The Istanbul issue

On February 6, terrible earthquakes struck southern Turkey and northwestern Syria. This catastrophic event shattered the lives of millions of people, with tens of thousands of victims, and wiped out entire towns. And, at the time of writing, the same areas and populations have now been subjected to deadly floods, which have taken dozens of lives. Faced with such destruction, sadness and fear, it has never been more difficult to complete an issue of Holiday.

For a time, we thought we'd give up, out of respect, on our issue devoted to Istanbul, which we'd been working on since October, putting into it the patience the city deserves and the fascination it inspires. Despite everything, however, we wanted to pay tribute to the battered beauty of Turkey and of a city straddling two continents that has blended cultures, religions, aesthetics and, above all, lives like no other place for centuries.

In its pages, the writer Emma Becker delivers her account of a memorable journey to Istanbul. The designer Hussein Chalayan and the artist Server Demirtaş share their thoughts in interviews. The photographer Sabiha Çimen describes the inspirations for some of her unique images, while the journalists Jenna Scatena, Jennifer Hattam and Rüzgar Mehmet Akgün delve into the stories behind the legendary Turkish baths, the Grand Bazaar and nightlife in Beyoğlu.

Alongside them, the photographers Felipe Romero Beltrán, Olivier Kervern, Alessandro Furchino Capria and Mario Sorrenti offer up their visions of the city once known as Byzantium and Constantinople, while Anthony Seklaoui recreates a Levantine fantasy, Takashi Homma creates an aesthetic bridge between Japan and Turkey, and Jean Marie Del Moral reflects on the everlasting presence of the last great Ottoman palaces.