Artamonoff was fascinated by Istanbul’s complex architectural palimpsest: churches converted to mosques, chapels employed as workshops, substructures used as storerooms, old structures serving as homes, tombs transformed into fountains, columns incorporated inconspicuously into fortifications. New inhabitants occupied old quarters, leaned their houses on historic remains, and lived in the shadow of monuments. Old buildings were expanded, repurposed, recycled, and destroyed in a constant flux.