3,000 Years of Culture in a New European Capital

Istanbul, one of the world’s most exciting conference and incentive destinations, has been named European Capital of Culture for 2010, giving conference and incentive organizers one more reason to choose this fabulous city.

Istanbul has been proclaimed a European Capital of Culture for 2010. Many Istanbullus must feel that the recognition is long overdue, for, ever since Constantine the Great made it his capital in AD 323, Istanbul has been a vibrant cultural centre and one of the world’s great meeting places. The imperial patronage of Byzantines and Ottomans, its superb location beside the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus, guaranteed this. As its wealth and splendor grew, its fame spread far and wide. In the 9th century the Vikings began to head south in search of the fabled city they called Micklegard. They found it and were amazed. Like all other Western visitors of the time they had never seen a city so large or so populous... >>>

http://www.istanbul2010.org/

The world’s only city on two continents has been a crossroads of trade, culture, learning and art for over 3,000 years as well as the capital of three of the greatest empires the world has known. It is no accident that Istanbul was the city the Eastern Roman emperors, the Byzantine dynasty and the Ottoman sultans chose to call home.... >>>