The Threatened Gardens on the Theodosian Walls of Istanbul

The urban gardens along the ancient Istanbul city walls may be as old as the walls themselves, but are in danger of  being lost. In a sense, the gardens could be viewed as a sort of living historical tradition as important as the walls themselves. The area in the foreground is the old filled in moat that has been farmed for centuries. The area behind the low wall is called the paratechion and it is hard to tell if it is farmed or those are wild trees. Public Domain photo from Wikipedia

On YouTube there is a series of podcasts that I really enjoy called the Fall of Civilizations Podcast It combines historical narrative, primary sources and evocative video of present locations and historical images into a sort of visual audiobook. A recent two part series on the Byzantine Empire featured shots of present day Istanbul, with a focus on historic locations like the ancient city walls. Along the walls, I noticed what looked like lush plots that appeared to be planted with different types of crops. As a lifelong gardener with an avid interest in how people produce food around the world, I needed to know more. For someone interested in history and gardening, it is sort of a perfect storm to have modern gardens within historic ruins. I can't imagine a garden spot that is more evocative. It is likely that agriculture, whether grazing animals or cropping always played a role in maintaining the areas around the fortifications. Sheep and goats are the timeless weed whackers of nature, while chickens and other fowl are pest control. From photographs, it seems that parts of all the interstitial areas like the partechion and parabolos between the walls are farmed in addition to the old filled in moat. 

The combination of ancient ruins with tended gardens is an aesthetic treat for the senses. I can just imagine the evocative, effervescent smells there as well. In theory, the gardeners are doing the city a service by maintaining a public space and providing a public service at no cost. If the gardeners didn't farm this moat, resources would have to be expended to keep it maintained.  Photo courtesy Wikipedia

On further investigation, I discovered an array of news stories mostly from 2013 and 2016 about the gardens being under threat by development. A cursory scan of search results finds no recent stories from the past few years, but I did find a few academic articles.

 Have the gardens been secured or are they still in danger? More research is needed. Historical sources indicate that the area around the walls has been used for agriculture possibly as far back as the 5th century, when they were first built by Emperor Theodosius. There is a sad dissonance in our modern world's drive to protect physical objects like the walls, by pushing aside whatever humans have been living symbiotically there as part of a sort of wall ecosystem.

The photos illustrate a complex succession of crops where one is harvested and another planted. It is hard to tell, but the foreground may be the famous Yedikule Lettuce that originated in the wall gardens. Those bushy trees look like apple, so there may be areas of the paratechion that are farmed. Public domain image from Wikipedia.

Interestingly, when I did a search of "Istanbul wall gardens" I got a list of results mostly from sites selling images. Can the Instagramability of these spaces save them in the social media age? To find the free public domain images included here form Wikipedia, I had to search "Istanbul walls". I always like to check to see if anyone has vlogged these gardens to get an on the ground perspective, but among all the sites of Istanbul, this one is yet to be discovered by the modern travel vlogger. Although, I did find one of the voyeuristic video walks on a YouTube called Footourist. The walk, done in 2019, shows extensive garden spaces still there as of 2019. It shows vast garden spaces interspersed with different varieties of fruit trees. It is hard to tell what they are, since it is early spring and the trees have no leaves.  Many beds look freshly tilled with a rototiller that leaves them pulverized and smooth. There are also quite a few beds filled with lush greens a few inches tall that might be ready for a first harvest of the season. A more extensive walking video shows the gardens in full summer splendor. The photos and videos also display the fascinating irrigation scheme by creating berms around areas of plants creating a checkerboard effect.

Visiting Istanbul is a bucket list item and visiting these gardens will be on that itinerary. I will be looking into them more. I am sure there are some more in depth studies out there if I dig deeper than just the shallow lake that is the first few pages of an internet search. Hopefully, they can continue for another 1500 years and not be obliterated by the bursts of impulsive, hedonistic development that characterizes our current age. As our age draws to a close, I wonder if there will be anyone to farm our ruins?

Urban garden spaces seem to even exist within the spaces of the inner and outer walls like here in the area known as the peribolos. How many other historic sites around the world have had the human element removed to try to show some idealized version of history. Public domain image from Wikpedia.