“With Towers”
One of the most conspicuous buildings on the Asian shore of the Bosphorus in İstanbul is the huge military school at Kuleli, just north of Çengelköy, with its fairy-tale asymmetrical towers. Since it’s not open to the public it’s best viewed from the decks of a Bosphorus boat or from across the water at Kuruçeşme.
The original barracks on the site was erected shortly after Sultan Mahmud II abolished the Janissaries in 1826 in favour of creating a modern standing army. The original building was redesigned in 1845 by Garabet Balyan after a fire but had to be rebuilt yet again during the reign of Sultan Abdülaziz. Florence Nightingale‘s first hospital for the wounded of the Crimean War (1853-56) was situated here, before being moving into the Selimiye Barracks, near Kadıköy.
Today the barracks serve as a military high school. Ex-students include Cemal Gürsel and Cevdet Sunay, Turkey’s fourth and fifth presidents; the great military leader, Gazi Osman Paşa; and the writer Irfan Orga, author of the poignant post-First World War Portrait of a Turkish Family.
It is believed to stand on the site of a Byzantine monastery called Metanoia (Repentance) set up by the Emperor Justinian’s wife Theodora as a refuge for ex-prostitutes.
In 2016 it acquired unwanted notoriety when some of the military cadets in the barracks were obliged to take part in the failed coup whose focal point in İstanbul was the nearby First Bosphorus Bridge, now the 15 July Şehitleri Köprüsü (Martyrs of 15th July Bridge).
Transport info
To get to Kuleli pick up any bus heading along the coast from Üsküdar or places en route. Try and avoid peak travel times as the Asian coast road is notorious for traffic bottlenecks.
Nearby areas
