The centre of Sultanahmet. (48.00771,28.974767).
[1]This man did not have any alcoholic beverages.
The ruins of the Martyrium of St Euphemia provide convenient seats and hiding places for eccentrics and cats. It must have been a massive, solid structure once. It was built in the early fifth century to provide an appropriately respectable resting place for the body of St Euphemia, a virgin, as seems to have been a prerequisite for a female to become a martyr. There are apparently some frescoes in the ugly little shed leaning against the law courts. I have never been able to get in to see them.
[2]The shed allegedly containing the frescoes is in the middle distance on the right.
[3]Reliefs in the Archaeological Museum.
[4]Restoration is a growth industry in the backblocks of Sultan Ahmet
The photo above shows the situation in July 2019.
[5]The leisurely pace of work is exemplified by this inhabitant
An idea of what used to be in this area can be gained from a look at Nicholas Artamonoff’s photographs [6]from around the late 1930s, on the Dumbarton Oaks site.
[7]