A Tour in Fener, Balat and Vlaherna

Massavetas, the author of the book The City of the Disappeared: Istanbul, which was published in English and Greek and was highly appreciated in its field, takes us on a tour of the three historical quarters of the City of Seven Hills this time, with its famous schools, holly springs, churches and Patriarchs, Fener, the national yet today and always the spiritual light of Hellenism; Balat with its legendary Greek taverns and Jewish quarters with centuries of history; Vlaherna with its Byzantine heritage and icons that still have not been erased from history.

While presenting a detailed narrative of monumental architecture, this book guides us through time and space and presents sections from the intertwined social history of various ethnic and religious communities that give the shores of the Golden Horn its exceptional character. After putting the Greek heritage and the history of the Greek spaces clustered around the tangible and intangible works of this heritage on paper, Massavetas wraps in this legacy by including the in-depth relations of the Greeks with other cultural communities they are in contact with, and presents us the “blend” that defines the city life of Istanbul from Byzantium to the present day, for us to take a breather…