With over 8 000 years of history Izmir is among the world's oldest cities. Founded as Smyrna
on the shores of the Aegean Sea the city has been home to all manner of cultures over the
centuries. Each one left behind its architectural traces turning the city into a palimpsest of
millennia of urban life. A cosmopolitan multiethnic port city known as the 'pearl of the
Aegean' in the Ottoman Empire Izmir is now one of Turkey's largest metropolises. This book
explores the diverse architectural heritage of the city. Through a selection of 265 buildings
among them the works of architects like Gustave Eiffel and Bruno Taut it narrates the evo
lution of Izmir's built environment from ancient times to the present. To help visitors under
stand the city's urban structure it also explains the region's characteristic architectural
forms.
