Büyükdere/Μπουγιούκ Ντερέ
- sophiafaaland
- Aug 6
- 6 min read
Büyükdere is a neighborhood on the northern European side of the Bosphorus strait. Translated, its name means “big stream” or “big water.” Currently, the neighborhood resides in the Sarıyer district of Istanbul. In the second half of the nineteenth century, the area’s population of non-Muslims and foreign residents increased. Greek and Armenian elites as well foreign ambassador office homes composed the majority of the neighborhood in this period. According to French ambassador Comte de Vergennes, the “lower” region of Büyükdere had a substantial Greek, Armenian, and wealthy Turkish population and the “upper” region primarily consisted of embassies. As a result, several shops and restaurants were established to support this foreign and tourist attraction in the late nineteenth century.
Büyükdere hosts a variety of non-Muslim religious institutions. The neighborhood houses a Greek Orthodox Church (Ayia Paraskevi), a Latin Catholic Church (Santa Maria), and Catholic and Apostolic Armenian Churches (Surp Boğos and Surp Hıripsimyants). All of these institutions sit within a couple blocks of the waterfront along the Bosphorus. The close spatial relations of these institutions indicate likely communication between the groups. All of these institutions were built in the mid to late nineteenth century.
Ayia Paraskevi (Εκκλησία της Αγίας Παρασκευής)
Büyükdere includes one of the four active churches of Rum origin named Ayia Paraskevi, which translates to “holy preparation.” All four churches worship the cult of Saint Paraskevi whose name means “preparation” for the Sabbath in Greek and is annually celebrated on the 26th of July. Saint Paraskevi is a female Christian martyr who lived under the Roman empire in the second century AD. Saint Paraskevi’s followers believe she can heal their eye diseases and protect them from the evil eye. The other three churches honoring Saint Paraskevi are located in Hasköy, Tarabya, and Beykoz. The church in Büyükdere was originally constructed in the early seventeenth century. However, due to a fire, the current building was reconstructed in 1831. Today, the entry gate to the yard of the church is on Mektep Street.
Santa Maria Latin Catholic Church
The catholic Santa Maria church was established in 1866 with funding from the apostolic vicar, Paolo Brunoni. The church opened a mixed primary school in the 1880s and a school for boys in 1902.
Surp Boğos Armenian Catholic Church
After the death of Boğos Amira Bilezikciyan, an Ottoman Mint manager, the Surp Boğos church was built on his property in Büyükdere in 1847. Originally, the structure of the Surp Boğos Armenian Catholic Church was made of wood. The name of the church honors Saint Paul, a Christian apostle who lived in the first century AD. In 1859, the Armenian Catholic Archeparchy of Constantinople purchased the church and tore down the original wooden building for reconstruction. In place of the old building, the property renovations included a masonry church, a clergy house, a school building, and four wooden houses.
Surp Hıripsimyants Armenian Apostolic Church
The Surp Hıripsimyants Church was built in 1848 by the Kevork and Garabed Karakehya brothers. Since then, the building has undergone several renovations. First, the 1886 renovation replaced the original building with stone. After the 1894 Istanbul earthquake, the church was renovated again in 1927 to repair damages.
Büyükdere’s reputation for its summer destination along the Bosphorus attracted many artists in the nineteenth century. French artist Antoine Ignace Melling provides comprehensive artistic depictions of Büyükdere in his album of engravings, Voyage pittoresque de Constantinople et des rives du Bosphore, published in 1807. Melling worked as an architect and artist under the Ottoman monarch Selim III and Hatice Sultan and traveled around Constantinople in the early nineteenth century. During his travels, he temporarily stayed in Büyükdere at Russian ambassador Count Yakov Ivanovich Bulgakov’s mansion. He also spent time in Danish ambassador Baron Frederik von Hübsch’s mansion in Büyükdere. Speaking about the neighborhood, Melling observed “the climate here provided protection and security from the plague… Foreigners preferred Büyükdere to Péra because here they could enjoy their pleasures in freedom…” during his stay. He even recalls Comte de Vergennes, stating “The French ambassador, Comte de Vergennes, was so favored by the Sublime Porte [the French translation of Turkish that refers to the government of the Ottoman empire. Initially, this name referred to the gate leading to governmental buildings in Constantinople.] that he was granted permission to build a house in the western part of Büyükdere.”
The neighborhood is also home to Efıtalya Işılay or Ἀναστασία Γεωργιάδου, a Greek-Turkish singer born in Büyükdere in 1891. She began her music career from a young age performing with her father in coffee houses or on her father’s rowboat on the Bosphorus for saz festivals. Eventually, her stage name became Deniz Kızı Eftalya. Later in her career, she became the first non-Muslim singer for Pathé Records in Paris, from 1923 to 1926. In 1927, Işılay worked for Columbia Records and decided to use her Turkish pseudonym until 1930. Two famous songs of hers include “From Kadıköy” and “Our days this summer.” Işılay also collaborated with other famous Greek-Turkish artists such as Yorgo Bacanos (Γιώργος Μπακάνος) and Aleko Bacanos (Αλέκο Μπακάνος). She passed away in 1936 and is buried in the Şişli Greek Orthodox Cemetery in Istanbul.
In the early twentieth century, Büyükdere saw some of the first airplane technology facilities in Turkey. With the emergence of aviation technology at the beginning of the twentieth century, international relations and transportation changed throughout Europe. In 1923, the Italian government negotiated a deal with the newly-established Turkish government to construct a seaplane station in Büyükdere. The port contained a building-complex for the operations of Italy’s first airline company, AEI (Aero Espresso Italiana S.A.). Büyükdere’s wealthy and foreign demographic makeup made the region commercially promising to AEI and enabled quick access to other countries in the Mediterranean. Multiple geographic features of the area also supported the destination spot; Büyükdere’s location by the widest part of the Bosphorus Strait protects it from strong winds and provides large surface area for planes to land on.
The facility buildings were both functional and architecturally impressive. The entire complex consisted of the main terminal, hangars, a port, an office building, service buildings, and a warehouse. The main terminal showcased pointed Ottoman arches, wide eaves, a centralized portal, turquoise ceramics, and an embellished interior. Some of the building designs within the complex changed over time to reflect new ownership. In 1937, the Turkish government repurposed the complex for the Turkish Fleet and later repurposed it again for the Turkish Coast Guard Command.
The AEI seaplane station served as a connecting point for commercial and civic service between Brindisi, Athens, Büyükdere (also referred to as Istanbul), and Rhodes. This network also facilitated cultural communication between Greece and Turkey. For example, newspapers from Athens were often transported using AEI planes to Istanbul. Later on, the purpose of AEI transportation between Greece and Turkey took a more political tone. In 1923, Turkish politician, Suphi Nuri Ileri, used the AEI facility in Büyükdere to transport refugees for the population exchange. Today, the site still attracts visitors and serves as a post for the Turkish Coast Guard Command.
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