Rumeli Hisari

This panoramic engraving of the Bosporus from the Asian shores of Kandilli shows a tranquil late eighteenth century prospect of the Rumeli Hisari fortress, built in 1452 on the narrowest point of the strait by Mehmed II in preparation for his siege of Constantinople, across Anadolu Hisari, built by his father Bayezid I. The strategic advantage of their corresponding placement is clearly illustrated in this picture, where the two fortresses command the gaze and access over all activity passing through the Bosporus; but the idyllic and leisurely setting in which these structures of tactical military origin are placed make a subtle reference to its wartime purpose being long past, and the graceful dancing ladies in the foreground provide further contrast to the masculine lines of the fortresses. Melling’s careful and clean rendering of Rumeli Hisari also provides clues as to the relative state of the fortress at the time: in particular, we can observe three of the large towers still topped with their conical lead-covered roofs, all of which were lost by the 1830s.