Director: Suha Arin and Hakan Aytekin Director of Photography: Turhan Yavuz Camera: Turhan Yavuz Script by: Feride Cicekoğlu Editor: Gulnur-Kemal Alptekin Music by: Nadir Gokturk Advisor: Prof.Dr. Afife Batur Producer: Reha Arin Duration: 21 min. Production Year: 1996 |
Formed as a trade colony in a drought and rocky peninsula almost three thousand years ago, Byzantion looked down on Halkedon, abounding in vineyards and gardens on the coast of Asia, since Byzantion considered Halkedon as a "Land of Blinds". And, this was not groundless. Byzantion, located in the intersection of South and North, East and West, searched for power and fortune. This power and fortune was engraved on coins, turned into gold and accumulated. As the capital city of three empires, the city permeated the gold dust into icons, mosaics, foils, tombacs. The silhouette of the city, the hills of which were crowned by the domes united with Haliç at the sunset; Haliç began to be called as "golden horn".
The time passed and the ages change, but Istanbul remained to be both the center and symbol of fortune. Assyrians, Armenians and Muslims engraved gold; the tradesmen of Covered Bazaar sold this gold for centuries. The golden ornament of synagogues and churches became a withness of Hebrew prayers and the sermons of Orthodox, Gregorian, Catholic and Protestan priests. Halic, the Golden Horn, where the sultans sprinkled gold in the glorious days of Topkapi Palace reverberated with the sounds of prayer calls from the mosques of Mehmet the Conqueror, Suleyman the Magnificent and Sultan Ahmet. And for many years people immigrated to Istanbul where they thought "the streets were paved with gold".
The documentary examines the theme of "World City Istanbul", from the foundation of the city up to the present, by using the "gold" motif from Hagia Sophia to Suleymaniye, first coins to gold exchange, culture and art to daily life.
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