Constantinople is the great capital, the city, the attraction and the hope of all the Hellenes

In 1844, the Prime Minister Collettis in a speech to the constituent assembly revealed the place of Constantinople in Greek hearts and minds: 'There are two great centres of Hellenism, Athens and Constantinople. Athens is only the capital of the kingdom; Constantinople is the great capital, the city, the attraction and the hope of all the Hellenes.' Pictures of the Oecuminical Patriarch hung on   Greek walls beside the king and Queen of the Hellenes - and Aya Sofya, without minarets.


P. Mansel, Constantinople: city of the world's desire (1995), 280

Europeans who regarded a country as a career rather than a cause

Like the Mavrocordato, the Testa refused to be imprisoned in one nationality. They were an extreme example of a once common phenomenon: Europeans who regarded a country as a career rather than a cause. Hereditary diplomats, they worked in Constantinople  because it was a centre of diplomacy as, in the eighteenth century, foreigners worked in Paris because it was a centre of fashion (intellectual, artistic and vestimentary). The Testa's primary loyalties were to the city [Constantinople], the Catholic religion, and whichever power they were serving at the time.

P. Mansel, Constantinople: city of the world's desire (1995), 211