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Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesThe Slave Girl the Beasts Would Not Touch Palermo, SicilyThe Sleeping Girl of the Capuchin Catacombs Samarkand, Samarkand RegionThe Tomb Opened Two Days Before Barbarossa Hamelin, Lower SaxonyThe 130 Children Who Followed a Piper out of Hamelin Famagusta, CyprusThe Captain Who Was Flayed After He Surrendered York, North YorkshireIvar the Boneless and the Army That Came for a King Hampton Court Palace, LondonThe Fortnight the Virgin Queen Nearly Died Clayton, New MexicoThe Outlaw Whose Head Was Torn Off by the Rope StockholmThe Coronation Feast That Ended on the Block ParisThe Woman Who Killed Marat in His Bath Tyburn, LondonThe Earl Who Was Hanged in His Wedding Suit Carlenrigg, Scottish BordersThe Reiver Hanged by the King He Came to Greet Renève, BurgundyThe Queen Torn Apart by a Horse Tolpuddle, DorsetTransported for an Oath: The Tolpuddle Martyrs Stepney, LondonThe Child Bride Lost Beneath a Building Site

Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-AlpesThe Slave Girl the Beasts Would Not TouchPalermo, SicilyThe Sleeping Girl of the Capuchin CatacombsSamarkand, Samarkand RegionThe Tomb Opened Two Days Before BarbarossaHamelin, Lower SaxonyThe 130 Children Who Followed a Piper out of HamelinFamagusta, CyprusThe Captain Who Was Flayed After He SurrenderedYork, North YorkshireIvar the Boneless and the Army That Came for a KingHampton Court Palace, LondonThe Fortnight the Virgin Queen Nearly DiedClayton, New MexicoThe Outlaw Whose Head Was Torn Off by the RopeStockholmThe Coronation Feast That Ended on the BlockParisThe Woman Who Killed Marat in His BathTyburn, LondonThe Earl Who Was Hanged in His Wedding SuitCarlenrigg, Scottish BordersThe Reiver Hanged by the King He Came to GreetRenève, BurgundyThe Queen Torn Apart by a HorseTolpuddle, DorsetTransported for an Oath: The Tolpuddle MartyrsStepney, LondonThe Child Bride Lost Beneath a Building Site

4 stops · about 0.0 km on foot · Constantinople, Turkey

Dark history around Istanbul, Constantinople

Follow the stops in order. Each is a documented story set at or near this spot.

Open the walking route in Maps See it on the Dark Atlas

Start · Constantinople · 830
The Bride An Emperor Insulted And Never Forgot
A Byzantine emperor mocked a brilliant woman at his own bride show, then, the legend says, rode to her convent still unable to forget her.
same spot · Istanbul · 1204
The Crusade That Sacked A Christian City
A crusade meant for Jerusalem was diverted, city by city, until it ended up looting and burning Constantinople itself.
same spot · Istanbul · 1185
The Emperor Who Faced The Mob With A Prayer
A Byzantine emperor who showed no mercy to others met his own three-day public destruction with astonishing calm.
same spot · Constantinople (Istanbul) · 1453
The Emperor Who Vanished Into The Ottoman Dark
The last Roman emperor took off his purple robes, asked forgiveness of his men, and walked into the final battle of a thousand-year empire.

Coordinates mark the place of each story, and some are approximate. Check opening times and access before you go.