Nişantaşı has been one of Istanbul’s most stylish neighborhoods for over a century, and today has the celebrity residents, verdant parks, first-rate hotels, and brand names to maintain this claim, interspersed with monuments to a glorious Republican and pre-Republican past. Stretching between the busy thoroughfare of Halaskargazi Street and the steep hillsides of Maçka, the district is equal parts European refinement and Ottoman splendor.
While best-known as a fancy shopping district, studded with top Turkish and international brand names, Nişantaşı also boasts a varied restaurant scene, great night life, charming cafes and bars, and weird and wonderful, if understated, architecture, which sets the scene for some of the weirdest moments in Turkey’s history.
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HISTORY OF NİŞANTAŞI
Despite the quarter’s posh exterior, its name comes from a handful of stone obelisks, many of which still stand today. As recently as the early 19th century, what is now Nişantaşı was a rural area outside the city, where the Ottoman sultans and their entourages would come to practice their marksmanship, initially with bows and arrows and later with rifles. The “nişan taşı”, or target stones, found throughout the neighborhood’s sprawl, commemorate shots of record distance and accuracy. The oldest obelisk in the area dates to the 1790s, while others were erected later to mark the official foundation of the district in the 19th century.
Under Sultan Abdülmecid I the Ottoman Empire attempted to reconcile modernizing reforms with a glorious, ancient past. As the imperial capital expanded, the sultan encouraged well-to-do families to settle in the area – hence the name of the neighborhood at the center of Nişantaşı: Teşvikiye, which means “encouragement” in Turkish. In fact, Nişantaşı is not an official district, though the name has stuck for 150 years.
The early 20th century saw an influx of Macedonian Turks fleeing the Balkan Wars, and throughout the years Nişantaşı has been home to sizable communities of Greeks, Armenians, and other ethnic minorities.
In 1648, Sabbatai Zevi, a leader of the Jewish community in Salonica (today Greece’s Thessaloniki) declared that he was the messiah, founding a breakaway Sabbatian Jewish sect. The Ottoman authorities worried about the social upheaval this might cause and quickly forced Zevi and his followers to officially convert to Islam. However, they continued to practice their variant of Judaism in secret, earning them the name “Dönme” (literally ‘to turn’). During the 1923 Greece-Turkey population exchange, the community tried, unsuccessfully, to convince the Greek state that they were not Muslims, and were relocated to Istanbul, where they settled in Teşvikiye, and have lived there ever since.
The area has since been home to the families of a number of Turkish celebrities, such as celebrated poet Nâzım Hikmet and author Orhan Pamuk, the latter of whom took the neighborhood as the setting for his novel The Black Book.
SIGHTS OF NİŞANTAŞI
Centuries of affluence have left Nişantaşı with its fair share of architectural wonders, from palatial apartment buildings to a neoclassical police station. The house of Turkish architect Vedat Tek on Vali Konağı Avenue combines Seljuk motifs and modernist elements in the earliest example of the Turkish Republic’s ‘First National Style’. The red and green Sütçüoğlu Apartment just around the corner is a popular photo op for Turkish tourists, thanks to its fame as the setting of the sitcom Avrupa Yakası.
Across the street is Nişantaşı Art Park, a compact green space locally known as “the cat park” for its resident population of friendly felines. Note the “cat hotel” on the left, the beating heart of Istanbul’s cat community. The park features the busts of famous Turkic and Turkish heads of state, as well as that of Ataturk’s mother and, for some reason, Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata. Further down the hill lies Maçka Park, one of the largest green spaces in the city.
The shopping for which the district is rightly famous centers on Rumeli Street, Vali Konagi, and particularly Abdi İpekçi, currently the most expensive street for retail stores in the country, as well as the 25th most expensive in the world. It is named after the editor-in-chief of the Milliyet newspaper, who was assassinated in 1979, and features a monument to his memory.
His killer and former ultra-nationalist Grey Wolves biker gang member, Mehmet Ali Ağca, attempted to assassinate Pope John Paul II a year later. After serving 20 years in an Italian prison Ağca was pardoned at the request of the Pope and returned to Turkey. He maintained a correspondence with Pope John Paul until the latter’s death, and has since expressed his desire to become a Catholic priest and has declared himself the second coming of Christ.
The recently renovated Teşvikiye Mosque, built in 1853, is another elegant architectural landmark, complete with a stone courtyard and its very own “nişan taşı”. It has been the site of several celebrity funerals, including that of Ahmet Ertegun, the founder of Atlantic Records, in 2006. Outside the courtyard lies the mosque’s historical Muvakkithane, a building once used to house clocks informing local Muslims of prayer times that has since been repurposed as a posh café.
For another glimpse of history, check out the façade of Maçka Technical High School. Originally designed as the Italian embassy by Ottoman-Italian architect Giulio Mongeri, the building was donated to the Turkish Republic in 1923.
Opposite is another work of Mongeri, the Maçka Palas building, today the Park Hyatt Hotel, which dates to 1922 and has housed a number of notable historical figures, including Celâl Bayar, the third president of Turkey; Abdülhak Hamid Tarhan, an Ottoman poet and politician; and Turgay Şeren, a goalkeeper for Galatasaray football team.
Further down the hill is the handsome Macka campus of Istanbul Technical University, originally built as a military barracks in 1834.
EATING & DRINKING
For coffee lovers, proud guardian of Turkey’s past and present coffee culture is Haha Kafe, conveniently located at the heart of Nişantaşı. As well as pulling one of the best espressos in town, their desserts, Turkish coffee, and own-brand tea are out of this world. For a tasty, traditional lunch, check out Elit Yemek.
At the other end of the scale you have the neighborhood branch of the infamous Nusr-et, where you can chow down on gold-leaf steak in the Maçka Palas building. For breakfast, try Bazlama Kahvati Evi, but make sure to get there early to beat the queues of local fans.
TRANSPORTATION
It will take you about two hours to see all the sights mentioned in this video on foot. The closest metro stop is Osmanbey on the M2 line, although the area is best reached by way of a pleasant, 20- to 30-minute stroll from Taksim, Besiktas, or Mecidiyekoy.
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