On the 29th of May, in Turkey, a drone show dedicated to Istanbul’s Conquest Day took place. It was accompanied by live orchestral music and fireworks, and all the Turkish citizens could enjoy this sound and visual feast due to the online broadcasting. 350 LED drones and 20 pyrodrones were used in the show.
In the skies, they were depicting the story of the city’s conquest. A ship, a sword, a cannon with a fireball — a course of events of the most important war was taking place over Istanbul, accompanied by the presenter’s speech. Sultan Mehmed II was in command of the Turkish Army during that war and played a significant role in it. His portrait decorated the night skies as well. The animated figures represented the symbols of Istanbul’s conquest.
The ship: Mehmet II could not get his ships into the Golden Horn inlet and took refuge in cunning. So, he made his people pave a path from oiled tree branches in order to bring the ships overland.
The cannon: Hungarian engineer Urban designed the cannon ‘Basilica’ specially for the siege of Istanbul. On the 29th of May, 1453, the cannon torn a huge hole in the city walls, which helped the Turkish people win.
The show was topped with the coat of arms of the mighty city with great history.
Brief historical background. In the middle of the XV century, the Turkish sultan Mehmed II decided to conquer Constantinople, the capital city of the Byzantine Empire. Rulers of many other countries tried to do it before him, but they failed. However, it took Mehmed II several weeks to reach his goal, due to his courage, cunning and insistence. He turned Constantinople into Istanbul and established the Ottoman Empire. The sultan went down in history as Mehmed the Conqueror.
