Column of Marcian

The Kiztasi, or Maidens Stone, is the 5th-century Column of Marcian, one of the few surviving public monuments of Byzantine Constantinople. Erected between 450 and 452 for the East Roman Emperor Marcian, it originally stood in the Forum of Marcian in the city centre. The granite column once carried a bronze statue of the emperor, now lost; the shaft, a Corinthian capital, and the inscribed marble base survive. In Ottoman Istanbul the popular name Kiztasi arose because the reliefs on the base were interpreted as maiden figures. Today the column stands freely in a small street in the Fatih district, off the main tourist circuits. Walking through the quiet neighbourhood, visitors encounter a rarely visited piece of Constantinople that has outlived more than fifteen centuries.