Tsargrad

Tsargrad (Russian: Царьгра́д, also rendered as Czargrad and Tzargrad; see Tsar) is another name for the city of Constantinople, which is modern day Istanbul in Turkey. It is Russian in origin, and was used in Bulgaria as well. As the zeitgeist which spawned the term has faded, it is now an archaic term. The name Tsargrad has been Romanized for use with that alphabet. The name means "The City of the King" and is combined of Russian words "tsar" for a king and "grad" (archaic form of "gorod") for a city.

The term became common vernacular in the principality of Muscovy, when they began to adopt Byzantine practices in the 15th century. After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the burgeoning Russian Empire had begun to see itself as the last extension of the Roman Empire, and the force that would resurrect the lost leviathan (Third Rome). This belief was the supported by the Russian Orthodox Church and given at least an air of legitimacy by the marriage of Ivan III to the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor. The royals adopted the title Tsar, and the use of the name Tsargrad made the lost city sound mysterious and royal. It was allegedly an objective of the Tsars to recapture the city, but despite many southern advances and expansion by the empire, this was never realized.