Büyükada/Πρίγκηπος

A map of Büyükada (Source: Istanbul Atatürk Library)

Büyükada, or Prinkipo (Πρίγκηπος) in Greek, is the largest of the four main Prince's Islands Archipelago (Adalar in Turkish) in the Sea of Marmara. The Island is 5.5 square kilometers consisting of two hills divided by a valley. THe highest peak reaching 202 meters hosts the Monastery of Hagios Georgios (Άγιος Γεώργιος). Its entrance into history can be traced back to the Byzantine Empire. Its long tenure as a vacation spot for the wealthy non-Muslims of the region began in the eighth century when Emperor Justinian II built a monastery and summer palace. After the initial settlement by Justinian, the island began to be used as a prison for high profile political prisoners who were exiled from Constantinople. Over time, more monasteries and churches began to crop up around the island and this population growth spurred the building of a fisherman's village which was the center of local life on the island for many centuries. Büyükada’s main economic output was produce from the monastery's gardens and fishing from the village. This made Büyükada a target for numerous lootings during the Crusades. The island was one of the last territories the Ottomans seized in the conquest of Constantinople.

(Source: Kultur Envanteri)

In 1846, the island transformed itself, once again, into the premier vacation spot of the Istanbul elite when Şirket-i Hayriye, an Istanbul ferry boat company over the Bosphorus, opened the first ferry system connecting the island and Istanbul. Two more ferry connections with the island were established following the first. With a history of non-Muslim settlement, Büyükada gained popularity among the Greek, Armenian, and Jewish bourgeois, businessmen, government officials, and artists as well as Muslim statesmen and foreigners from the Levant and Europe. The population grew to 6,000 in 1860 and 10,500 in 1890 due to the ferry connection. Demographic data from 1890 records 5,010 Orthodox Greeks, 2,990 Muslims, 1300 Armenian Gregorians, 903 Armenian Catholics, and 300 Latin Catholics residing in the island. The non-elite residents of the island were tradesmen, fishermen, and agriculturalists. 

View from Büyükada's shore (Source: Melling Antoine Ignace)

“Prinkipo was all Greek. When Turks came to Prinkipo for sightseeing, they would feel themselves as if they went out of the Ottoman lands. Sometimes, one would come across Turkish women walking arm in arm with their husbands, or sitting in coffeeshops as their face unveiled. They could not behave so freely in Istanbul"-Yorgo Zarifi, Greek banker

(Source: Institut Français d'Etudes Anatoliennes Album 1903)

At the time, Büyükada was known for its idyllic landscape dotted with iconic summer houses which were leveraged by residents as displays of wealth and social status and became a source of rich architectural innovation and tradition. The culture of the island as a resort destination saw an emphasis on the outdoors with large landscaped gardens and terraces.

“a unique urban fabric and lifestyle associated with phaeton sightseeing, sea bathing ceremonies, moonlight pleasure trips, picnics, musical performances, and sailing competitions as an integral part of daily life” - Zeynep Ceylanlı

Models of Houses in Büyükada (Source: Akif Ergüleç)

Walking through the island, one can find examples of Neo-Classical, Neo-Gothic, Neo-Baroque, Art Nouveau, Imperial Architecture, and early Istanbul Art-Nouveau which combined the modern style with traditional Ottoman woodwork construction. These styles are evidence of a movement in the nineteenth century to modernize Istanbul in a distinctly European manner.

Splendid Palace (Source: Salt Research)

Some notable architects that worked and lived on the island include Alexander Vallaury, an Frechman who built the Prinkipo Palas hotel which was later converted into a Greek orphanage, Kaludis Laskaris the Greek architect of the Splendid Palace, and Mihran Azaryan an Armenian architect responsible for the Büyükada Pier. Another notable feature of the island is the diversity of religious buildings. The island boasts 5 Greek Orthodox churches and monasteries (built between 1858 and 1908), a Roman Catholic church called Santa Pacifico Latine (1866), an Armenian church called Surp Asdvadzadzin Church (1858), a mosque called Hamidiye Mosque (1892), and Hased la Avraam Synagogue (1904).

From Left to Right: Hesed Le Avraam Synagogue (Source: Türk Yahudileri), Hagio Yorgi Church (Source: Nomadic Niko), and Santa Pacifico Latine Church (Source: Adalar Turizm)

The major Greek Orthodox church of the neighborhood was church Hagios Georgios which had its origins in a monastery built in the 10th century by Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas. The monastery was plundered during the 4th Crusade in 1202. It is said that during this attack monks buried the votive bells of Hagios Georgios along with his icon. Legend states that a sheppar during the seventeenth century had a dream of the icon and unearthed it where it had been buried although records of the patriarchate record that a priest uncovered the icon in 1751. Construction of the Hagio Georgios church on the site of the monastery began soon after. The church served as a pilgrimage site for visitors suffering from tuberculosis and fevers wishing to drink and wash in the healing waters of the hayazma (holy spring). Another important church was the Church of Hagios Dimitrios which, according to Akilas Millas, was built on the site of a Byzantine ruin. 

(Source: Büyükada, Its Summer Residence, and the Bourgeois Ottoman Interior At the Turn of the Twentieth Century)

In 1926, three years after the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, the newly appointed president Atatürk began to host diplomats, bureaucrats, and members of the Muslim-Turkish bourgeoisie on the Island. By the mid-twentieth century, the population of the Island had severely decreased with the majority of Greek residents leaving after the Population Exchange between Greece and Turkey as well as the Pogrom of 1955, a series of anti-Greek riots and the Armenian residents leaving due to the Armenian Genocide, leaving behind only a few Jewish residents. This large-scale migration and deportation of non-Muslims combined with a lack of resources to the island saw Büyükada falling into disrepair. It wasn’t until later in the century that improvements to the infrastructure led to an increase in tourism and a new wave of permanent residence, though this time the distinctly non-Muslim characteristic of Büyükada had been lost.

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References

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