With over 8,000 years of history, Izmir is among the world’s oldest cities. Founded as Smyrna on the shores of the Aegean Sea, the city has been home to all manner of cultures over the centuries. Each one left behind its architectural traces, turning the city into a palimpsest of millennia of urban life. A cosmopolitan, multi-ethnic port city known as the ‘pearl of the Aegean‘ in the Ottoman Empire, Izmir is now one of Turkey’s largest metropolises. This book explores the diverse architectural heritage of the city. Through a selection of 265 buildings, among them the works of architects like Gustave Eiffel and Bruno Taut, it narrates the evolution of Izmir’s built environment from ancient times to the present. To help visitors understand the city‘s urban structure, it also explains the region’s characteristic architectural forms.
