Sultanahmet Square follows the footprint of Constantinople’s Hippodrome, where public gatherings and chariot races once filled the city center. Obelisks and columns still mark its long central axis, surrounded today by major religious and civic landmarks.
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The long open space of Sultanahmet Square preserves the shape of the ancient Hippodrome. Built under Septimius Severus and later expanded under Constantine, it served as a venue for chariot races, ceremonies, and mass gatherings in Roman and Byzantine Constantinople.
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UpgradeQuick facts
- The square occupies the site of the Roman and Byzantine Hippodrome.
- Three ancient monuments remain on its central axis: the Obelisk of Thutmose III, Serpent Column, and Walled Obelisk.
- In the Ottoman period the area was called At Meydanı, or Horse Square.
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