Beyoğlu, İstanbul, Türkiye
Sunday 7 April 2024
“With the deep unconscious sigh which not even the nearness of the telescreen could prevent him from uttering when his day’s work started, Winston pulled the speak-write towards him.”
With the deep unconscious sigh which not even the closeness of my sleeping companion can prevent me from sighing as I end the day coaxing brilliant thought from muddled mind writing by lamplight in the darkness.
“Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date.”
“All history was a palimpsest, scraped clean and reinscribed exactly as often as was necessary.“
Above: The Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, a Greek manuscript of the Bible from the 5th century, is a palimpsest.
(A palimpsest is a manuscript page, either from a scroll or a book, from which the text has been scraped or washed off in preparation for reuse in the form of another document.
Parchment was made of lamb, calf, or kid skin and was expensive and not readily available, so, in the interest of economy, a page was often re-used by scraping off the previous writing.
The term palimpsest is also used to denote an object made or worked upon for one purpose and later reused for another.)
Such is the writing of one’s own biography.
The past that was in constant flux must be captured in at least one image to be palatable for the present.
“Books were recalled and rewritten again and again and were invariably reissued without any admission that any alteration had been made.”
“It was merely the substitution of one piece of nonsense for another.
Most of the material that you were dealing with had no connection with anything in the real world, not even the kind of connection that is contained in a direct lie.
Statistics were just so much a fantasy in their original version as in their rectified version.”
“And somewhere or other, quite anonymous, there were the directing brains who coordinated the whole effort and laid down the lines of policy which made it necessary that this fragment of the past should be preserved, that one falsified and the other rubbed out of existence.”
Is there, in truth, Truth?
We decide what we choose to remember and invent what is needed for the narrative.
Above: Walter Seymour Allward’s Veritas (Truth) outside the Supreme Court of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
“It struck him as curious that you could create dead people but not living ones.
Comrade Ogilvy, who had never existed in the present, now existed in the past, and when the act of forgery was forgotten, he would exist just as authentically and upon the same evidence as Charlemagne or Julius Caesar.“
Above: Obverse of a Charlemagne (748 – 814) denier (a silver coin) coined in Mainz (Germany) (812 – 814), Cabinet des Médailles, Paris
Above: The Tusculum portrait, possibly the only surviving sculpture of Caesar (100 – 44 BC) made during his lifetime, Museum of Antiquities, Torino, Italy
When writing we bring into existence a world that exists only in our minds, for perception of reality is determined by our preferences.
“He opened the diary.
It was important to write something down.”
I was tired of my lady
We’d been together too long
Like a worn out recording
Of a favourite song
So while she lay there sleepin’
I read the paper in bed
And in the personal columns
There was this letter I read
If you like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
If you’re not into yoga
If you have half a brain
If you like makin’ love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
Then I’m the love that you’ve looked for
Write to me and escape
I didn’t think about my lady
I know that sounds kinda mean
But me and my old lady
Had fallen into the same old dull routine
So I wrote to the paper
Took out a personal ad
And though I’m nobody’s poet
I thought it wasn’t half bad
Yes, I like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
I’m not much into health food
I am into champagne
I’ve got to meet you by tomorrow noon
And cut through all this red tape
At a bar called O’Malley’s
Where we’ll plan our escape
So I waited with high hopes
And she walked in the place
I knew her smile in an instant
I knew the curve of her face
It was my own lovely lady
And she said, “Oh, it’s you”
Then we laughed for a moment
And I said, “I never knew“
“That you like piña coladas
And gettin’ caught in the rain
And the feel of the ocean
And the taste of champagne
If you like making love at midnight
In the dunes on the cape
You’re the lady I’ve looked for
Come with me and escape“
Her energy is infectious.
Her smile warm and delightful.
Her love is “the place where there is no darkness“.
“The place where there is no darkness was the imagined future, which one would never see,, but which, by foreknowledge, one could mystically share in.”
Above: The amazing Mrs. K
I am a man.
“Not to let one’s feelings appear in one’s face was a habit that had acquired the status of an instinct.”
“Unreasonable hope persisted.”
“I love you.”, we tell one another.
Immediately after we will part, I wll succeed in shutting my wife out of my mind altogether.
When the memory of her face comes back, so too will the raging intolerable desire to be alone.
For until I can be alone, it is impossible to think.
But without her, my soul writhes with boredom.
At the sound or sight of the words “I love you” the desire to stay alive wells up in me.
A kind of fever seizes me at the thought I may lose her.
Life is a restless dream.
I love my wife.
My whole mind and body is afflicted with an unbearble sensitivity, a transparency, wherein every movement, every sound, every image, every touch, every word is an agony.
Even in dreams does she haunt me.
Within moments our hands are clasped together.
I remember every detail of her hand, the long fingers, the battered nails, the creamy soft palm, the smooth flesh beneath her wrist.
The dappled light and shade wage war upon the other as we speed march from the arrivals gate to the street exit, cross the road, find the meeting point for our hotel shuttle and wait to be directed.
Her hair is a pool of gold, such as a dog would dive into, dazzling at sunset.
The air caresses and kisses my skin.
There are no difficulties getting from the airport to the hotel.
A van simulating a limo speeds us through traffic.
Though we offered all manner of luxury – TV, radio, drinks – we merely talk and glance out the window at the passing scene.
Above: SAW – IATA airport code for İstanbul’s Sabiha Gökçen Airport
Her sheer volume of words leaves me breathless.
I hear all that she is saying.
I will remember not a word, except how being with her makes me feel.
Boundless joy, limitless love.
The day is sweet.
Leaves are green.
And though I have evolved into a creature of interiors, I still view, even after two decades as a couple, my wife with sheer incredulity.
I have become too used to living without women.
Above: The fabulous Mrs. K
We will be in İstanbul from today until Monday the Ides of April:
Three nights in Beyoğlu, five nights in Sultanahmet.
Above: Aerial view of the historical peninsula and modern skyline of Istanbul
İstanbul’s “downtown“, Beyoğlu is where the city comes to work, shop and play.
A vast area with boundaries that are hard to define, but for our purposes Beyoğlu is everything up the hill north of the Golden Horn as far as Taksim Square.
The focus, however, is unmistakably İstiklal Caddesi, the broad pedestrianized spine off which spread countless narrow streets.
Since most streets are unsuitable for traffic, the only to explore the various neighbourhoods that make up Beyoğlu is by foot.
Above: İstiklal Avenue in Beyoğlu
Historically, the district went by two different names:
- Galata, for the hillside just north of the Golden Horn
- Pera, denoting ehst id now the lower İstikal Caddesi area
Foreign-occupıed areas since Byzantine times, these were trading colonies across the water from the walls of Constantinople proper, founded by merchants from Italian city states such as Genova and Venezia.
After the Ottoman conquest in the 15th century, it was to Galata that the European powers sent their fist ambassadors.
By the 17th century, Galata / Pera was a substantial city in its own right, with a multi-ethnic population known collectively as “Levantines“.
As well as the Italians, there were many other significant communities, as outlined by a Turkish chronicler of the time:
“The Greeks keep the taverns.
Most of the Armenians are merchants or money changers.
The Jews are the go-between in amorous intrigues and their youth are the worst of all the devotees of debauchery.“
Above: Map of Constantinople (a small part of modern İstanbul), called “the Historic Peninsula” (Tarihi Yarımada) designed in 1422 by Florentine cartographer Cristoforo Buondelmonti (Description des îles de l’archipel, Bibliothèque nationale, Paris) is the oldest surviving map of the city, and the only surviving map which predates the Turkish conquest of Constantinople in 1453
It was during the 19th century that Beyoğlu acquired its present character.
The increased use of iron and brick as building materials instead of the traditional wood made it feasible to construct buildings that could survive the fires that regularly devastated the city.
After the foundation of the Republic in the 1930s, the area officially became known as Beyoğlu and blossomed with new restaurants, theatres and concert halls.
Above: Galata Tower (1348) was built by the Genoese at the northern apex of Galata Citadel.
Older residents still speak wistfully of never daring to go to İstiklal Caddesi without a collar and tie.
Above: İstiklal Caddesi
World War II brought a discriminatory wealth tax that hit the Christians and Jews hard.
(Muslims were exempt.)
Many left for Greece, America or Israel.
In the 1950s and 1960s, political tensions caused most of the remaining Greeks to depart.
In their place came a flood of poor migrants from Anatolia.
Beyoğlu lost its cachet.
Above: Greek shops on İstikal Caddesi in Beyoğlu, 1930s.
By the late 1980s, İstiklal Caddesi and the area around it was run down, sleazy and even a little dangerous.
That began changing in late 1990 after the simple measure of closing the street to traffic and making a pedestrian precinct.
The subsequent transformation has been swift and continues at pace.
Above: The Atatürk Cultural Centre (Atatürk Kültür Merkezi) is the main opera hall in the city, Taksim Meydam, Beyoğlu
If you have the time, it makes sense to spread your exploration of this neighbourhood over a few days.
One day could be spent in Galata, Tophane and Tünel, visiting sights such as the İstanbul Modern and wandering around the fascinating streets.
Above: İstanbul Modern
Another day could be spent walking from Taksim Meydam (Taksim Square) along İstiklal Caddesi, veering off into the districts of Cihangir, Çukurcuma, Asmalmescit and Tepebaşı.
One day start in Taksim Meydam and work your way down İstiklal, exploring the Balik Pazarı, heading into Tepebaşı to visit the Pera Müzesi and then backtracking to İstiklal Caddesi.
Above: A view of Taksim Square with the Monument of the Republic (1928)
Take a break and enjoy a glass of tea at old fashioned outdoor cafés.
If you are in town when a Süper Lig or UEFA match is being played, head to one of the Tophane Nargile cafés to drink tea, smoke a nargile (water pipe) and join the fans in making your team allegiances clear.
Above: Logo of the Union of European Football Associations
To enjoy a million dollar view with a cheap glass of tea, try the ramshackle çay bahçesis at the edge of the Bosphorous opposite the Fındıkh tram stop.
“At last came glimmering through the veil some whitish spots, then the vague outline of a great height, then the scattered and vivid glitter of window panes shining in the sun, and finally Galata and Pera in full light, a mountain of many coloured houses, one above the other.
A lofty city crowned with minarets, cupolas and cypresses.
Upon the summit the monumental palaces of the different embassies and the great Tower of Galata.
At the foot the vast arsenal of Tophane and a forest of ships.
And as the fog receded, the city lengthened rapidly along the Bosphorus.
And quarter after quarter started forth stretching from the hilltops down to the sea, vast, thiickly sown with houses and dotted with white mosques, rows of ships, little ports, palaces rising from the water.
Pavilions, gardens, kiosks, groves.
And dimly seen in the mist beyond, the sun-gilded summits of still other quarters.
A glow of colours, an exuberance of verdure, a perspective of lovely views, a grandeur, a delight, a grace to call forth the wildest exclamations.”
(Edmondo de Amicis, 1875)
Above: Italian novelist, journalist, poet and short-story writer Edmondo De Amicis (1846 – 1908)
Best as I can figure, Istanbul has nine European districts and six Asian districts.
On the European side, two districts are considered to be the historic city centre areas: Fatih and Beyoğlu.
Above: Logo of Metropolitan İstanbul
Beyoğlu is a municipality and district of İstanbul Province.
Its area is 9 km2.
Its population is 225,920.
It is on the European side of İstanbul, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn.
It was known as the region of Pera (meaning “Beyond” in Greek) surrounding the ancient coastal town Galata which faced Constantinople across the Horn.
Beyoğlu continued to be named Pera during the Middle Ages and, in western languages, into the early 20th century.
“This city, now as always, is the mysterious seal which unites Europe to Asia.
If, outwardly, it is the most beautıful city in the world, one may criticize, as so many travellers have done, the poverty of certain quarters and the filthiness of many others.
Constantinople is like the scenery in a theatre:
It must be looked at from the front without going behind the scenes.
There are finical Englishmen who are content to go round Seraglio Point and down the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus and then say:
“I have seen everything worth seeing.”
That is going too far.
But we may perhaps regret that Stamboul, which has partly lost its former appearance, is not yet, either from the point of view of healthiness or public order, comparable to the capitals of Europe.
It is doubtless very difficult to make regular streets on the hills of Stamboul and the lofty promontories of Pera and Scutari, but they could be made with a better system of construction and paving.
The painted houses, the zinc domes, the tapering minarets are always charming to a poet.”
(Gérard de Nerval, 1843)
Above: French writer, poet and translator Gérard Labrunie (aka Gérard de Nerval) (1808 – 1855)
According to the prevailing theory, the Turkish name of Pera, Beyoğlu, meaning “son of a Bey“ in Ottoman Turkish, is a modification by folk etymology of the Venetian title of Bailo.
The 15th century ambassador of Venice in Istanbul, Andrea Gritti (1455 – 1538), had a mansion in this area.
Above: 77th Doge of Venezia Andrea Gritti (1455 – 1538), Titian (1550), National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
Located further south in Beyoğlu and originally built in the early 16th century, the “Venetian Palace” was the seat of the Bailo.
The original palace building was replaced by the existing one in 1781, which later became the Italian Embassy following Italian unification in 1861, and the Italian Consulate in 1923, when Ankara became the capital of the Republic of Turkey.
Above: The Venetian Palace, Beyoğlu
Once a predominantly Christian (Armenians, Greeks and Turkish Levantine) neighbourhood, its population today mostly consists of Turks and Kurds who moved there after the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 and after the İstanbul pogrom in 1955.
Above: Turkish mob attacking Greek property , 6 – 7 September 1955
(The Istanbul pogrom, also known as the Istanbul riots, were a series of state-sponsored anti-Greek mob attacks directed primarily at İstanbul’s Greek minority.
The events were triggered by the bombing of the Turkish consulate in Thessaloniki, Macedonia, Greece –the house where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (1881 – 1938) was born.
The bomb was actually planted by a Turkish usher at the consulate, who was later arrested and confessed.
The Turkish press was silent about the arrest.
Instead, it insinuated that Greeks had set off the bomb.
A Turkish mob, most of whose members were trucked into the city in advance, assaulted Istanbul’s Greek community for nine hours.
Although the mob did not explicitly call for the killing of Greeks, over a dozen people died during or after the attacks as a result of beatings and arson.
Armenians and Jews were also harmed.
The police were mostly ineffective.
The violence continued until the government declared martial law in İstanbul, called in the army and ordered it to put down the riots.
The material damage was estimated at US$500 million, including the burning of churches and the devastation of shops and private homes.)
“From the foot of the Tower of Galata with Constantinople before me, its Bosphorus and its seas, again I turn my gaze towards Egypt, long vanished from my sight.
Beyond the peaceful horizon which surrounds me, over this land of Europe, Mussulman indeed, but already like my own homeland, I still feel the glory of that distant mirage which flames and raises clouds of dust in my memory, like the image of the sun which, when one has gazed upon it fixedly, pursues the tired eye, though it has plunged into the shade again.
My surroundings add force to this impression:
A Turkish cemetery, beneath the walls of Galata the Genoese.
Behind me is an Armenian barber’s shop, which is also a café.
And huge red and yellow dogs, lying on the grass in the sun, covered with wounds and scars from their nightly battles.
On my left a genuine santon, wearing his felt hat, sleeping that sleep of the blest which is for him a foreshadowing of Paradise.
Down below is Tophana, with its mosque, its fountain and its batteries of guns commanding the entrance to the harbour.
From time to time I hear the psalms of the Greek liturgy chanted by nasal voices.
And over the road which goes to Pera I see long funeral processions led by popes who wear upon their brows crowns of imperial shape.
With their long beards, their robes of spangled silk and their ornaments of imitation jewels, they look like phantoms of the sovereigns of the Later Empire.”
(Gérard de Nerval, 1843)
Above: Roman Catholic church of St. Anthony of Padua, Beyoğlu
The district encompasses other neighborhoods located north of the Golden Horn, including Galata (the medieval Genoese citadel from which Beyoğlu itself originated, which is today known as Karaköy), Tophane, Cihangir, Şişhane, Tepebaşı, Tarlabaşı, Dolapdere and Kasımpaşa.
Beyoğlu is connected to the old city center across the Golden Horn through the Galata Bridge, Atatürk Bridge and the Golden Horn Metro Bridge.
Beyoğlu is the most active art, entertainment and nightlife centre of Istanbul.
“Water, camels, sand.
Then broader water, boats, a little station, with a veiled woman standing in a doorway.
Then more water and sandy grass, a few trees.
Then, between the railway and the water, a cluster of coloured houses, mostly of wood.
Then trees, more wasteland, a little bay, with hills beyond.
Then fields, more clusters of mean houses, ploughed land and water.
At last, the wall, with its gaps and towers.
A graveyard, gardens.
Then between roofs and walls, the long curve of Constantinople.
A dense smell, dogs, houses.
Then an actual seashore, with men wading barelegged in the water and boats coming in laden with melons.
Then streets of houses, with fragments of turreted walls, two birds on every turret.
Side streets, cutting deeply between two lines of red roofs.
Faces of many colours, strange clothes.
Then, over the roofs, but close, the water, houses, domes, minarets of the city.
In a flash, veiled suddenly by the walls of the station, fastened about one.”
(Arthur Symons, 1903)
Above: British poet, critic, translator and magazine editor Arthur Symons (1865 – 1945)
The area now known as Beyoğlu has been inhabited since Byzas founded the city of Byzantium in the 7th century BC.
Beyoğlu predates the founding of Constantinople.
Above: Coinage with idealized depiction of Byzas, the legendary founder of Byzantium, around the time of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (161–180).
During the Byzantine era, Greek speaking inhabitants named the hillside covered with orchards Sykai (the fig orchard), or Peran en Sykais (the fig field on the other side), referring to the “other side” of the Golden Horn.
As the Byzantine Empire grew, so did Constantinople and its environs.
The northern side of the Golden Horn became built up as a suburb of Byzantium as early as the 5th century.
In this period the area began to be called Galata.
Above: The empire in 555 under Justinian the Great (482 – 565), at its greatest extent since the fall of the Western Roman Empire (its vassals in pink)
Emperor Theodosius II (401 – 450) (reigned 402–450) built a fortress.
Above: Bust of Byzantine Empreror Theodosius II (401 – 450), Louvre Museum, Paris
The Greeks believe that the name comes either from galatas (meaning “milkman“), as the area was used by shepherds in the early medieval period, or from the word Galatai (meaning “Gauls“), as the Celtic tribe of Gauls were thought to have camped here during the Hellenistic period before settling into Galatia in central Anatolia, becoming known as the Galatians.
The inhabitants of Galatia are famous for the Epistle to the Galatians and the Dying Galatian statue.
Above: The Dying Galatian, Capitoline Museums, Rome
The name may have also derived from the Italian word Calata, meaning “downward slope“, as Galata, formerly a colony of the Republic of Genova (1273 – 1453), stands on a hilltop that goes downwards to the sea.
Above: Flag of the Repubblica di Genoa (1099 – 1797)
“Those Turks, who are not very rigid in the observance of the laws of Mahomet and who wish to drink wine or spirits, do it I believe secretly or go to the French coffeehouses at Pera, where their intemperance is not observed.
But I entirely differ from many travellers, who tell us that the major part of the Turks drink fermented liquors.
I aver that no people in the world adhere more rigidly to the injunctions of their religion in that and other respects.
Those who take forbidden drinks are generally soldiers, Tartars and persons of the lowest class.
The effects of spirituous liquors on the Turks are remarkable.
Naturally sedate, composed and amicable, they become, when intoxicated, downright madmen.
And the inhabitants of Pera, who are accustomed to see them in this state, know well the danger of getting in their way at such a moment that they avoid them as they would a mad bull.”
(Lady Hester Stanhope, 1811)
Above: British adventurer, writer, antıquarian and one of the most famous travellers of her age Lady Hester Stanhope (1776 – 1839)
Her excavation of Ascalon in 1815 is considered the first to use modern archaeological principles, and her use of a medieval Italian document is described as “one of the earliest uses of textual sources by field archaeologists“.
Her letters and memoirs made her famous as an explorer.
The area came to be the base of European merchants, particularly from Genova and Venezia, in what was then known as Pera.
Following the Fourth Crusade in 1204, and during the Latin Empire of Constantinople (1204 – 1261), the Venetians became more prominent in Pera.
Above: A 15th-century miniature depicting the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders in 1204
The Dominican Church of St. Paul (1233), today known as the Arap Camii, is from this period.
Above: Arap Camii (mosque), Beyoğlu
“The foreign ambassadors and consuls have their quarters here.
The gorgeous palaces of successful Greek, Armenian and Hebrew financiers are also here.
And most of the hotels for Europeans and Americans are in Pera.
The streets are as narrow and badly paved as in Stamboul, but the slopes of the hills and the wealth and position of the inhabitants tend to give the place a hygienic aspect not discerned in other parts of Constantinople.
Galata is at the base of the hill on which Pera is located and it fronts on both the Golden Horn and the Bosphorus.
It is the business and shipping centre for the Europeans.
It has been well characterized to see Galata as the fermenting vat of the scum of the Earth.”
(Will Seymour Monroe, 1907)
Above: American educator William Seymour Monroe (1863 – 1939)
In 1273, the Byzantine Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (1224 – 1282) granted Pera to the Republic of Genova in recognition of Genova’s support of the Empire after the Fourth Crusade and the sacking of Constantinople in 1204.
Pera became a flourishing trade colony, ruled by a podesta (chief magistrate).
Above: 1350 Miniature of Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (1224 – 1282), Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, München
The Genoese Palace (Palazzo del Comune) was built in 1316 by Montano de Marinis, the Podesta of Galata (Pera), and still remains today in ruins, near Bankalar Caddesi (Banks Street) in Karaköy, along with its adjacent buildings and numerous Genoese houses from the early 14th century.
In 1348, the Genoese built the famous Galata Tower, one of the most prominent landmarks of Istanbul.
Above: The Genoese Palace (1314) in the foreground, with the Galata Tower (1348) in the background
Pera (Galata) remained under Genoese control until 29 May 1453, when it was conquered by the Ottomans along with the rest of the city, after the Siege of Constantinople (6 April – 29 May 1453).
Above: The siege of Constantinople (1453), French miniature by Jean Le Tavernier after 1455
During the Byzantine period, the Genoese Podesta ruled over the Italian community of Galata (Pera), which was mostly made up of the Genoese, Venetians, Tuscans and Ragusans.
Above: Palazzo del Podestà in Firenze, now the Museo Palazzo del Bargello
Venezia, Genova’s archrival, regained control in the strategic citadel of Galata (Pera), which they were forced to leave in 1261 when the Byzantines retook Constantinople and brought an end to the Latin Empire (1204 – 1261) that was established by Enrico Dandolo (1107 – 1205), the Doge of Venice.
Above: Flag of the Repubblica di Venezia (697 – 1797)
Above: Coat of arms of the Latin Empire (1204 – 1261)
Above: Doge Enrico Dandolo (1107 – 1205) (left) is depicted along with St. Mark in the obverse of this Venetian “grosso“, currency first introduced during his administration
Following the Turkish siege of Constantinople in 1453, during which the Genoese sided with the Byzantines and defended the city together with them, the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (1432 – 1481) allowed the Genoese (who had fled to their colonies in the Aegean Sea) to return to the city, but Galata was no longer run by a Genoese Podestà.
Above: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II (1432 – 1481)
Venezia immediately established political and commercial ties with the Ottoman Empire.
A Venetian Bailo was sent to Pera as an ambassador, during the Byzantine period.
It was the Venetians who suggested Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) to Bayezid II (1447 – 1512) when the Sultan mentioned his intention to construct a bridge over the Golden Horn.
Above: Italian painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519)
Above: Ottoman Sultan Bayezid II (1447 – 1512)
Leonardo designed his Galata Bridge in 1502.
Above: Galata Bridge
By the 17th century, Galata / Pera was a substantial city in its own right, with a multi-ethnic population known collectively as “Levantines”.
As well as the Italians, there were many other significant communities, as outlined by a Turkish chronicler of the time:
“The Greeks keep the tavernas.
Most of the Armenians are merchants or money-changers.
The Jews are the go-between in amorous intrigues.
Their youths are the worst of all the devotees of debauchery.”
Above: View of Galata
The Bailo’s seat was the “Venetian Palace“, originally built in Beyoğlu in the early 16th century and replaced by the existing palace building in 1781.
It later became the “Italian Embassy” after the unification of Italy in 1861, and the “Italian Consulate” in 1923, when Ankara became the new Turkish capital.
Above: Flag of Italy
The Ottoman Empire had an interesting relationship with the Republic of Venezia.
Even though the two states often went to war over the control of East Mediterranean territories and islands, they were keen on restoring their trade pacts once the wars were over, such as the renewed trade pacts of 1479, 1503, 1522, 1540 and 1575 following major sea wars between the two sides.
The Venetians were also the first Europeans to taste Ottoman delicacies such as coffee, centuries before other Europeans saw coffee beans for the first time in their lives during the Battle of Vienna (Wien) in 1683.
Above: Battle of Vienna (Wien), 14 July to 12 September 1683
These encounters can be described as the beginning of today’s rich “coffee culture” in both Venezia (and later the rest of Italy) and Wien.
Above: Viennese coffeehouse
Following the conquest of Constantinople and Pera in 1453, the coast and the low-lying areas were quickly settled by the Turks, but the European presence in the area did not end.
Several Roman Catholic churches, as St. Anthony of Padua, St. Peter and St. Paul in Galata and St. Mary Draperis were established for the needs of the Levantine population.
Above: Entrance to the courtyard of St. Peter’s Church in Beyoğlu
“Taxim, a busy quarter on the heights of Pera:
European carriages and clothes jostling with the carriages and costumes of the Orient.
Blazing heat and blazing sun.
A mild breeze throws the dust and the yellowed leaves of August up in the air.
The scent of the myrtles.
The din of the fruit sellers.
Streets cluttered with grapes and watermelons.
The very first moments of my sojourn in Constantinople etch these images in my memory.
Being a total stranger, I would spend my afternoons beside the Taxim road, sitting in the breeze, under the trees.
As I let myself drift back over the period that had just ended, my eyes absently followed the cosmopolitan stream in front of me.”
(Pierre Loti, 1876)
Above: French naval officer and novelist Louis Marie-Julien Viaud (aka Pierre Loti) (1850 – 1923)
It was during the 19th century that the area acquired its present character.
The increased use of iron and brick as building materials instead of the traditional wood made it feasible to construct buildings that could survive the fires that regularly devastated the city.
During the 19th century it was again home to many European traders and housed many embassies, especially along the Grande Rue de Péra (today İstiklâl Caddesi).
Above: Nostalgic tram on İstiklal Caddesi, Beyoğlu
Reyhan Zetler stated:
“Pera was considered to be a small copy of the 19th century Europe (especially Paris and London).”
Above: A reception held at the Naum Theatre (1839 – 1870) in honour of Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807 – 1882), who had lived and worked (as a teacher) in the Pera district between 1828 and 1831.
The Naum Theatre seen in this illustration served as the chief opera house of Constantinople, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1870.
The presence of such a prominent European population – commonly referred to as Levantines – made it the most Westernized part of Constantinople, especially when compared to the Old City at the other side of the Golden Horn, and allowed for influxes of modern technology, fashion and arts.
Thus, Pera was one of the first parts of Constantinople to have telephone lines, electricity, trams, municipal government and even an underground railway, the Tünel, inaugurated in 1875 as the world’s second subway line (after London’s Underground) to carry the people of Pera up and down from the port of Galata and the nearby business and banking district of Karaköy, where the Bankalar Caddesi (Avenue of the Banks), the financial center of the Ottoman Empire, is located.
Above: Karaköy station of the Tünel funicular in Istanbul, Turkey
The theatre, cinema, patisserie and café culture that still remains strong in Beyoğlu dates from this late Ottoman period.
Shops like İnci, famous for its chocolate mousse and profiteroles, predate the founding of the Republic and have survived until recently.
Pera and Galata in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were a part of the Municipality of the Sixth Circle (Municipalité du VIème Cercle), established under the laws of 11 Jumada al-Thani and 24 Shawwal 1274, in 1858.
The organization of the central city in the city walls, “Stamboul” (İstanbul), was not affected by these laws.
All of Constantinople was in the Prefecture of the City of Constantinople (Préfecture de la Ville de Constantinople).
The foreign communities also built their own schools, many of which went on to educate the elite of future generations of Turks, and still survive today as some of the best schools in Istanbul.
The rapid modernization which took place in Europe and left Ottoman Turkey behind was symbolized by the differences between Beyoğlu, and the historic Turkish quarters such as Eminönü and Fatih across the Golden Horn, in the Old City.
When the Ottoman sultans finally initiated a modernization program with the Edict of Tanzimat (Reorganization) in 1839, they started constructing numerous buildings in Pera that mixed traditional Ottoman styles with newer European ones.
In addition, Sultan Abdülmecid stopped living in Topkapı Palace and built a new palace near Pera, called the Dolmabahçe Palace, which blended Neo-Classical, Baroque and Rococo styles.
Above: Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid (1823 – 1861)
Above: Topkapı Palace, Istanbul
Above: A view of Dolmabahçe Palace from the Bosporus (Strait of İstnbul)
“My house in Pera was situated in a secluded spot overlooking the Golden Horn and the distant panorama of the Turkish city.
The splendour of summer lent charm to my abode.
Seated by my large open window, studying the language of Islam, I would let my gaze hover above old Stamboul lying bathed in sunlight.
Away in the background, in a grove of cypress trees, Eyoub came into view.
It would have been Heaven to be hidden with her there in that mystical forgotten place where our life would have lit upon its own strangely delightful setting.
All around my house were immense stretches of land with nothing but cypresses and tombs – empty terrain where I spent more than one night with my mind bent on careless adventures with Armenian or Greek girls.
Midnight!
The fifth hour, according to Turkish clocks.
The night watchmen are striking the ground with their heavy ironshod staves.
In the Galata quarter the dogs are in revolt and the howling down there is appalling.
The dogs in this neighbourhood remain strictly neutral and I am obliged to them for that.
They are asleep hodge-podge outside my door.
All is peace and quiet.
In three hours I have spent stretched out by my open window I have been watching the lights go out one by one.
Yet all is quiet in Constantinople.
At 11 o’clock, some cavalry and artillery went past my house at the gallop, heading for Stamboul.
Then from the batteries came muffled rumbling which petered out in the distance and then everything fell silent again.
Owls are hooting in among the cypresses.
They sound exactly as they do at home.
I love this sound of summertime.
It takes me back to woods in Yorkshire, to the beautiful evenings I spent under the trees at Brightbury.
Here, surrounded by all this stillness, images of the past come alive again, images of all that is shattered and gone, never to return.”
(Pierre Loti, 1876)
Above: Portrait of Pierre Loti, Henri Rousseau, 1891
“At his best Pierre Loti was unquestionably the finest descriptive writer of the day.
In the delicate exactitude with which he reproduced the impression given to his own alert nerves by unfamiliar forms, colors, sounds and perfumes, he was without a rival.
But he was not satisfied with this exterior charm.
He desired to blend with it a moral sensibility of the extremest refinement, at once sensual and ethereal.
Many of his best books are long sobs of remorseful memory, so personal, so intimate, that an English reader is amazed to find such depth of feeling compatible with the power of minutely and publicly recording what is felt.
In spite of the beauty and melody and fragrance of Loti’s books his mannerisms are apt to pall upon the reader, and his later books of pure description were rather empty.
His greatest successes were gained in the species of confession, half-way between fact and fiction, which he essayed in his earlier books.
When all his limitations, however, have been rehearsed, Pierre Loti remains, in the mechanism of style and cadence, one of the most original and most perfect French writers of the second half of the 19th century.“
(English poet, author and critic Edmund Gosse)(1849 – 1928)
When the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Turkish Republic was founded (during and after WW1) Pera, which became known as Beyoğlu in English in the modern era, went into gradual decline.
After the foundation of the Republic in the 1930s, the area officially became known as “Beyoğlu” and blossomed with new restaurants, theatres and concert halls.
Older residents still speak wistfully of never daring to go to İstiklal Caddesi without a collar and tie.
World War Two brought a discriminatory wealth tax that hit the Christians and the Jews hard.
(Muslims were exampt.)
Many left for Greece, America or Israel
Decline accelerated with the departure of the large Greek population of Beyoğlu and adjacent Galata as a result of Turkish pressure over the Cyprus conflict, during the 1950s and 1960s.
Above: Flag of Cyprus
The widespread political violence between leftist and rightist groups which troubled Turkey in the late 1970s also severely affected the lifestyle of the district, and accelerated its decline with the flight of the middle-class citizens to newer suburban areas such as Levent and Yeşilköy.
In their place came a flood of poor migrants from Anatolia.
Beyoğlu lost its cachet.
Above: A distant view of Levent’s skyline from the Bosphorus strait in Istanbul
Above: Aerial view of the Yeşilköy (San Stefano) seafront
By the late 1980s, many of the grandiose Neoclassical and Art Nouveau apartment blocks, formerly the residences of the late Ottoman élite, became home to immigrants from the countryside.
While Beyoğlu continued to enjoy a reputation for its cosmopolitan and sophisticated atmosphere until the 1940s and 1950s, by the 1980s the area had become economically and socially troubled.
By the late 1980s, İstiklal Caddesi and the area around it was run-down, sleazy and even a little dangerous.
That began changing in late 1990 after the simple measure of closing the street for traffic and making it a pedestrian precinct.
The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed the rapid gentrification of these neighborhoods.
Istiklal Avenue has once again become a destination for tourists, and formerly bohemian neighborhoods like Cihangir have once again become fashionable and quite expensive.
Some 19th and early 20th century buildings have been tastefully restored, while others have been converted into mammoth luxury malls of dubious aesthetic value.
As newer, more international and affluent residents have begun to creep down the hills into Tophane and Tarlabasi, disagreements with more conservative elements in the neighborhoods have become common.
The low-lying areas such as Tophane, Kasımpaşa and Karaköy, and the side streets of the area consist of older buildings.
“I live in a place that very well represents the Tower of Babel.
Above: The Tower of Babel, Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1563)
1 Now the whole Earth had one language and the same words.
2 And as they migrated from the East, they came upon a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.
3 And they said to one another:
“Come, let us make bricks and fire them thoroughly.”
And they had brick for stone and bitumen for mortar.
4 Then they said:
“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves.
Otherwise we shall be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole Earth.”
5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built.
6 And the LORD said:
“Look, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do.
Nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
7 Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.”
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the Earth, and they left off building the city.
9 Therefore it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused (balal) the language of all the Earth, and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the Earth.
(Genesis 11: 1 – 9)
In Pera they speak Turkish, Greek, Hebrew, Armenian, Arabic, Persian, Russian, Sclavonian, Walachian, German, Dutch, French, English, Italian, Hungarian.
And what is worse, there are ten of these languages spoken in my own family.
My grooms are Arab.
My footmen French, English and Germans.
My nurse an Armenian.
My housemaids Russians.
Half a dozen other servants, Greeks.
My steward an Italian.
My janizaries Turks.
So that I live in the perpetual hearing of this medley of sounds, which produces a very extraordinary effect upon the people that are born here, for they learn all these languages at the same time and without knowing any of them well enough to write or read in it.
There are very few men, women or even children here that have not the same compass of words in five or six of them.”
(Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, 1716)
Above: English aristocrat, medical pioneer, writer and poet Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (née Pierrepont) (1689 – 1762)
Foreigners, especially from Euro-Mediterranean and West European countries, have long resided in Beyoğlu.
There is a cosmopolitan atmosphere in the heart of the district, where people from various cultures live in Cihangir and Gümüşsuyu.
Above: Cihangir, Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu also has a number of historical Tekkes (tombs) and Türbes (mausoleums).
Several Sufi orders, such as the Cihangirî (pronounced Jihangiri) order, were founded here.
Most of the consulates (former embassies until 1923, when Ankara became the new Turkish capital) are still in this area.
The Italian, British, German, Greek, Russian, Dutch and Swedish consulates are significant in terms of their history and architecture.
Above: Flag of the European Union
Beyoğlu is also home to many high schools.
The unique international art project United Buddy Bears was presented in Beyoðlu during the winter of 2004 – 2005.
Buddy Bears are painted, life-size fiberglass bear sculptures developed by German businesspeople Klaus and Eva Herlitz, in cooperation with sculptor Roman Strobl.
They have become a landmark of Berlin and are considered unofficial ambassadors of Germany.
The outstretched arms of the standing Buddy Bear symbolise friendliness and optimism.
The first bears were displayed at an artistic event in Berlin in 2001.
The first activities were presented as the Buddy Bear Berlin Show.
In 2001, artists painted approximately 350 bears to appear as decorative elements in the streets of Berlin.
Four different bear designs (one standing on all four paws, one standing on two legs, one standing on its head, and one in a sitting position) were placed in the historic centre of Berlin.
Afterwards, many of the bears were sold at auctions in aid of local child relief nonprofits.
Nowadays, these Berlin Buddy Bears are exclusively presented on private premises, in front of hotels and embassies, as well as in the foyers of various office buildings.
There have been exhibitions of the original Buddy Bears — designed by local artists — in the cities of Shanghai (China) (2004), Buenos Aires (Argentina) (2005), and St. Gallen (Switzerland) (2006).
United Buddy Bears is an international art exhibition with more than 140 2-meter (6 ft 7 in)-tall fiberglass bears.
Under the motto: “We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully“, more than 140 countries acknowledged by the United Nations (UN) are represented, promoting “tolerance, international understanding and the great concept of different nations and cultures living in peace and harmony“.
The bears stand “hand in hand” in a “peaceful circle” (The Art of Tolerance).
Above: Flag of the United Nations
The bears were on display between June and November 2002, in a circle around the Brandenburg Gate.
Around 1.5 million people visited this first exhibition.
On 6 November 2002, the bears were moved to new locations, including their respective countries’ embassies in Berlin, or back to the country that they were based on.
Above: Brandenburg Gate, Berlin
Some of the bears were auctioned off to raise money for UNICEF.
Above: Emblem of the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund
After the success of the first exhibition, a new circle was created in 2003.
The idea was to send the circle on a global tour.
The circle changes when it reaches a new city, as the bears are always set up in alphabetic order, following the local language of the host country.
Entry to the exhibitions is always free.
In every metropolis, the United Buddy Bears exhibitions are supported by the government, the foreign ministries, the mayors, local nonprofits, and UNICEF.)
Above: United Buddy Bears, İstanbul, 2004 – 2005
The main thoroughfare is İstiklal Caddesi, running into the neighbourhood from Taksim Square, a pedestrianised 1 mile (1.6 km) long street of shops, cafés, patisseries, restaurants, pubs, winehouses and clubs, as well as bookshops, theatres, cinemas and art galleries.
Some of İstiklâl Avenue has a 19th-century metropolitan character.
The avenue is lined with Neoclassical and Art Nouveau buildings.
The nostalgic tram which runs on İstiklal Avenue, between Taksim Square and Tünel, was also re-installed in the early 1990s with the aim of reviving the historic atmosphere of the district.
Some of the city’s historic pubs and winehouses are located in the areas around İstiklal Avenue (İstiklal Caddesi) in Beyoğlu.
Above: Taksim Square entrance of İstiklal Caddesi, Beyoğlu
The 19th century Ciçek Pasajı (Flower Passage in Turkish, or Cité de Péra in French), opened in 1876 on İstiklal Avenue.
It can be described as a miniature version of the famous Galleria in Milano, Italy, and has rows of historic pubs, winehouses and restaurants.
Above: Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage), also known by its French name Cité de Péra, is one of the many historic buildings that adorn İstiklal Caddesi
The site of Çiçek Pasajı was originally occupied by the Naum Theatre (1844 – 1876), which was burned during the great fire of Pera in 1870.
Above: Italian musician / Naum Theatre director Giuseppe Donizetti Pasha (1788 – 1856)
The theatre was frequently visited by Sultans Abdülaziz (1830 – 1876) and Abdülhamid II (1842 – 1918).
Above: Ottoman Sultan Abdülaziz (1830 – 1876)
Above: Ottoman Sultan Abdül Hamid II (1842 – 1918)
The Theatre hosted Giuseppe Verdi’s (1813 – 1901) play Il Trovatore before the opera houses of Paris.
Above: Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901)
After the fire of 1870, the Theatre was purchased by the local Greek banker Hristaki Zoğrafos (1820 – 1898).
Architect Kleanthis Zannos designed the current building, which was called Cité de Péra or Hristaki Pasajı in its early years.
Above: Greek banker Christakis Zografos
Yorgo’nun Meyhanesi (Yorgo’s Winehouse) was the first winehouse to be opened in the passage.
In 1908 the Ottoman Grand Vizier Sait Paşa purchased the building.
It became known as the Sait Paşa Passage.
Above: Ottoman governor Mirza Said Mehmed Paşa (1838 – 1914) Ottoman soldier
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, many impoverished noble Russian women, including a Baroness, sold flowers here.
By the 1940s the building was mostly occupied by flower shops, hence the present Turkish name Çiçek Pasajı (Flower Passage).
Above: Flag of the Soviet Union (1922 – 1991)ü
Following the restoration of the building in 1988, it was reopened as a galleria of pubs and restaurants.
Above: Çiçek Passage, Beyoglu
Pano, established by Panayotis Papadopoulos in 1898, and the neighbouring Viktor Levi, established in 1914, are among the oldest winehouses in the city and are located on Kalyoncu Kulluk Street near the British Consulate and Galatasaray Square.
Cumhuriyet Meyhanesi (literally Republic Winehouse), renamed in the early 1930s but originally established in the early 1890s, is another popular historic winehouse and is located in the nearby Sahne Street, along with the Hazzopulo Winehouse, established in 1871, inside the Hazzopulo Pasajı which connects Sahne Street and Meşrutiyet Avenue.
The famous Nevizade Street, which has rows of historic pubs next to each other, is also in this area.
Other historic pubs are found in the areas around Tünel Pasajı and the nearby Asmalımescit Street.
Above: Tünel Pasajı, Beyoğlu
Above: Asmalımescit Sokak, Beyoğlu
Some historic neighbourhoods around İstiklal Avenue have recently been recreated, such as Cezayir Street near Galatasaray High School, which became known as La Rue Française and has rows of Francophone pubs, cafés and restaurants playing live French music.
Above: Cezayir Sokağı, Beyoğlu
Artiste Terasse (Artist Teras) on Cezayir Street is a popular restaurant-bar which offers panoramic views of the Hagia Sophia, Topkapı Palace, Sultan Ahmed Mosque and Galata Tower.
Throughout Beyoğlu, there are many night clubs for all kinds of tastes.
There are restaurants on the top of historic buildings with a view of the city.
Above: Artiste Terasse, Beyoğlu
Asmalımescit Street has rows of traditional Turkish restaurants and Ocakbaşı (grill) houses, while the streets around the historic Balıkpazarı (Fish Market) is full of eateries offering seafood like fried mussels and calamari along with beer or rakı or the traditional kokoreç.
Above: Asmalımescit Sokak, Beyoğlu
Above: Balık Pazarı (Fish Market), Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu also has many elegant pasaj (passages) from the 19th century, most of which have historic and classy chocolateries and patisseries along with many shops lining their alleys.
There is also a wide range of fast-food restaurants in the district.
Apart from the hundreds of shops lining the streets and avenues of the district, there is also a business community.
Above: Cezayir Street, also known as Rue Française, is famous for its pubs and restaurants playing live music, Beyoğlu
Odakule, a 1970s high rise building (the first “structural expressionism” style building in Turkey) is the headquarters of İstanbul Sanayi Odası (ISO) (Istanbul Chamber of Industry) and is located between İstiklal Avenue and Tepebaşı, next to the Pera Museum.
Most of the upper floors of the buildings in Beyoğlu are office space.
Small workshops are found on the side streets.
Above: Odakule, Beyoğlu
İstanbul Modern, located near Karaköy Port on the Bosphorus, frequently hosts the exhibitions of renowned Turkish and foreign artists.
Pera Museum exhibits some of the works of art from the late Ottoman period, such as the Kaplumbağa Terbiyecisi (Turtle Trainer) by Osman Hamdi Bey (1842 – 1910).
Apart from its permanent collection, the Museum also hosts visiting exhibitions, which included the works of renowned artists such as Rembrandt (1606 – 1669).
Above: Pera Museum, Beyoğlu
Above: The Tortoise Trainer (1906), Osman Hamdi Bey, Pera Museum, Beyoğlu
Above: Turkish artist Osman Hamdi Bey (1842 – 1910)
Above: Self portrait of Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 – 1669)
Doğançay Museum, Turkey’s first contemporary art museum dedicated to the works of a single artist, officially opened its doors to the public in 2004.
While the museum almost exclusively displays the works of its founder Burhan Doğançay (1929 – 2013), a contemporary artists, one floor has been set aside for the works of the artist’s father, Adil Doğançay.
Above: Doğançay Museum, Beyoğlu
Hotel Pera Palace was built in the district in 1892 for hosting the passengers of the Orient Express (1883 – 2009).
Above: Hotel Pera Palace, Beyoğlu
Agatha Christie (1890 – 1976) wrote the novel Murder on the Orient Express in this hotel.
Her room has been preserved as a museum.
Above: Agatha Christie (1890 – 1976)
San Antonio di Padova, the largest Catholic church in Turkey, and the Neve Shalom Synagogue, the largest synagogue in Turkey, are also in Beyoğlu.
Above: Interior of San Antonio di Padova, Beyoğlu
Above: Neve Şalom Synagogue, Beyoğlu
There are other important Catholic and Orthodox churches in the area, such as the Saint Mary Draperis Church or the centrally located Hagia Triada Church at the conjunction point between İstiklal Caddesi and Taksim Square.
It is the seat of the Chaldean Catholic Archparchy of Diyarbakir.
Above: Church of Santa Maria Draperis, Beyoğlu
Above: Hagia Triada Greek Orthodox Church, Beyoğlu
The only Jewish Museum of Turkey, which has been converted from a synagogue, is located in the Karaköy quarter.
İstikal Caddesi is also located in the historic Beyoğlu (Pera) district.
The famous street with shops, cafes, cinemas and other venues stretches for 1.4 kilometres (0.87 mi) and hosts up to three million people each day.
Above: İstiklal Caddesi, Beyoğul
The 1948-opened Atlas Cinema is situated in a 1877-built historic building at Istiklal Caddesi.
Above: Atlas Sineması, İstanbul Sinema Müzesi, Beyoğlu
If you don’t know Çetin İkmen, he is a fastidious Turkish police inspector, small and thin with a sunken face.
He teeters on the edge of alcoholicism, chain smokes and swears in a whisky and cigarettes voice.
As it happens, Ikmen has a cousin who is a transvestite fortune teller.
Ikmen occasionally seeks his help in the frequently convoluted and macabre cases that come his way.
Above: Haluk Bilginer as Çetin İkmen, The Turkish Detective
A strange and complicated character then, the inspector takes the lead in six novels by London-born author Barbara Nadel.
Above: British writer Barbara Nadel
Ever more to the fore than İkmen in Nadel’s books is İstanbul, which is the setting shared by all her stories to date.
The city permeates every page.
Her descriptions of neighbourhoods, landmarks and locations are as precise and exact as those of a travel writer.
İkmen works out of a police station on Yerebatan Caddesi near the underground cistern in Sultanahmet.
He lives nearby on Ticarethane Sokak, just off Divan Yolu.
Above: Yerebatan Sarnıcı, Fatih, Sultanahmet District
Nadel’s first novel, Belshazzar’s Daughter, begins in the vividly realized backstreets of Balat.
In her second, A Chemical Prison, a corpse is discovered locked in an attic on Ishak Paşa Caddesi, just down from the gate of the Topkapi Palace.
The 4th, Deep Waters, begins with a murder victim being dumped on waterfront Reşadiye Caddesi beside the Galata Bridge.
The 5th, Harem, ends with a shoot-out at the Malta Köşkü in Yıldız Park.
A frequent visitor to İstanbul, Nadel travels armed with a digital camera in order to capture the urban landscapes through which her characters move.
It could all be a bit pedantic and trainspotterish, but in fact it is handled so skilfully that, taken together, the descriptions and detailing all add up to one great passionate homage to the city.
“It’s the place that I love and I want other people to love it as well.”, says Nadel.
Not that she is afraid of showing the spots and blemishes.
Her books also deal with AIDS, prostitution,, rent boys, family blood feuds and drug use.
Not to mention some graphic kinky sex, including in Belshazzar’s Daughter a woman who gets off on fellating guns (based, claims Nadel, who is a fomer psychiatric hospital worker, on someone she once met – but socially, not professionally).
Local press in İstanbul has been good and sales remain respectable.
İkmen may not be the perfect Turk but native İstanbulus seem to have taken their fictional compatriot to their hearts, with flaws and all.
Born in the East End of London, Barbara Nadel trained as an actress before becoming a writer.
Now writing full-time, she has previously worked as a public relations officer for the National Schizophrenia Fellowship’s Good Companion Service and as a mental health advocate for the mentally disordered in a psychiatric hospital.
She has also worked with sexually abused teenagers and taught psychology in schools and colleges, and was the patron of the Acorn Group in Shrewsbury, a charity (now apparently closed following a cut in funding) caring for those in emotional and mental distress.
She has been a regular visitor to Turkey for more than 25 years.
She has written 25 Çetin İkmen novels to date so far.
Under the motto: “We have to get to know each other better, it makes us understand one another better, trust each other more, and live together more peacefully“, promoting “tolerance, international understanding and the great concept of different nations and cultures living in peace and harmony“, I want my descriptions of neighbourhoods, landmarks and locations to be as precise and exact as those of a travel writer, with the descriptions and detailing all add up to one great passionate homage to the city.
I want to describe places in a vivid manner like Edmondo de Amicis, Hans Christian Andersen, Giacomo Casanova, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Harrison Griswold Dwight, Gustave Flaubert, Theophile Gauthier, Andre Gide, Ernest Hemingway, Aaron Hill, Pierre Loti, Herman Melville, Will Seymour Monroe, Gerard de Nerval, Arthur Symons and Mark Twain.
I need to read like a writer.
I need to experience Life as a writer.
It won’t be easy.
A man cannot serve two masters at the same time.
My muse or my wife.
Tough call.
For the benefit of Mr. Kite,
There will be a show tonight
On trampoline.
The Hendersons will all be there.
Late of Pablo Fanque’s Fair.
What a scene!
Over men and horses, hoops and garters,
Lastly through a hogshead of real fire!
In this way
Mr. K.
Will challenge the world!
The celebrated Mr. K.
Performs his feat on Saturday
At Bishopsgate.
The Hendersons will dance and sing
As Mr. Kite flies through the ring.
Don’t be late!
Messrs. K. and H. assure the public
Their production will be second to none.
And of course
Henry the horse
Dances the waltz!
The band begins at ten to six,
When Mr. K. performs his tricks
Without a sound.
And Mr. H. will demonstrate
Ten summersets he’ll undertake
On solid ground.
Having been some days in preparation,
A splendid time is guaranteed for all.
And tonight
Mr. Kite
Is topping the bill!
Sources
- Wikipedia
- Google Photos
- Time Out Istanbul
- An Istanbul Anthology: Travel Writing through the Centuries, edited by Kaya Genç
- Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell