CULTURE CAPITAL ; Istanbul's Modern Art Scene Is Booming, with New Galleries Cropping Up All over the City -- Even Its Hotels Are Holding Exhibitions, Says Michael Hodges

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[broken bar] HIS is either an extremely early start or a very late one -- we are on the terrace of the 360 bar and and the sun is just about to rise. The fact that it will be coming up over Asia and the terrace is in Europe gives away our location -- Istanbul, a city of more than 13 million people that sprawls on either side of the Bosphorous, the 17-mile long waterway that links the Black Sea with the Sea of Marmara and the Mediterranean.

This unique location at the crossing point of trade routes has attracted people since Greek traders founded their colony of Byzantium here in the 7th century BC. From the terrace I look across the Golden Horn to the minarets of the Blue …