The Story of an Exclusive Panoramic Photograph of İstanbul

Abstract This paper deals with an unknown panoramic photograph of İstanbul taken in the late 1860s. The buildings shown allow us to determine its exact date of origin. Although the history of Istanbul photography has been extensively studied, this particular panoramic image remains all but unknown to photographic historians and the broader public. The paper attempts to draw attention to the specific characteristics of early panoramic photographs, and take a closer look at this view of the city of İstanbul, especially in terms of the meanings and messages that it offered to observers.