouped around an open courtyard on four sides. Together with the monumental gateway of Istanbul University (formerly the Ottoman Ministry of War) and Beyazit Mosque, the oldest preserved sultan mosque, the light gray building dominates Beyazit Square. The collection presents the art of calligraphy ("beautiful writing") which was highly developed at the Ottoman court. Since in Islamic cultures, depictions of scenes and people was confined to miniatures, calligraphy became an art form that was also used for the decoration of buildings and furniture. Texts and prayers from the Koran were turned into art, trying to capture the 'beauty' of God's words in a beautiful form of writing. Another section is dedicated to the Tuğra of the different sultans, whose names, in elaborate artistic handwriting, served as seals – comparable with today's logos. There are also several curiosities, for example, the complete Koran written on a blackboard, a project the calligrapher Şeyh Mehmed Selim el Kadırı worked on from 1880 to 1887. Some hairs of Prophet Mohammed's beard and earth from his grave are also kept here. more