The Bosphorus: An Illustrated Story – book cover

The Bosphorus: An Illustrated Story

From Prehistory to The Eurasia Tunnel

Sedat Bornovalı (PhD) ISBN 978-605-08-3019-4 Illustrated · Non-fiction

A richly illustrated, academically grounded yet lively journey along Istanbul’s most legendary waterway. Beyond Ottoman history, topography, monuments, museums and mosques, it ranges widely—from Venetians and Persians to wars, trade, coups, literature and modern architecture—while surprising even expert readers with unpublished archival documents and photographs.

This page presents the English edition. Key framing is based on the book’s front matter and preface.

What you’ll find inside

The book aims to be academically reliable without becoming tedious, and it avoids being merely a catalogue of monuments. It offers a comprehensive view of the Bosphorus while presenting details often missed even in specialist monographs, and includes archival material—some previously unpublished.

Selected table of contents

  • What Is The Bosphorus And Where Is It?
  • Those Who Have Come and Gone
  • The Persians Built the First Bridge Across the Bosphorus
  • Passing through the Bosphorus
  • Beginning the Tour
  • What Karaköy Lost
  • Mosaic of Cultures: Ortaköy
  • Bebek: from Egypt to the Soviet Union
  • Fortress of Rumelihisarı; to the Second Bridge
  • Yeniköy: Place of Mansions and Cavafy
  • Seeing the Black Sea
  • The Asian Shore
  • Industrialisation and The Hills of Beykoz
  • Great Elegance in Great Size: Kuleli Military High School
  • Beylerbeyi Palace: Resort and Exile on the Bosphorus
  • Dream City Üsküdar

(Condensed from the full contents list.)

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The Bosphorus: An Illustrated Story