Beşiktaş / Διπλοκιόνιο
- Lara Oge
- Jun 12
- 5 min read
Beşiktaş (Διπλοκιόνιο) is a vibrant neighborhood on the European shore of Istanbul, known for its busy center called Çarşı (literally translating to “marketplace”), with a perpetually busy fish market and tavern (meyhane) restaurants. While present-day Beşiktaş is a larger municipal district, the focus here is kept on its historic center that once housed a notable Greek Orthodox community, among other minority populations. According to an Ottoman census in 1882, Beşiktaş had a total population of 28,777, consisting of 10,753 Muslims, 9,248 Greeks, 4,897 Armenians, 3,057 Jews, 601 Catholics, 203 Bulgarians and 18 Latins. The predominant non-muslim presence in the neighborhood is illustrated by two Greek Orthodox churches, a Greek Orthodox school (Beşiktaş Köyiçi Rum Okulu) dated to 1903, an Armenian church named Surp Asdvadzadzin, and the Makruhyan Armenian School that opened in 1866.
In the Byzantine era, the neighborhood was known as Diplokionion, which translates to “double pillar” in Greek. This name is in reference to the two identical pillars that once marked an entry from the Bosphorus waters into the city. These pillars are also said to have served as a model to those in Venice. The modern name of the neighborhood translates to “cradle stone” (“beşik” is “cradle,” and “taş” is “stone” in Turkish), and is traced back to several legends. One suggests that a Byzantine Greek Orthodox church in the neighborhood was devoted to a stone from the stable where Jesus was born, while another states that a priest from the Church of Aya Menas (Saint Menas) went on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and brought back a stone of the cradle used in the baptism of Jesus to place inside the church. Another possibility is that the name is simply a corruption of “beş taş,” Turkish for “five stones,” which would refer to the five stone pillars built to moor ships by Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha, a sixteenth-century admiral in the Ottoman Navy who brought the navy and its ships to Beşiktaş, which was influential in the rapid development of the neighborhood during the era.
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey drove much of the neighborhood’s Greek Orthodox population to Greece and transformed Beşiktaş into a predominantly Muslim neighborhood. As such, Ottoman-built landmarks are more vivid in the memory of residents. The Sinan Pasha Mosque, built in the mid-sixteenth century by architect Sinan upon request by the Ottoman admiral-in-chief, Sinan Pasha, is arguably the most prominent structure in the neighborhood. Still, the historically non-muslim character of Beşiktaş is survived by two Greek Orthodox churches that remain active, as well as the Surp Asdvadzadzin Armenian Church.
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Beşiktaş Köyiçi Panayia Kilisesi)
The Assumption of the Virgin Mary Church predates the second church in the neighborhood by a century. It is located in an alley behind the fish market in Çarşı, on Köyiçi Street. The location is reflected in the modern Turkish name of the church that is recorded by the Patriarchate.
Three inscriptions in the current building date it to 1730. One of them also hints at the presence of another church on the premises, stating that the previous structure was at the risk of collapse. There are documents written to the qadi of Galata in May and June of 1730 with regards to the approval of repairs on the Greek Orthodox Church dedicated to the Virgin Vary in Beşiktaş. The mentioned repairs seem to have been realized as a complete rebuild, as the inscriptions state the church was built from its foundation on 30 May, 1730, by architect and builder Kalfa Nikolaos, the son of Priest Zaharias from Maditos (present-day Eceabat). A fourth inscription in the church states the third rebuild on 21 December, 1833, with financial support from the “entire parish.” In the 1955 pogroms against the Greek Orthodox community in Istanbul, the roof of the church was burnt, and was repaired in 1957. According to the Association for the Support of Greek Community Foundations (Rumvader), the latest interior restorations took place in 2000. Today, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is active and holds occasional service, sharing a priest with other Greek Orthodox churches in nearby neighborhoods.
The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God (Beşiktaş Cihannüma Panayia Kilisesi)
Known locally as the “Old Bath” church, The Church of the Nativity of the Mother of God was regularly attended by enslaved workers, referred to as katergari, who toiled at the Tersane-i Amire (Imperial Shipyard) near the Golden Horn. Nineteenth-century Greek scholar Skarlatos Byzantios even states the church was established by the workers at the shipyard, though documentation on such an origin does not survive. These individuals, predominantly prisoners of war from European Christian states, were documented in records detailing their physical characteristics and assigned labor roles, which included tasks like rowing, carpentry, and rope-making. The church became a spiritual refuge for these laborers, reflecting its dual role as a place of faith and life for the working class during the period.
Armenian author and historian Eremya Çelebi Kömürciyan, writing in the seventeenth century, records a Greek Orthodox church at the very location of the “Old Bath” church, but an inscription inside the current church states it was built on January 21, 1830. This indicates that it was likely built on the premises of a former, like Byzantine, church. The structure suggests that additions were made in the nineteenth century after the initial build. While the details of these later revisions are unknown, Zafer Karaca states that the caretakers of the church confirmed that the church retains its late-nineteenth-century structure today.
The Köyiçi Greek Orthodox School (Beşiktaş Köyiçi Rum Okulu)
Opened in 1903, this elementary school was preferred by the local Greek Orthodox community for teaching French to its students. That was not the case at the Greek Orthodox schools of neighboring towns, and perhaps explains why this school remained active for longer than most others in the city, until 1975. It consisted of four classrooms, several halls, and storage rooms, and the ground floor featured two stores facing the street. The building has since been renovated and, in 2023, turned into a chain coffee shop.
References
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