Sitting along the Theodosian Walls of Constantinople, Topkapı proves a district reminiscent of historical battles. Topkapı’s name derives from the nearby gate in the Theodosian walls, Top Kapısı - meaning “cannon gate” which references the Ottoman cannons that were positioned against the gate during the siege of Constantinople in 1453. Previous to the conquest of the city, the gate was called “Romanos Kapısı” by the Byzantines as a reference to the nearby church, Agios Romanos (Ἁγίου Ρωμάνου) first built by St. Helena and restored by Basil I.
The Gate of Agios Romanos plays a prominent role in the siege of Constantinople as both the first attack on the city by Sultan Murad II in 1422 and the last its final collapse by his son, Sultan Mehmed II. Mehmed II reportedly concentrated his efforts on the area, setting up camp immediately opposite the gate. In the battle, Mehmed II destroyed the surrounding towers of the gate in battle, however, he later rebuilt the destroyed gate. He reportedly entered the city at noon after having captured it 4 hours previously at eight in the morning. The Gate of St. Romanus continues to stand in Topkapı today as only one of 26 gates that survived out of the 43 mentioned by Byzantine authors.
On the outskirts of the city, the gates of Topkapı and nearby Edirnekapı served as important entry points for goods coming over land from Thrace. Up until the 1920s, the lands outside the walls of the neighborhood were relatively unsettled. Additionally, any areas outside the land walls were perceived as not belonging to the city proper and thus the areas around their gates often housed cemeteries.
This was the case with the Topkapı Cemetery. The Old Topkapı Cemetery houses 240 gravestones dating to the Ottoman period with the oldest grave dating to 1625. This cemetery is actually the smaller portion of a much larger cemetery that was bisected by a street constructed in 1973. The other half of the cemetery is known as the Çamlık Cemetery with 288 gravestones from the Ottoman period. Though the oldest grave is from 1566, the majority of the tombstones date from the 18th and 19th centuries. The cemetery greatly expanded in the 19th century and the influx of burials has been attributed by historians to the cholera outbreaks of the 18th and 19th centuries as well as to the overflow of nearby cemeteries.
Topkapı remains a home for the Greek Orthodox community, whose parish centers around the Hagios Nikolaos Church. While the existing structure of the Hagios Nikolaos Church was built in 1831, it sits over the ruins of early churches - the first of which dates to the Macedonian dynasty (867-1059). The church was listed in records of Greek Orthodox churches in 1583 under the name of “Hagios Georgius”. Papadopoulous Kerameus records that the church burned down in the early seventeenth century. When it was rebuilt it was remodeled after a new patron saint, Hagios Nikolaos (Ἅγιος Νικόλαος) recorded in 1604. It was remodeled and rebuilt a few more times with one iteration of the church being built in 1750 while an inscription on the church states that the current structure was built in October 1831, during the rule of Patriarch I. Konstantios (1830–1834). Konstantinos Yolasığmazis served as the architect. Fashioned with light blue high-vaulted ceilings to resemble a ship hull, the model serves to invoke the saint of sailors. At the entrance of the church hangs a chandelier in the shape of a ship. The church continues to hold service on Saint Nicholas day.
While the Greek population has a large presence in the neighborhood other groups have made Topkapı their home. Due to the proximity of the patriarchate, a
sizable Armenian population has lived in the neighborhood. Additionally due to revolts and the war Russo-Turkish War (1828-29), between 1820 and 1830 the city witnessed large scale Bulgarian migration especially in neighborhoods such as Kumkapı and Langa and of course Topkapı. In addition to the Church of Saint Nicholas, Topkapı contains the Surp Nigoğayos Armenian Church, Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque, and Manastır Mosque. The current Surp Nigoğayos Church was built by Ottoman Armenian architect Vartan Kalfa Tingiryan between 1831 and 1832. Sustaining damage due to an earthquake in 1894 and used for military employment in World War II the church underwent restoration in both 1987 and 2000. The Kara Ahmed Pasha Mosque was commissioned by its namesake and Grand Vizier.
Designed by Mimar Sinan, the mosque stands within a short distance from Topkapı's center. The Mosque was built atop the foundations of a Byzantine building dating to the, the Manastir Mosque (also known as the Mustafa Çavuş Mosque) likely functioned as an oratory to a monastery before its permanent closure to worship in 1956 and integration into a city bus garage.
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