Panorama 1453 History Museum - Istanbul Turkey.. e-turkeygreece.com

Panorama 1453 History Museum

This is Topkapi, the place where the fiercest battle of the Constantinople siege took place, where the unscalable walls were overcome, where the day that the blessed soldiers had awaited occurred… This is the door that opened onto the conquest of Constantinople… Here you will witness the conquest of Constantinople once again and experience the moment when the soldiers entered the city, almost exactly as it happened. You will witness the explosion of the cannonballs, cast by the Hungarian cannon expert Urban, and see them flung at the walls of Constantinople. The battle cry of Sultan Mehmed II’s soldiers and the sound of the marches played by the Janissary band will accompany you.

This area, which fourteen years ago was a bus terminal, is today the location of Topkapi Cultural Park. On the left you can see the Edirnekapı Walls. Straight ahead, you can see the Topkapı Walls, the point where the Ottoman soldiers entered Constantinople. Here you can witness an important moment in history, the fall of Constantinople; it was this event that gave Sultan Mehmet II his title of Fatih (the Conqueror).

The painting surrounding the visitors measures 38 meters in diameter and covers an area of 2,350 square meters. In the area that remains between the audience and the panoramic picture, you can see the three-dimensional objects which cover a total area of 3,000 square meters.

Work on this picture started in 2005 and was completed in 2008. Eight different talented artists have contributed to the painting. 10,000 live models were employed in the project. The sections of the walls that were destroyed and the extent of these areas has been determined according to the report concerned with the repairs of the walls that was presented to Hizir Bey, the first mayor of Istanbul.

When a painting is framed it is limited; no matter how great the impression of three-dimensions may be, one can still see the edges of the picture, thus making it clear how far the picture is removed from where you. However, as there is nothing in the “ISTANBUL 1453 Panoramic Museum” that one could call the “limit” or “frame” of the picture, anyone looking on the painting will be able to perceive the work in its true dimensions. The moment the observer steps onto the platform they will experience a shock that lasts for 10 seconds. This situation is a result of your confusion at not being able to find reference points for dimension, like a start or a finish to the painting, thus increasing the impression of the picture’s reality. Here people, even though they are entering a closed location, feel as if they are entering a three-dimensional exterior space.