Byzantine Istanbul was filled with statues and monuments of many kinds, but over the centuries many of these were damaged or destroyed in earthquakes, fires and looting, or carried off when the city was sacked. Huge quantities of valuables and works of art were plundered or disappeared when the crusaders attacked and captured Istanbul in 1204. Some of the works of art which adorned Istanbul were depicted by Europeans or Ottoman miniature painters in past centuries, especially those in the Byzantine hippodrome in Sultanahmet Square.

THE BYZANTINE HIPPODROME
Watching the chariot races at the hippodrome were the only occasions when the Byzantine emperor made public appearances in the city. Of the monuments which stood on the spina which ran along the centre of the hippodrome, three have survived to the present day: The Serpent Column, the Stone Column, and the Egyptian Obelisk.