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the Gates

The main gates of IZNIK are as follows...
You can have a look to the map of Iznik to see the locations of these gates with the numbers below ;
GOL(at the Lake side),
LEFKE (19),
ISTANBUL (30),
YENISEHIR (17)

Click below thumbnails to get bigger size of Gate Images...









the City Walls

The Byzantine city, which rendered unrecognizable with its new constructions the ancient Nicaea, overlaid the Hellenistic-Roman city plan. The imposing earlier walls had by the 5th c. A.D. already undergone major renovation. This Byzantine construction has two aspects. The gates, with triple openings, and several towers, seem still to follow the Roman plan; but often the superstructures are Byzantine, and the definitive system is Turkish.



In legend, the designs found on the walls surrounding the city, which date from the Roman Period, were an important source of inspiration in the art of Ottoman ceramics.
Traces of some structures that once ornated ancient Iznik can be found today.



Click on above video images (taken in 1997)to see the full size pictures of the walls, taken by my dig cam, in 2001.

For the defence walls of Byzantium ,click Stephen Wyley's Fortification Page



Click to continue with
ST.SOPHIA of IZNIK