Just like the Beyoğlu Stone which it has given its name to, Beyoğlu is a multifaceted place: it has been the center for culture and entertainment, as well as trade and diplomacy since the beginning of its history, since at least the 16th century.
Even in the first half of the 16th century, Pera was a rural area with few buildings. The few Turkish settlements in the area during this time were mostly located around the Galata Palace (today’s Galatasaray High School) built in 1482 by Bayezid II as a conscript barracks, the Galata Mevlevi dervish lodge, the Şahkulu Mosque, the Asmalımescit disctrict and the Ağa Mosque. These buildings are still among the most well known and most precious buildings in Pera.
When foreign representatives in Galata began expressing disturbance about the airlessness, crowdedness and loudness of the district and its port, Sultan Suleiman (the Magnificent) allowed the French Embassy to be transferred to outside the Galata walls, as a gesture to the French king François I. The French Embassy which was moved to near today’s Istiklal Street was followed by the embassies of Venice, Holland, Poland, England, Italy, Sweden, Ragusa, Hungary, Russia, Denmark and others. This dramatically increased the foreigner population in the area. From the 16th century to the early 19th century, there were three main foreign groups in Beyoğlu: missionaries, the Levantines residing in the city, and other non-Muslim minorities. It is possible to state that this structure still continues. Beyoğlu is the richest district of Istanbul with regards to the variation of people. The first modernizing movements also began from this area because of this.
After Hotel d’Angleterre, the first modern hotel in Istanbul, opened in 1841, many hotels began emerging in Beyoğlu. The Pera Palace Hotel, which has been intact since 1896, is one of these. Istanbul’s first performance halls, beer houses, luxury shops, bookstores, and luxury residences were always in Pera.
Shops in grand and luxurious passages such as Passage Oriental (1840), the Hacopulo Passage (1871), Cité de Péra (1875) began attracting attention. These venues continue to be centers of attraction and activity today.
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The story of the restaurant right next to the Hacopulo Passage is quite interesting, as with hundreds of other venues and passages in Beyoğlu: During the First World War and the occupation period, Russians joined the cosmopolitan population of Beyoğlu. The oldest Russian restaurant which is still intact, Rejans (Régence) remains from those days.
New art movements such as Baroque and Art Nouveau rapidly spread to the country and many works were created, such as the Botter Apartments by the Italian architect who brought the Art Nouveau movement to Istanbul, Raimondo D’Aronco.
Significant improvements regarding transportation were also made. For example, the smallest and second oldest (after the one in London) subway in the world, Tünel was opened in 1875.
Because Turkish, Greek, Slavic, Wallachian, German, Dutch, French, English, and Italian –basically almost all the languages in the world in that time– were spoken in Beyoğlu, foreign travelers used to call it Babylon. The situation isn’t any different today; in fact the number of languages spoken in Beyoğlu has increased dramatically. You really can hear all the languages of the world in Beyoğlu!
