Beyoglu - Pera

This part, which was not a residential area during the Byzantine period; It was called Peran Vineyards, originating from Pera, meaning across the bank. In the last century, especially foreigners used the name Pera instead of Beyoğlu. Turks, on the other hand, called Pera Beyoğlu and meant a larger area.

There are various rumors regarding the emergence of the name Beyoğlu. According to one of them; The name Beyoğlu originates from the fact that Alexios Komnenos, one of the Pontus princes, accepted Islam and lived here during the time of Mehmed the Conqueror. According to the second; The person living here is not the Pontus prince, but Luigi Giritti, the son of Andre Giritti, the Venetian ambassador during the time of Suleiman the Magnificent. This man, whom the Turks call "Bey's Son", was born from the ambassador's marriage to a Greek woman. The mansion he lives in is somewhere near Taksim. According to another; This district was named Beyoğlu because the Venetian ambassador who lived here during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent was called Beyoğlu in his correspondence.

The factor that turned the fortunes of the region, so to speak, was the process of turning the region into an embassy region, with the French Embassy opened here as a result of the warm relations and capitulations that developed as a result of Suleiman the Magnificent's support for the King of France, and the friendship that turned into an advantage. The French Embassy (French Palace) is followed by the Venetian Embassy (Venice Palace), followed by the British Embassy, the Polish Embassy and the Dutch Embassy, and the first embassy settlement begins. They were followed by other embassy settlements in the 17th and 18th centuries, and with them the settlement of foreign mission officials in the region. In the following years, all kinds of entertainment and music chose Beyoğlu as their base. Accordingly, the concentration of entertainment capital in the district continues. The passages, which were repaired and revived in the following years, provide a lively shopping opportunity, and as a result of the effort to return Beyoğlu to its bright days of the past, the old places symbolizing the Levantine Beyoğlu are given new life.

You can see Beyoğlu on our daily Istanbul tours.

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