Istanbul: The Imperial City tells the story of the city from its foundation until the present with the emphasis throughout on its colourful and tempestuous daily life. A comprehensive gazetteer describes all the monuments mentioned in the text, so that this is a guide to the city as well as an evocation of its illustrious past as Byzantium, Constantinople and Istanbul, which unfolds as one walks the ancient streets in view of the garland of waters that still entwine it.