A life culture inter-twined with the sea: Istanbul’s water-side mansions

Some Istanbulites believe that poetry existed before human beings began to speak. The claim that poetry existed before there were bards, before they started writing, is based on the feeling that arises in those who see the Bosphorus. The feeling evoked by the relationship between the land and the sea, the nobility of the water when it is calm and the intensity when it is raging, creates such an impression that those whose minds are pouring out of their pens resort to poetry. In their eyes, the shores of Istanbul on two continents can only be expressed in poetry. That is why they invented a type of building called a “waterside mansion” and considered those who had the privilege of living in a waterside mansion as poets, even if they did not write poetry.

On July 11, 1752, a rowboat slowly approached the Maiden’s Tower, its oars sinking into the clear blue sea. Chief Harem Eunuch Calligrapher Beşir Agha was imprisoned in the tower. As you know, the decree belongs to the seal; the seal belonged to our sultan at that time. Beşir Agha was one of the closest people of Sultan Mahmut I. The fate of the palace was then intrigues, power calculations, secrets, secrecy and beheaded necks. Those who saw that time said, “When Calligrapher Beşir Agha realized that he would be beheaded, he released a saddlebag into the sea.” The secrets of history are not only hidden in places; the bottom of the sea is also a secret sanctuary of the past. The Bosphorus is the confidant of history. What remains to us as knowledge is half of history on land. What remains to us as knowledge is of the land, half of history.

They say that Istanbul’s underwater is a treasure. And a treasure not of any part of the past, but of all time. Alexandria, Rhodes, Yerushalayim, Tir, Smyrna, Smyrna, Salamis, whichever, the route of one of the three boats is the same. Because this is the harbor of the vast Levant. It has always remained that way. They don’t call it Dersaadet (Gate to Prosperit) for nothing. The ships anchoring on these busy shores with the scents of the night, those who have come to this city by sea since the Argonauts, have expressed similar impressions of admiration.

The oracle King Phineus had told the Argonauts, the crew of the Argo, who sailed from Thessaly in search of the Golden Fleece, how to navigate the terrible crashing rocks in the Bosphorus. He suggested that they fly a pigeon ahead of them, and if the bird landed in the water, they should change course. They listened to this advice and crossed to the Black Sea; but what about those who did not know? Neither Homer nor Apollonios of Rhodes, the author of the Argonautica, knows how many ships were bitten like sharks by the rocks near the surface.

Just ask a mackerel and you’ll find out. They know best what happened here and when. They say that the reason why mackerel don’t talk is because they know too much. They say something else that is hard to believe: One day, when the waters recede from the Bosphorus, a hidden civilization will appear in the middle. They say that the Holy Ark of the Covenant, Pericles’ lyre, the books of Pergamon, Cleopatra’s ruby necklace and the cross on which Jesus was crucified also rest in these waters. These seem unbelievable. Xenephon tells that tens of thousands of Alexander the Great’s soldiers threw their booty into this water on their way back from Mesopotamia. Believe it or not.

Now that there is a summary of Istanbul’s underwater history in the now landlocked Port of Theodosius in Yenikapı, it is time to fill the gaps in the legends. Not only the shipwrecks in the harbor, but also the hidden secrets of the ships that come from seven climates and four corners and dock in the harbor are revealed one by one. Because the river overflowed, the mud rained down, and there was such a day that not even a boat but a harbor sank with its cargo.

Starting from the Byzantine period, Istanbul was a world city where people of all nationalities came and went, thriving in a cosmopolitan environment. It continued to retain these characteristics after the conquest. Mehmet II divided the city into 13 districts in accordance with the old Byzantine order. Minorities lived in certain neighborhoods around churches or synagogues under the leadership of their religious leaders, and businesses were established near these settlements. Muslims lived in the center of the historical peninsula, most foreigners lived in Galata, and others lived on the shores of the Marmara Sea and the Golden Horn. The Kumkapı-Samatya region developed as Armenian settlements, the Fener region as Greek settlements, and the Balat-Hasköy region as Jewish settlements. In the villages lining the shores of the Bosphorus, some ethnic groups and embassies had settled over time. Summer residences, which were visited by order of the sultan at the beginning of summer, also adorned the shores as magnificent mansions. They would go to the summer house in mid May and return to the center towards the end of November.

In the 17th century, taverns, shops and supply warehouses began to form around the piers on both coasts. The waterside mansions had gates to the sea and boathouses. From then on, the Bosphorus meant beautiful waterside mansions standing by the sea. Over time, waterside mansions reflecting different periods and architectural styles have become one of the most valuable cultural heritages of Istanbul. Getting to know these buildings, about 360 of which have survived to the present day, means encountering a thousand and one stories that are about to be lost in the dusty pages of history.

For example, a closer look at Kandilli reveals the following: Kamberçe, Tophanelioğlu and Clifton waterside mansions are lined up around Akıntıburnu. After the single-storey Arslanian mansion comes the mansion of Halil Mehmet Rıfat Pasha, the son-in-law of Sultan Mahmut II, a large building on the right side of the land sloping steeply towards the sea. These structures were built when Vaniköy was opened for settlement. The wide view across the slope that separates Kandilli and Vaniköy and descends steeply to the sea led to the concentration of waterside mansions here. The Bosphorus was seen from a vertical angle, and the Istanbul skyline adorned the horizon.

The road connecting the two neighborhoods passes behind the row of waterside mansions and almost all of these buildings are spread over set gardens created at various levels of the slope. So retaining walls were built on the land side of the road. The Adile Sultan Palace was visible at the highest level on the land descending towards the sea. Adile, the daughter of Sultan Mahmut II, was the most important female poet in the Ottoman dynasty. Attaching great importance to the education of his children, Sultan Mahmut II made sure that his daughter took lessons in religion, literature, music and calligraphy, and that she grew up to be a very good calligrapher and poet. Perpendicular to the sea on the hill, the palace had a wide view in both directions. Built between 1861-1870 by Sarkis Balyan, the chief architect of the palace, it was converted into a girls’ high school in 1912. It burned down one day like hundreds of others.

The pearls of the Bosphorus, waterside mansions are like gardens of paradise with their backs to the groves and their feet to the sea. The fact that they are spread over a large area on both sides makes touristic boat tours an indispensable activity. Those who come across a good guide can also learn the meaning of the colors of the facade of these buildings in the Ottoman period. According to the color system, members of the state lived in waterside mansions painted in red ochre. Pastel colored waterside mansions belonged to Muslims, those in shades of gray to non-Muslims.

The Bosphorus was also a favorite place for the Ottoman Dynasty. The Sultan and his relatives had built numerous waterside mansions and palaces here. Dolmabahçe, Çırağan, Beylerbeyi, Beşiktaş coastal palaces and Küçüksu Pavilion are prominent examples of the buildings that show that they were not indifferent to the most beautiful place in Istanbul.

The famous writer Abdulhak Şinasi saw the waterside mansions as a reflection of the ethnic diversity of the empire: “The old grand waterside mansions were like small miniatures of the Ottoman Empire. The nanny would be Circassian, the sister Black, the maid Greek, the servant Greek, the foster child Turkish, the wet nurse mulatto, the butler Thracian, the butler Armenian, the cook from Bolu, the boatman Greek, the eunuch Abyssinian, the gardener Albanian. These elements would come together under one roof and maintain the cultural mix in the empire.”

Architecturally awe-inspiring waterside mansions are now among the most expensive residences in the world. For example, the Zeki Pasha waterside mansion is among the ten most expensive houses in the world. What goes on in dozens of wonderful waterside mansions that passers-by by boat envy, dream about, and wonder about the story of, and the gossip about their inhabitants, are the subject of another article.