“Big Stream”
Today few foreign visitors make it as far up the Bosphorus as the pleasant suburb of Büyükdere but in the 19th century this was one of the places where the Constantinople embassies kept summer retreats to enable their staff to escape the heat and humidity of the city centre, hence some of the unexpectedly grand architecture. Those who do come here mainly do so to visit the small but well-presented Sadberk Hanım Museum, a private archaeological and ethnographic museum although a walk along the coast road north to Sarıyer can also be very enjoyable. Along the way look out for the off-shore wooden kiosk that was once a sea hamam providing for discreet bathing in the manner of the old Victorian bathing machines.
Sadberk Hanım Museum
If you can’t get to Ankara’s Museum of Anatolian Civilisations, you might want to stop by the Sadberk Hanım Müzesi (closed Wednesdays, admission TL250, Turks TL120), a cut-down version of it in a pair of wooden houses overlooking the Bosphorus. The older of the two buildings contains collections related to the history of Turkish and Islamic art, while the second houses archaeological collections arranged in chronological order. In particular, look out for fine examples of the sort of Beykoz glass which used to be produced on the opposite shore of the Bosphorus.
Three rooms have been set up to show off traditional circumcision and coffee-making rituals as well as a typical Ottoman-era lying-in room.
As for the buildings themselves, the early 20th-century Azaryan Yalı is also known as the Vidalı Yalı (Studded Yalı) because of the criss-crossed wooden patterns on its facade. From the 1950s to 1980 the yalı was a family home for members of the Koç family of industrialists. In another Koç family home just south of the main museum the carpet and kilim collection of the American traveller, Josephine Powell (1919-2007), was on display before Covid although it has not reopened to the public since.
Around Büyükdere
The coast road at Büyükdere was built on reclaimed land and runs in front of a string of yalıs (waterside mansions) including the one built for the grand vizier Keçecizade Fuat Paşa (1814-69) that now houses the Fuat Paşa Hotel. A quieter road runs behind the yalı to form the heart of the suburb. Along it you’ll see the pretty old ferry terminal building, now replaced by something considerably more functional on the coast road.
As you head towards the northern end of Büyükdere you will see, on the inland side of the road, the very European-looking Church of Santa Maria built for the Franciscans in 1866. Just up the road is an imposing mansion that also belonged to the Franciscans but was given by them to the Spanish Embassy for use as a summer retreat in 1783.
Nearby is the Armenian Catholic Church of Surp Boğos (St Paul), built in 1847 and greatly expanded in 1893.
While the Spanish Embassy building is in a decent state of repair the same can hardly be said of the far more rustic affair built originally as a private home for “the shrewd pasha”, General Nikolai Pavlovich Ignatiev (1832-1908), whose main goal in life was to ensure that the Bosphorus continued to offer free passage to Russian shipping. Eventually it became the summer retreat of the Russian Embassy which is back to its old splendour after a recent face-lift.
In the back streets of Büyükdere it’s worth looking for the little cobbled enclave that houses the Greek Orthodox Church of Hagia Paraskevi and the school once associated with it. The current church only dates back to the 1830s although there had been a church on the site since at least the 17th century.
Sleeping
Fuat Paşa Hotel. Tel: 0212-242 9860
Transport info
Most buses heading up the Bosphorus from Kabataş or Beşiktaş to Sarıyer pass through Büyükdere.
Infrequent ferries also serve the suburb from Eminönü and Beşiktaş.
Nearby areas
