Galata

{{short description|Former neighbourhood opposite Constantinople, in modern-day Turkey}} {{other uses}} {{distinguish|text = ancient region of Galatia}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2020}} [[File:Istanbul_asv2020-02_img47_Galata_Tower.jpg|thumb|300px|A view of Galata (modern Karaköy) with the Galata Tower (1348) at the apex of the medieval Genoese citadel walls, which were largely demolished in the 19th century to enable northward urban growth.]]

'''Galata''' is the former name of the Karaköy neighbourhood in Istanbul, which is located at the northern shore of the Golden Horn. The district is connected to the historic Fatih district by several bridges that cross the Golden Horn, most notably the Galata Bridge. The medieval citadel of Galata was a colony of the Republic of Genoa between 1273 and 1453. The famous Galata Tower was built by the Genoese in 1348 at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel. Galata is now a quarter within the district of Beyoğlu in Istanbul. thumb|299x299px|Location of Galata (immediate north side of the Golden Horn-Bosphorus confluence).

== Etymology == [[File:Istanbul_panorama_(16293921746).jpg|thumb|300px|View of the Golden Horn and the historic peninsula of Istanbul from the Galata Tower.]]

Several theories exist concerning the origin of the name "Galata". The Greeks believe that the name comes either from ''Galatai'' (meaning "Gauls"), as the Celtic tribe of Gauls (Galatians) were thought to have camped here during the Hellenistic period before settling into Galatia in central Anatolia;{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}} or from ''galatas'' (meaning "milkman"), as the area was used by shepherds for grazing in the Early Medieval (Byzantine) period.{{Citation needed|date=August 2016}} According to another hypothesis, it is a variant of the Italian word ''calata'', which means "a section of the docks of the ports intended for the mooring of merchant ships, for the direct embarkation or disembarkation of goods or passengers, for the temporary storage of goods and marine equipment",<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|title=Calata|url=http://www.treccani.it/vocabolario/calata/|encyclopedia=Vocabolario Treccani|publisher=Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana|language=it|access-date=26 December 2019}}</ref> since the neighborhood was for centuries a Genoese colony. The name Galata has subsequently been given by the city of Genoa to its naval museum, ''Galata - Museo del mare'', which was opened in 2004.

== History == [[File:Arap Mosque 03.jpg|thumb|left|180px|Minaret of the Arap Mosque, originally the belfry of the Church of San Domenico which was built in 1325 by Dominican friars in Galata.]] [[File:Bankalar Caddesi in the 1920's.jpg|thumb|Bankalar Caddesi (''Banks Street'') in Galata was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Central Bank Building (1892) is seen at left.]]

===Roman and Byzantine periods=== In historic documents, Galata is often called '''Pera''', which comes from the old Greek name for the place, ''Peran en Sykais'', literally "the Fig Field on the Other Side."

The quarter first appears in Late Antiquity as Sykai or '''Sycae'''. By the time the ''Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae'' was compiled around 425 AD, it had become an integral part of the city as its 13th region. According to the ''Notitia'', it featured public baths and a forum built by Emperor Honorius (r. 395–423), a theatre, a porticoed street, and 435 mansions. Also, the settlement probably was enclosed by walls in the fifth century.<ref name="ODB815">{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6 | page=815}}</ref> Sykai received full city rights under Justinian I (r. 527–565), who renamed it '''Iustinianopolis''', but declined and was probably abandoned in the seventh century. Only the large tower, ''Megalos Pyrgos'' (the ''kastellion tou Galatou''), which controlled the northern end of the sea chain that blocked the entrance to the Golden Horn, remained.<ref name="ODB815"/> Galata Tower (''Christea Turris'') was built in 1348 at the northern apex of the Genoese citadel.

In the 11th century, the quarter housed the city's Jewish community, which came to number some 2,500 people.<ref name="ODB815"/> In 1171, a new Genoese settlement in the area was attacked and nearly destroyed.<ref name=Norwich104>John Julius Norwich, A History of Venice, First Vintage Books Edition May 1986, p. 104</ref> Despite Genoese averments that Venice had nothing to do with the attack, the Byzantine Emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–1180) used the attack on the settlement as a pretext to imprison all Venetian citizens and confiscate all Venetian property within the Byzantine Empire.<ref name=Norwich104/> The ''kastellion'' and the Jewish quarter were seized and destroyed in 1203 by the Catholic crusaders during the Fourth Crusade, shortly before the sack of Constantinople.<ref name="ODB815"/>

In 1233 during the subsequent Latin Empire (1204–1261), a small Catholic chapel dedicated to St. Paul was built in place of a sixth-century Byzantine church in Galata.<ref name=mw79>Müller-Wiener (1977), p. 79</ref> This chapel was significantly enlarged in 1325 by the Dominican friars, who officially renamed it as the Church of San Domenico,<ref name=ey102>Eyice (1955), p. 102</ref> but local residents continued to use the original denomination of San Paolo.<ref name=ja599>Janin (1953), p. 599</ref> In 1407, Pope Gregory XII, in order to ensure the maintenance of the church, conceded indulgences to the visitors of the Monastery of San Paolo in Galata.<ref name=ja600>Janin (1953), p. 600</ref> The building is known today as the ''Arap Camii'' (Arab Mosque) because a few years after its conversion into a mosque (between 1475 and 1478) under the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II with the name ''Galata Camii'' (Galata Mosque; or alternatively ''Cami-i Kebir'', i.e. Great Mosque), it was given by Sultan Bayezid II to the Spanish Moors who fled the Spanish Inquisition of 1492 and came to Istanbul.

[[File:Genoese Palace in Galata Istanbul 1.webp|thumb|left|Genoese Palace (''Palazzo del Comune''), also known as the Palace of the Podestà (''Podesta Sarayı'') in Galata, with the Galata Tower (1348) at left. It was built in 1314 (damaged by fire in 1315 and repaired in 1316) by Montano De Marini,<ref name="Mural Slabs from Genoese Galata">{{cite web|url=https://www.thebyzantinelegacy.com/galata-slabs|title=Mural Slabs from Genoese Galata|website=www.thebyzantinelegacy.com|access-date=8 September 2023}}</ref> the Podestà of Galata.]]

In 1261, the quarter was retaken by the Byzantines, but Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos (r. 1259–1282) granted it to the Genoese in 1267 in accordance with the Treaty of Nymphaeum. The precise limits of the Genoese colony were stipulated in 1303, and they were prohibited from fortifying it. The Genoese, however, disregarded this, and through subsequent expansions of the walls, enlarged the area of their settlement.<ref name="ODB815"/> These walls, including the mid-14th century Galata Tower (originally ''Christea Turris'', "Tower of Christ", and completed in 1348) survived largely intact until the 19th century, when most were dismantled to allow further urban expansion towards the northern neighbourhoods of Beyoğlu, Beşiktaş, and beyond.<ref>{{citation | editor-first = Alexander | editor-last = Kazhdan |editor-link=Alexander Kazhdan | title = Oxford Dictionary of Byzantium | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-19-504652-6 | pages=815–816}}</ref> At present, only a small portion of the Genoese walls are still standing, in the vicinity of the Galata Tower.

With its design modeled after the 13th-century wing of the Palazzo San Giorgio in Genoa,<ref>[http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-a50nI6pdIHo/TvBDbyKsODI/AAAAAAAAABk/nOhfbgIB3ak/s1600/Bereket+Han%2527a+Cenova%2527da+sa%25C4%259F+altta+g%25C3%25B6r%25C3%25BClen+benzer+ama%25C3%25A7l%25C4%25B1+bina+model+olmu%25C5%259F.jpg Palazzo del Comune (1314) in Galata compared to Palazzo San Giorgio (13th century) in Genoa]</ref> the Genoese Palace was built by the Podestà of Galata, Montano De Marini.<ref name="Mural Slabs from Genoese Galata"/><ref name="haber7-podesta">{{cite web|url=https://www.haber7.com/kultur/haber/3242428-galatadaki-tarihi-podesta-sarayi-satisa-cikarildi|title=Galata'daki tarihi Podesta Sarayı satışa çıkarıldı|website=haber7.com|date=18 July 2022}}</ref> It was known as the ''Palazzo del Comune'' (Palace of the Municipality) in the Genoese period and was initially built in 1314, damaged by fire in 1315 and repaired in 1316.<ref name="haber7-podesta"/><ref name=inventory>[http://www.envanter.gov.tr/anit/smo/detay/53200 National inventory of historic buildings: Palace of the Podestà (1314) in Galata] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221220512/http://www.envanter.gov.tr/anit/smo/detay/53200 |date=2014-02-21 }}</ref>

[[File:Genoese Palace in Galata Istanbul 3.jpg|thumb|Genoese Palace (1314) before its front façade on Bankalar Caddesi was rebuilt with a different style in the 1880s and became known as the ''Bereket Han'' office building.]]

The building's appearance remained largely unchanged until 1880, when its front (southern) façade on Bankalar Caddesi (facing the Golden Horn), together with about two-thirds of the building,<ref name="front-facade-before-1880">{{cite web|url=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/db/Genoese_Palace_in_Galata_Istanbul_1.webp|title=The front facade of the Genoese Palace (1314) on Bankalar Caddesi that was demolished in 1880}}</ref><ref name="facades"/> was demolished for constructing the street's tramway line.<ref name="facades">{{cite web|url=https://i4.hurimg.com/i/hurriyet/75/750x422/60eca5284e3fe018584abf14.jpg|title=The rear (left) and front (right) façades of the Genoese Palace (1314)|website=hurriyet.com.tr|publisher=Hürriyet|date=13 July 2021}}</ref><ref name="hürriyet">{{cite web|url=https://www.hurriyet.com.tr/gundem/ceneviz-sarayini-parca-parca-calisiyorlar-41852028|title=Ceneviz Sarayı'nı parça parça çalıyorlar|website=hurriyet.com.tr|publisher=Hürriyet|date=13 July 2021}}</ref> The front façade was later reconstructed in the 1880s with a different style<ref name="facades"/> and became a 5-floor office building named ''Bereket Han'',<ref name="hürriyet"/> while its rear (northern) façade on Kart Çınar Sokak (and the remaining one-third of the palace building)<ref name="front-facade-before-1880"/><ref name="facades"/> has retained the materials and design of the original structure, but needs restoration.<ref name="haber7-podesta"/><ref name="facades"/><ref name="hürriyet"/><ref name="comparison">[https://www.turizmgunlugu.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/podesta-sarayi-galata.jpg Ruins of the Genoese Palace (Podesta Sarayı) in Galata, Istanbul, and the 13th century wing of the Palazzo San Giorgio in Genoa, Italy]</ref> Bankalar Caddesi has rows of Ottoman-era bank buildings, including the headquarters of the Ottoman Central Bank, which is today the Ottoman Bank Museum. Several ornaments that were originally on the façade of the Genoese Palace were used to embellish these 19th-century bank buildings in the late Ottoman period.

===Ottoman period=== When Constantinople fell to Mehmed the Conqueror in 1453, the neighborhood was mostly inhabited by Genoese and Venetian Catholics, though there were also some Greek, Armenian and Jewish residents. The Christian residents of Galata maintained a formal neutrality during the Ottoman siege, neither siding with the Sultan, nor openly against him. One modern historian, Halil İnalcık, has estimated (based on a census from 1455) that around 8% of Galata's population fled after the city fell.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rozen|first=Minna|title=A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul:The Formative Years, 1453-1566|publisher=Brill|date=2010|pages=12–15}}</ref> [[File:Bremen, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, ms. Or. 9, fol. 99r.jpg|thumb|right|Latin man from Galata, depicted by Lambert de Vos in 1574]] In the 1455 census it is recorded that Jews primarily resided in the Fabya quarter and Samona (which is in the vicinity of present-day Karaköy). Though the Greek-speaking Jews of Galata appear to have retained their homes after the conquest, there are no Jewish households recorded in Galata by 1472, a situation that remained unchanged until the mid-16th century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rozen|first=Minna|title=A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul:The Formative Years, 1453-1566|publisher=Brill|date=2010|page=15}}</ref>

Contemporary accounts differ about the course of events that took place in Galata during the Ottoman conquest in 1453. By some accounts, those who remained in Galata surrendered to the Ottoman fleet, prostrating themselves before the Sultan and presenting to him the keys of the citadel. This account is fairly consistent in records from Michael Ducas and Giovanni Lomellino; but according to Laonikos Chalkokondyles, the Genoese mayor made the decision to surrender before the fleet arrived in Galata and relinquished the keys to the Ottoman commander Zagan Pasha, not the Sultan. One eyewitness, Leonard of Chios, describes the flight of Christians from the city:<ref>{{cite book|last=Rozen|first=Minna|title=A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul:The Formative Years, 1453-1566|publisher=Brill|date=2010|page=13}}</ref><blockquote>"Those of them who did not manage to board their ships before the Turkish vessels reached their side of the harbor were captured; mothers were taken and their children left, or the reverse, as the case might be; and many were overcome by the sea and drowned in it. Jewels were scattered about, and they preyed on one another without pity."</blockquote>

thumb|A 1901 postcard depicting Galata, showing signage in Ottoman Turkish, French, Greek, and Armenian.

According to Ducas and Michael Critobulus, the population was not harmed by Zaganos Pasha's forces, but Chalkokondyles does not mention this good conduct, and Leonard of Chios says the population acted against orders from Genoa when they agreed to accept servitude for their lives and property to be spared. Those who fled had their property confiscated; however, according to Ducas and Lomellino, their property was restored if they returned within three months.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rozen|first=Minna|title=A History of the Jewish Community in Istanbul:The Formative Years, 1453-1566|publisher=Brill|date=2010|pages=14–15}}</ref>

Morisco who were expelled from Spain settled in Galata around 1609–1620, their descendants intermingled with the locals.<ref>{{cite book | chapter-url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004279353/B9789004279353-s013.xml | doi=10.1163/9789004279353_013 | chapter=Moriscos in Ottoman Galata, 1609–1620s | title=The Expulsion of the Moriscos from Spain | year=2014 | last1=Krstić | first1=Tijana | pages=269–285 | isbn=9789004279353 }}</ref>

Galata and Pera in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were a part of the ''Municipality of the Sixth Circle'' ({{langx|fr|Municipalité du VI<sup>me</sup> Cercle}}), established under the laws of 11 Jumada al-Thani (Djem. II) and 24 Shawwal (Chev.) 1274, in 1858; the organisation of the central city in the city walls, "Stamboul" ({{langx|tr|İstanbul}}), was not affected by these laws. All of Constantinople was in the ''Prefecture of the City of Constantinople'' ({{langx|fr|Préfecture de la Ville de Constantinople}}).<ref name=YoungV6p90>{{cite book|author=Young, George|title=Corps de droit ottoman; recueil des codes, lois, règlements, ordonnances et actes les plus importants du droit intérieur, et d'études sur le droit coutumier de l'Empire ottoman|publisher=Clarendon Press|volume=6|year=1906|language=fr|page=[https://archive.org/details/corpsdedroitott06turkgoog/page/n155 149]}}</ref>

thumb|Quay of Galata

The Camondo Stairs, a famous pedestrian stairway designed with a unique mix of the Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles, and built in circa 1870–1880 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish banker Abraham Salomon Camondo, is also located on Bankalar Caddesi.<ref name=Camondo>{{Cite web |url=http://www.panoramikistanbul.com/kamondo-merdivenleri-kamondo-steps.html |title=Camondo Steps on the Bankalar Caddesi |access-date=2009-07-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110903235858/http://www.panoramikistanbul.com/kamondo-merdivenleri-kamondo-steps.html |archive-date=2011-09-03 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The seaside mansion of the Camondo family, popularly known as the Camondo Palace (''Kamondo Sarayı''),<ref name=GF/> was built between 1865 and 1869 and designed by architect Sarkis Balyan.<ref name=Bahriye1>[http://www.degisti.com/index.php/archives/12860 Bahriye Nezareti (Ministry of the Navy) building]</ref><ref name=Bahriye2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20140221223532/http://www.byzantiumistanbul.com/detay.asp?detayid=511 Bahriye Nezareti (Ministry of the Navy) building]</ref> It is located on the northern shore of the Golden Horn, within the nearby Kasımpaşa quarter to the west of Galata. It later became the headquarters of the Ministry of the Navy (''Bahriye Nezareti'')<ref name=Bahriye1/><ref name=Bahriye2/> during the late Ottoman period, and is currently used by the Turkish Navy as the headquarters of the Northern Sea Area Command (''Kuzey Deniz Saha Komutanlığı'').<ref name=GF/><ref name=Bahriye1/><ref name=Bahriye2/> The Camondo family also built two historic apartment buildings in Galata, both of which are named ''Kamondo Apartmanı'': the older one is located at Serdar-ı Ekrem Street near Galata Tower and was built between 1861 and 1868;<ref name=GF>[http://www.gayrimenkulfikirleri.com/bulten/mayis2012/bulten/kamondo-apartmani.htm Kamondo Apartmanı (1868) at Serdar-ı Ekrem Street] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222224343/http://www.gayrimenkulfikirleri.com/bulten/mayis2012/bulten/kamondo-apartmani.htm |date=2014-02-22 }}</ref> while the newer one is located at the corner between Felek Street and Hacı Ali Street and was built in 1881.<ref>[http://www.envanter.gov.tr/anit/index/detay/53336 National inventory of historic buildings: Kamondo Apartmanı (1881) between Felek Street and Hacı Ali Street] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221223526/http://www.envanter.gov.tr/anit/index/detay/53336 |date=2014-02-21 }}</ref>

Galatasaray S.K., one of the most famous football clubs of Turkey, gets its name from this quarter and was established in 1905 in the nearby Galatasaray Square in Pera (now Beyoğlu), where Galatasaray High School, formerly known as the ''Mekteb-i Sultani'', also stands. ''Galatasaray'' literally means ''Galata Palace''.<ref>[http://www.2288gs.com/ Galatasaray Sports Club 2288 Website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090805003138/http://www.2288gs.com/ |date=2009-08-05 }}</ref>

In the early 20th century, Galata housed embassies of European countries and sizeable Christian minority groups. At the time, signage in businesses was multilingual. Matthew Ghazarian described Galata in the early 20th century as "a bastion of diversity" which was "the Brooklyn to the Old City’s Manhattan."<ref>{{cite web|author=Ghazarian, Matthew|url=https://baraza.cdrs.columbia.edu/ottoman-postcards-in-a-post-ottoman-world/|title=Ottoman Postcards in a Post-Ottoman World|work=Baraza|issn=2373-1079|date=2014-10-13|access-date=2019-06-07}}</ref>

==Media== {{see also|Media of the Ottoman Empire}} In the Ottoman era many newspapers in non-Muslim minority and foreign languages were produced in Galata, with production in daylight hours and distribution at nighttime; Ottoman authorities did not allow production of the Galata-based newspapers at night.<ref>{{cite book|author=Balta, Evangelia|author2=Ayșe Kavak|chapter=Publisher of the newspaper Konstantinoupolis for half a century. Following the trail of Dimitris Nikolaidis in the Ottoman archives|editor=Sagaster, Börte|editor2=Theoharis Stavrides|editor3=Birgitt Hoffmann|title=Press and Mass Communication in the Middle East: Festschrift for Martin Strohmeier|publisher=University of Bamberg Press|date=2018-02-28|isbn=9783863095277|pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=EHNTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA33 33]-}} - Volume 12 of Bamberger Orientstudien // Cited: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=EHNTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA40 40]</ref>

== Gallery == {{gallery |File:Galataturm.jpg|View of Galata (Karaköy) and the Galata Tower from Eminönü across the Golden Horn |File:Istanbul_Galata_Tower_(243781971).jpeg|View of Galata (Karaköy) and the Galata Tower from Sarayburnu across the Golden Horn |File:Ruins of the Galata Walls (1).jpg|Surviving section of the {{ill|Walls of Galata|tr|Galata Surları}} |File:Eski Galata surundaki kule - panoramio.jpg|Another surviving section of the Walls of Galata. The bell tower is that of the Church of SS Peter and Paul }}

==Notable buildings in Galata== *Genoese Palace (1314) *Arap Mosque (Church of San Domenico) (1325) *Galata Tower (1348) *Saint Gregory the Illuminator Church of Galata (1391) *Church of Saint Benoit (1427) *{{ill|Saint Pierre Han|tr|Sen Piyer Hanı}} (1771) *Zülfaris Synagogue (1823) *{{ill|Surp Pırgiç Armenian Catholic Church|tr|Surp Pırgiç Ermeni Katolik Kilisesi}} (1834) *Church of Saints Peter and Paul (1843) *Camondo Stairs (1880) *St. George's Austrian High School (1882) *Imperial Ottoman Bank and Ottoman Tobacco Company (1892) *{{ill|Tofre Begadim Synagogue|tr|Terziler Sinagogu}} (1894) *Ashkenazi Synagogue (1900) *{{ill|British Seaman's Hospital|tr|İngiliz Bahriye Hastanesi}} (1904) *Italian Synagogue (1931) *Neve Shalom Synagogue (1951)

==Notable natives and residents of Galata== *Abraham Salomon Camondo *Constantine Samuel Rafinesque *Seydi Ali Reis

==See also== *Genoese colonies *{{ill|Galata Mevlevi House Museum|tr|Galata Mevlevihanesi}} *{{ill|Walls of Galata|tr|Galata Surları}}

== References and notes == {{reflist}}

== Sources == {{Commons category}} {{Wikivoyage}} * {{cite book |last=Balard |first=Michel | title = Gênes et la mer - Genova e il mare |chapter=Les Génois dans l’empire byzantin | language = French | pages = 491–507 | volume = II | publisher = Società Ligure di Storia Patria | location = Genoa | year = 2017 | isbn = 978-88-97099-42-0}} *{{cite book | last=Janin | first= Raymond | author-link=Raymond Janin | title=La Géographie Ecclésiastique de l'Empire Byzantin. 1. Part: Le Siège de Constantinople et le Patriarcat Oecuménique. 3rd Vol. : Les Églises et les Monastères | publisher=Institut Français d'Etudes Byzantines | location=Paris | year=1953 | language=fr }} *{{cite book | last=Eyice | first= Semavi | author-link=Semavi Eyice | title=Istanbul. Petite Guide a travers les Monuments Byzantins et Turcs | publisher=Istanbul Matbaası | location=Istanbul | year=1955 | language=fr }} *{{cite book | last=Müller-Wiener | first= Wolfgang | author-link=Wolfgang Müller-Wiener | title=Bildlexikon zur Topographie Istanbuls: Byzantion, Konstantinupolis, Istanbul bis zum Beginn d. 17 Jh | publisher=Wasmuth | location=Tübingen | year=1977 | isbn = 978-3-8030-1022-3 | language=de }}

{{Beyoğlu}} {{Authority control}} {{Coord|41|01|22|N|28|58|25|E|region:TR_type:city|display=title}}

Category:Beyoğlu Category:Quarters and suburbs of Constantinople Category:Genoese colonies Category:Jewish communities in Turkey Category:Golden Horn