And it's part of Istanbul - the museum and the narrative spun around it. The city is always capable of proposing a toast - to the history that has both enriched and impoverished it, to the majestic that still shines, and to the mundane that never fails to carry through.

In fact, the city itself is a good enough reason for a toast.

When the Suleymaniye Mosque was built on the orders of Suleyman the Magnificent in the mid-16th century, the powerful sultan envisioned it as a declaration of himself as a second Solomon, referring to the wise and wealthy ancient king of Israel. He must have had in mind Justinian, the Roman emperor who, upon the completion of the Hagia Sophia, is said to have declared: "Solomon, I have surpassed thee."

What they did not know was that in a place where nothing but change is constant, the ultimate greatness belongs only to Istanbul.

zhaoxu@chinadaily.com.cn