Galata Galata is located at the north side of the Golden Horn. It was surrounded by walls, constructed by the Genoese, until the 19th century. These walls started at Azapkapi near the Golden Horn and the Galata Tower was the northernmost observation tower. From there the walls ran down to Tophane. During the Byzantine period it was known as Sykai (Fig field). It was called "Peran en Sykais" in Greek, meaning ‘fig field of the other side’. The name "Pera", used by the Levantines, originates from this. The origin of Galata was either "galaktos" (milk) in Greek or "calata" (stairway) in Italian. Galata is has always been European, both geographically and culturally. It was established as a western, Latin and Catholic colony across the Golden Horn from Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Orthodox Byzantine Empire. Its governance frequently changed between the Venetians and the Genoese, but it always remained Latin and Catholic. Galata has been a very active business center since it’s establishment. In both Byzantine and Ottoman times it was a centre of night-life with taverns that attracted the Muslim population, too. It’s golden years were during the second half of the 19lh century. Foreigners and minorities gained new rights with the political reforms of Sultan Abdulmecid's in 1839 and in the ‘capitulations’. Galata became an extremely wealthy district, as can be seen by the architecture. Those days are slowly returning In the 1860’s the area inside the Genoese walls was not large enough, the walls were torn down and Galata enlarged. The area round the "Grand Rue de Pera", now İstiklâl Cad. became a luxury district. There has always been foreign embassies taking advantage of the cleaner air and the view, but now these were extended. Grand houses, luxury apartments, and entertainment centres were built on İstiklâl Street. In a short time the infrastructure followed; Streets were paved, sewage and water systems installed, electricity, water, and gas networks were laid down, and horse-drawn tramways built. Tünel, the short underground railway still in use today was built shortly after the London system opened. Galata became a finance centre with banks and a stock exchange. Its harbour was one of the busiest in Europe. The Grand Rue de Pera became a shopping centre second only to the Grand Bazaar. Imported European goods were bought not only by Levantines but also sophisticated Turks. It was also an entertainment centre with its cafes, theaters, bars, opera houses, restaurants, and pastry shops. Ottomans liked life-style in Pera so much that it became a kind of school for Ottoman politicians who wanted a western way of life. The Ottomans learnt how to eat, drink, dress, entertain, and talk like westerners from the Levantines and Europeans in Beyoğlu. Galata was a cosmopolis. Mainly French, but also almost all European languages were spoken there. Italians, Germans, French, British, Armenians, Greeks, Jews, Hungarians, Poles, and Russians had their own communities. Each community had its own places of worship, not only based on its religion but also based on its different sects.. The peacefully co-existed side-by-side with such important Muslim centres as Galata Mevlevi Convent, Arab Mosque, Asmali Mosque and Ağa Mosque. The French, British, Italians, Germans, and Austrians built schools in Galata. They were open to Ottomans too, and increased western influence. The Pera Palas Hotel, once used by the travelers of the Orient Express, is one of the great survivors of this period. It is closed for renovation until 2009
Crimea Memorial Church
The Galata Bridge The Galata Bridge over the Golden Horn has always held great cultural symbolism. From the end of the 19th century in particular, the bridge has featured in Turkish literature, theatre, poetry and novels. Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpinar and Ahmet Rasim, are Turkish writers who use the bridge, and, of course Agatha Christie and Graham Greene. The oldest recorded bridge over the Golden Horn was built in 1453 during the Turkish siege of the city. In the years 1502-1503 plans to construct a permanent bridge here were discussed, and a sketch was made by Leonardo da Vinci showing a single span bridge with double pillars at either end. However, technical drawbacks made it impossible, and Michelangelo was invited to submit a design. He rejected the commission, and bridge was shelved until the 19th century. In 1836 Sultan Mahmut II (1808-1839) had a pontoon bridge built some distance up the waterway between Azapkapi and Unkapani. The first permanent Galata Bridge at the mouth of the waterway was constructed in 1845 by the mother of Sultan Abdulmecid and used for 18 years. It was known as the Cisr-i Cedid or New Bridge to distinguish it from the earlier bridge further up the Golden Horn, which became known as the Cisr-i Atik or Old Bridge. The New Bridge was built by Abdulmecid Han. First to pass over the bridge was Sultan Abdulmecid, and the first to pass below it was the French captain Magnan in his ship the Cygne. For the first three days crossing the bridge was free, after which tolls were paid. This was replaced by a second wooden bridge in 1863, built by Ethem Pertev Pasa on the orders of Sultan Abdulaziz in readiness for the visit to Istanbul of Napoleon III. In 1870 a contract was signed with a French company, Forges et Chantiers de la Mediteranée for construction of a third bridge, but the outbreak of war between France and Germany delayed the project, which was given instead to a British firm G. Wells in 1872. This bridge completed in 1875 rested on 24 pontoons. It was built at a cost of 105,000 gold liras. It was used until 1912, when it was pulled upstream to replace the now genuinely old Cisr-i Atik Bridge. The fourth Galata Bridge was built in 1912 by the German firm Man. This is the bridge still familiar to many people today that was badly damaged in a fire in 1992 and towed up the Golden Horn to make way for the modern bridge now in use. It can be seen near the Rahmi M Koç ındustrıal museumç Galata Bridge has always been a symbolic link between the city of Istanbul proper, site of the imperial palace and principal religious and secular institutions of the Ottoman empire, and the districts of Galata, Beyoğlu, Sişli and Harbiye where a large proportion of the inhabitants were non-Muslims and where foreign merchants and diplomats lived and worked. In this respect the bridge bonded these two distinctive cultures. Peyami Safa says in his novel, Fatih-Harbiye, a person who went from Fatih to Harbiye via the bridge set foot in a different civilization and different culture. Beyoğlu Beyoğlu (BEY-oh-loo) in which Galata is situated, is the district on the north bank of the Golden Horn, from Karaköy and the Galata Bridge to Taksim Square. In the 1800s this was the newer, more European section of Istanbul (Constantinople). Embassies were built here, foreign merchants lived and worked there, and they shopped at the boutiques along the Grande Rue de Péra. In the 1960s the original wooden interior of the tower was replaced by a concrete structure and it was opened to the public. There is a restaurant and café on its upper floors which commands a magnificent view of Istanbul and the Bosphorus. This was also one of the neighborhoods favoured by the Sultan's Jewish subjects, and still has many synagogues. Galatasaray Square, half way along İstiklâl Caddesi, is where the first European-style lycée (high school) was built by the French. Also here is the famed Çiçek Pasaji (Flower Passage) dining and taverna district. At the southern end of İstiklâl Caddesi near Tünel Square is the Whirling Dervish centre. The new Pera Museum (Pera Müzesi) in Beyoğlu's Tepebasi district is near the Pera Palace Hotel, and has very interesting exhibitions.. On the Bosphorus shore at Tophane, on the edge of Beyoğlu, is the Istanbul Modern Art Museum.
Taksim Square The Piccadilly Circus or Times Square of Istanbul, Taksim Square is the heart of the city. Laid out in the late 1800s near a taksim (=tank) in the city's water distribution system. The ‘taksim’ can be seen at the top of İstiklâl Caddesi. The Independence Monument (Istiklal Aniti) in the circle at the southern end of the square commemorates the Turkish Republic 's founder, Kemal Atatürk, in both his roles, as military commander-in-chief, and as statesman. An interesting point to note is that it contains a statue of the then Shah of Iran. The open space to the north was once a barrack square. At its northern end is the Atatürk Cultural Center, the Festival Hall or Lincoln Center of Istanbul. Galata Tower It was also called Christea Turris (Tower of Christ) by the Genoese and Megalos Pyrgos (The Great Tower) by the Byzantines. One of the city's most striking landmarks, it is a huge, cone-capped cylinder that dominates the skyline on the Galata side of the Golden Horn.
In Galata Square at the base of the tower are many restaurants and cafés. Enginar on one corner of the square is a meeting-place for expatriates and Turks, and English is widely spoken there. |
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