The Wick List

Viewing Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires at the V&A

The Wick Culture - 'Aya Sofia Constantinople', published by P. & D. Colnaghi. London, 1852 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Above ‘Aya Sofia Constantinople’, published by P. & D. Colnaghi. London, 1852 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Wick Culture - 17th Century Ottoman processional scroll. Image provided by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester, Turkish MS4

Above 17th Century Ottoman processional scroll. Image provided by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester, Turkish MS4

The Wick Culture - A pair of crescent-shaped gold earrings, the
pierced-work decoration depicting two
stylised peacocks drinking from a well,
Byzantine Empire, 7th century. © Victoria
and Albert Museum, London

Above A pair of crescent-shaped gold earrings, the pierced-work decoration depicting two stylised peacocks drinking from a well, Byzantine Empire, 7th century. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Wick Culture - Fragment from the Great Palace Mosaic 6th
century. Great Palace Mosaic Museum,
Inventory Number: 19, Istanbul Hagia
Sophia History and Experience Museum
Directorate, Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of
Culture and Tourism

Above Fragment from the Great Palace Mosaic 6th century. Great Palace Mosaic Museum, Inventory Number: 19, Istanbul Hagia Sophia History and Experience Museum Directorate, Republic of Türkiye, Ministry of Culture and Tourism

The Wick Culture - Veroli Casket with mythological scenes,
ivory and bone. Byzantine, second half of
10th century © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Above Veroli Casket with mythological scenes, ivory and bone. Byzantine, second half of 10th century © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Wick Culture - Osman Hamdi Bey painting Ladies Taking a
Walk, 1887, Yapi Kredi Bank Collection

Above Osman Hamdi Bey painting Ladies Taking a Walk, 1887, Yapi Kredi Bank Collection

The Wick Culture - Lincoln Typikon of the Convent of the Virigin
of Sure Hope, tempera and gold on
parchment. By permission of the Rector and
Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. MS. Gr.
35 10v-11r

Above Lincoln Typikon of the Convent of the Virigin of Sure Hope, tempera and gold on parchment. By permission of the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. MS. Gr. 35 10v-11r

The Wick Culture - Enkolpion of Constantinos, proedros,
Byzantine Empire, 11th century. Gold,
cloisonné and champlevé enamels, lead.
Wyvern Collection, UK.

Above Enkolpion of Constantinos, proedros, Byzantine Empire, 11th century. Gold, cloisonné and champlevé enamels, lead. Wyvern Collection, UK.

Above ‘Aya Sofia Constantinople’, published by P. & D. Colnaghi. London, 1852 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Above 17th Century Ottoman processional scroll. Image provided by The John Rylands Research Institute and Library, The University of Manchester, Turkish MS4

Above A pair of crescent-shaped gold earrings, the pierced-work decoration depicting two stylised peacocks drinking from a well, Byzantine Empire, 7th century. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Above Veroli Casket with mythological scenes, ivory and bone. Byzantine, second half of 10th century © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Above Osman Hamdi Bey painting Ladies Taking a Walk, 1887, Yapi Kredi Bank Collection

Above Lincoln Typikon of the Convent of the Virigin of Sure Hope, tempera and gold on parchment. By permission of the Rector and Fellows of Lincoln College, Oxford. MS. Gr. 35 10v-11r

Above Enkolpion of Constantinos, proedros, Byzantine Empire, 11th century. Gold, cloisonné and champlevé enamels, lead. Wyvern Collection, UK.

V&A South Kensington
Cromwell Road
London
SW7 2RL
7 November 2026 – 9 May 2027

A Tale of Two Empires

This November, the V&A embarks on an ambitious journey through sixteen centuries of one of the world’s most influential cities. Constantinople to Istanbul: One City, Two Empires, a major exhibition and the first of its kind in the UK, traces the extraordinary artistic output of the Byzantine and Ottoman capital from AD 330 to 1922, a city that for more than a millennium and a half stood at the crossroads of faith, power and empire.

More than 200 objects unfold across four sections, beginning with Constantinople’s refounding under Constantine the Great and the ceremonial world that revolved around the Hippodrome. Glittering mosaics and architectural fragments are displayed alongside objects of imperial ritual, before the exhibition turns to the devotional and artistic life of the Byzantine capital, where spectacle and spirituality were never far apart.

The Ottoman era ushers in a new register of scale and splendour. Gentile Bellini’s celebrated 1480 portrait of Sultan Mehmed II, a defining image of cross-cultural exchange between Venice and the Ottoman court, appears alongside a jewelled ivory belt from the tomb of Sultan Selim II. Later works reveal the city through its clothing, music and public life, while Osman Hamdi Bey’s 1887 Ladies Taking a Walk and a remarkable 17th-century processional scroll offer intimate glimpses of Istanbul beyond the gilded confines of the imperial court.

The exhibition closes by looking outward, considering how Byzantine and Ottoman art shaped the visual imagination of 19th-century Europe. Sixteen centuries is a great deal to hold within two galleries, but Constantinople was never an ordinary capital. One city, it transpires, can contain a remarkable breadth of history.