“When I was a lad, I remember visiting Kontoskali…I thought I was in Greece, because there were so many Greek flags.”
- Greek journalist Stephanos Papadopoulos, describing Kumkapı
The neighborhood of Kumkapı, Kontoskali in Greek, was settled in the early Byzantine period. In its first use under the Byzantine Empire, the harbor of Konstoskalion, the likely namesake for the neighborhood, was used as a landing stage during the reign of Constantine the Great (306-337). Later in the sixth century, Konstoskalion became an important harbor under the reign of Justinian (527 - 565) with the Konstoskalion Gate serving as an important gate at the Sea Walls of Constantinople. Records also
indicate that the Palaiologos dynasty, the last Byzantine dynasty, built a shipyard at Kumkapı in the early fifteenth century. With the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, Konstoskalion's harbor was gradually eclipsed by other neighboring Bosphorus harbors, falling into disrepair and eventually being filled in by the construction of other buildings by the mid-seventeenth century.
However, the neighborhood continued to thrive and boast a substantial Greek Orthodox population for centuries after the port's destruction. Two public fountains were built in the late sixteenth century, an indication of the neighborhood’s population growth. Christians migrating from Cappadocia made up a sizable portion of the neighborhoods new transplants. By the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Greek Orthodox population became supplemented by Armenians, attracted to the neighborhood after the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople relocated there in 1641. The neighborhood became an important center of Armenian culture over the next centuries. For example, the Armenian Bezciyan Private School was established in 1790 and played an important role in the development of Armenian nationalism
within Turkey. Though the originals of these buildings have since burned down, nineteenth-century reconstructions of these buildings stand to this day. In the nineteenth century, after a massive fire burned down the majority of the neighborhood, the government reorganized the neighborhood according to a Western-style grid. These renovations included the building of several new public fountains and a railway that ran through the neighborhood. Another important moment for the Greek community of Kumkapı was the establishment of a Greek School in the Agia Kiryaki Church in 1846.
By the turn of the twentieth century, Kumkapı was a bustling urban neighborhood with an early railroad connection, dense with Greek taverns, Armenian schools, and various other pillars of communal Greek and Armenian life. However, the Greek and Armenian communities in Kumkapı greatly declined in the twentieth century. Most prominently, the Armenian Genocide beginning in World War I and deportations of Greek Orthodox in the 1920s substantially reduced these minorities' populations in the city. Greek populations were further reduced by anti-Greek pogroms in Istanbul in the 1950s.
Greek Churches:
Church of Hagia Panagia Elpida (Αγία Παναγία Ελπίδα):
The Agia Panagia Elpida church dates back to the sixteenth century. As with most of the churches of Istanbul, it was heavily damaged by fires requiring various renovations and reconstructions. Its final rebuilding was in the nineteenth century by architect Vasilios Tsilenis in 1898. As with the other churches of Kumkapı renovated in this period it’s final form boasts a dome which had, in previous centuries, been illegal for non-Muslims places of worship.
Church of Hagia Kiryaki (Αγίας Κυριακής):
The original structure of the church on Liman Street dedicated to Saint Kyriaki dates to at least 1583. Since then it has been rebuilt at least three times in 1730, 1865, and 1895. Its final structure which stands to this day was designed by renowned architect Periklis D. Fotiadis who was also known for his work on structures across Istanbul such as the Heybeliada Seminary and Zoğrafyon Greek High School. In this iteration of the church, the interior houses a dome. Sitting across from the church and incorporated in some of its deeds, was a Greek school. After the 1923 population exchanges and subsequent migrations it was shut down and converted into a masonry weaving workshop. The church is still in use and hosts feast days presided over by the Echumenical Patriarch.
References:
“Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople.” Wikipedia, June 23, 2023.
Herzog, Christoph, and Richard Wittmann, eds. Istanbul-Kushta-Constantinople: Narratives
of Identity in the Ottoman Capital, 1830-1930. Routledge, 2018.
October 2, 2020.
Järvik, Jürgen. “Armenian Sites of Istanbul.” grande flânerie, March 31, 2019.
Konstantina, Andrianopoulou. “Kontoskali (Kumkapı).” Translated by Tsokanis Anna.
Encyclopedia of the Hellenic World, May 6, 2008.
“Kontoskalion.” Wikipedia, August 6, 2022. .
“Kumkapı.” Wikipedia, March 25, 2023.
Öztürk, Hüseyin S. “Inscriptions of the City Walls.” Istanbul City Walls. Accessed July 7, 2023.
Şarklak, Evangelia A. 2022. “Rum Architrcts and their domed Greek Orthodox churches that
Parlak, Sevgi. “Kumkapı Aya Kiryaki (Hagia Kyriake) Kilisesi Vakfina Ait Yapının Tarihsel
Geçmişinin Aydinlatilmasi.pdf” Turkish Studies , 2015.
Achladi, Evangelia. n.d. “Rum Communities of Istanbul in the Nineteenth and Twentieth
Centuries : A Historical Survey.” Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies
Association 9 (1): 19-49.
Comments