THEATER IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ISTANBUL: CASES FOR THE

TRANSLATION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL TYPOLOGY

A THESIS SUBMITTED TO
THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
OF
MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY

BY

EZGİ YAZICI

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR
THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE
IN THE DEPARTMENT OF
HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

SEPTEMBER 2010
Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences

Prof. Dr. Meliha Altunışık

Director

I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of
Master of Science.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Güven Arif Sargın

Head of Department

This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully
adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science.

Ass. Prof. Dr. Namık G. Erkal

Supervisor

Assoc. Prof Dr. Elvan Altan Ergut (METU, AH)

Ass. Prof Dr. Namık G. Erkal (METU, AH)
Assoc. Prof Dr. F. Cânâ BİLSEL (METU, ARCH)
I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and
presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also
declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and
referenced all material and results that are not original to this work.

Name, Last name :

Signature :

iii
 ABSTRACT

THEATER IN NINETEENTH CENTURY ISTANBUL: CASES FOR THE

TRANSLATION OF AN ARCHITECTURAL TYPE

Yazıcı, Ezgi

Master, Department of History of Architecture

Supervisor: Ass. Prof. Dr. Namık G. Erkal

September, 2010, 156 pages

As far as the traditional Turkish theater does not refer to any architectural
structure; the theater buildings that are built during the nineteenth century are
identified with the ideals of modernity and treated as the literally translations of
the Western typologies.This study aims to investigate the possbility of a geniune
architectural language in the theaters of nineteeenth century Istanbul. While doing
this, rather than offering a pure formal analysis,the study concentrates on the
cultural panorama of the nineteenth century Istanbul, political and ideological
changes, international relations, economic downturn and their impact on theater
that starts to appear as a popular leisure time activity of the capital of the Ottoman
Empire.

Key Words: Ottoman Theater, Nineteenth Century, Leisure time in Istanbul,

Ottoman daily life

iv
 ÖZ

ONDOKUZUNCU YÜZYIL İSTANBULUNDA TİYATRO YAPILARI:

MİMARİ TİPOLOJİLERDE ÇEVİRİYE BİR ÖRNEK

Yazıcı, Ezgi

Yüksek Lisans, Mimarlık Tarihi Bölümü

Tez Yöneticisi: Yard. Doç. Dr. Namık G. Erkal

Eylül 2010, 156 Sayfa

Geleneksel Türk tiyatrosu hiçbir mimari yapı ile tanımlanmadığından

ondokuzuncu yüzyıl boyunca inşa edilen tiyatro binaları modernizm fikirleriyle
özdeşleştirilmiş ve Batı tarzı tiyatro tipolojisinin bir kopyası olarak
görülmüşlerdir. Bu tezin amacı ondokuzuncu yüzyıl İstanbulundaki tiyatro
yapılarının otantik bir mimari dile sahip olma ihtimalini ortaya çıkarmaktır. Bunu
yaparken, formal bir analiz yerine, ondokuzuncu yüzyıl İstanbulunun kültürel
panoramasına, politik ve ideolojik değişimlere, uluslarası ilişkilere, ekonomik
darboğaza ve bunların Osmanlı başkentinde popüler bir eğlence haline gelen
tiyatro ile olan ilişkilerine değinilmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Osmanlı’da Tiyatro, Ondokuzuncu Yüzyıl, Istanbul’da

kültürel yaşam, Osmanlı’da günlük yaşam

v
To My Parents

vi
 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The author wishes to express his deepest gratitude to her supervisor Ass. Prof Dr.
Namık Erkal for his guidance, advice, criticism, encouragements and patience
throughout the research.

The author would also like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paolo Girardelli for his
suggestions and comments.

The technical assistance and iner support of Dr. Cem T. Yılmaz and Dr. Burçak
Erkol Yılmaz gratefully acknowledged.

vii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

PLAGIARISM........................................................................................................iii

ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................... iv

ÖZ ............................................................................................................................v

DEDICATION........................................................................................................vi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................... vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS ..................................................................................... viii

LIST OF
FIGURES................................................................................................................ix

CHAPTER
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Theaters of Istanbul in Nineteenth Century ..............................2

1.2 Urban Space and Daily Life.....................................................10

1.3 Political and social background of the change.........................13

1.4 The Task of Translation............................................................17

1.5 Meeting with the 'other'............................................................18

1.6 Translate or not to translate......................................................20

1.7 Cultural Translations................................................................26

1.8 Architectural Translations........................................................28

2. COURT THEATERS

2.1 Dolmabahçe Court Theater..................................................................32

viii
 2.2 Dolmabahçe Palace Complex ..............................................................40

2.3 Yıldız Court Theater.............................................................................41

2.4 Yıldız Palace Complex.........................................................................44

2.5 The duality of being visible and invisible............................................46

2.6 Imperial Boxes.....................................................................................48

2.7 Morality and Boxes..............................................................................52

2.8 Embassies.............................................................................................56

3. THEATER IN PERA

3.1 Levantine Background.........................................................................68

3.2 Social Structure ...................................................................................70

3.3 Borders of the District..........................................................................73

3.4 The name of District.............................................................................73

3.5 Urban Structure....................................................................................74

3.6 Arcihtectural Language........................................................................76

3.7 Theater in Pera......................................................................................78

3.7.1FrenchTheater.........................................................................78

3.7.2 Varyete Theater.....................................................................80

3.7.3 Naum Theater........................................................................81

3.7.4 Elhamra Theater....................................................................84

3.7.5 Café Des Fleurs ....................................................................85

3.7.6 Şark Theater...........................................................................86

ix
 3.7.7 Talimhane-Croissant Theater................................................87

3.7.8 Concordia- Jardin des Fleurs.................................................89

3.7.9 Tepebaşı Summer and Winter Theaters.................................90

4. DIREKLERARASI

4.1 Ramadan: time for the appearance of performances and spaces……102

4.2 Armenians and Theater .....................................................................106

4.3 Gedikpaşa Theater..............................................................................111

4.4 Urban Structure .................................................................................114

4.5 Meddah Orta Oyunu and Tuluat.........................................................119

4.6 Coffee-house as the setting of performance.......................................125

4.7 Theater Buildings...............................................................................130

5. CONCLUSION................................................................................................140

BIBLIOGRAPHY................................................................................................149

x
 LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1 Levni in Surname-i Vehbi. Koceks 4

Figure 1.2 A scene from the house of Ottoman elite 12

Figure 2.1 Facade of Dolmabahçe Court Theater 32

Figure 2.2 A plan by Fossati 34

Figure 2.3 The back door of the Dolmabahçe theater 37

Figure 2.4 The photograph of Bayıldım Hill and Dolmabahçe Mosque 38

Figure 2.5 The representation of Dolmabahçe Mosque with the Court Theater 39

Figure 2.6 The plan of the Dolmabahçe Palace complex 40

Figure 2.7 Facade of the Dolmabahçe theater 42

Figure 2.8: A detail from the ceiling of Yıldız Palace theater 43

Figure 2.9 Yıldız Palace and Hamidiye Mosque. 44

Figure 2. 10: Interior of the conservatory of Yıldız Palace 46

Figure 2.11: The facade of Dolmabahçe Court Theater 50

Figure 2. 12. The Sultan box and theater boxes of Yıldız Court Theater 50

Figure 2.13: “Kaiser Wilheml II” 57

Figure 2.14. The view of German Embassy 59

Figure 2.15: The architect's plan and the representation of the French Embassy 61

Figure 2.16: A ball in French Embassy in nineteenth century 63

Figure 3.1: The Goad Plan of Pera and Galata 64

Figure 3.2: Pera Palace Hotel and the entrance of Tepebaşı Garden Pub 71

Figure 3.3: Fire in Pera. 76

xi
Figure 3.4: A celebration for the honour of Garibaldi in Naum Theater 81

Figure 3.5: The representation of Tepebaşı garden and theater 91

Figure 3.6: The amphitheater after the reconstruction 94

Figure 3.7: The view of the facade of the winter theater 97

Figure 4.1: A view from Direklerarası during Ramadan 102

Figure 4.2: The view of arcades together with the road 103

Figure 4. 3: The view of the Mosque together with the shops and theaters 104

Figure 4.4: The view of Gedikpaşa theater 112

Figure 4. 5: The view of the arcades 114

Figure 4.6: The representation Şehzade in the beginning of 1900s 119

Figure. 4.7: A orta oyunu performance in Letafet Apartment 119

Figure 4. 8. The depiction of a coffee-house at the end of the 18th Century 125

Figure4. 9. Guide Nejib in 1918 130

Figure 4.10: The crowd in front of the Ferah Theater 133

Figure 4.11: An orta oyunu perfomance in Letafet Apartment. 136

Figure 4.12: Letafet apartment 137

xii
 INTRODUCTION

“The world men perceive and deal with, the `phenomenal world’ is a human creation, a product of

fundamental mechanisms inherent in the structure of human consciousness." 1

Immanuel Kant

"Man lives with his objects chiefly--in fact, since his feeling and acting depend on his perceptions,

one may say exclusively--as language presents them to him... Each language draws a magic circle

round the people to whom it belongs, a circle from which there is no escape." 2

Wilhelm Von Humboldt

It is not possible to think about a purely 'local' or purely 'global' built

environment since the human being is able to transport and transfer him or herself

accompanied with the ideas, financial sources, knowledge, style and technology.

In the scope of architectural history, the reading of the built environment as the
3
meeting of the local with the 'other' is an interesting and tricky issue that may

always serve more than expected. Due to the strong existence of the vague

identities, identifications and borders that would be impossible to satisfy with any

kind of definition after the post-colonial discourse, the debates of architectural

history gain a new meaning.

1
Peikoff, L. The Ominous Parallels. New York: Stein and Day, 1982, p. 59
2
Chomsky, N. Language and Mind. NIT, 1968, p. 67
3
The concept as a part of the cultural history and philosophy is going to be examined more
detailed in the following part of this chapter.

1
 A study that depends on a typology that carries the traces of a foreign

architect's meeting with the local or local people's meeting with the minorities,

voyagers and other cultures requires a kind of flexibility and catholicity. A very

important meeting point of those multi-layered structures is the nineteenth century

Istanbul that serves a wide spectrum in the meeting of the local with the global. In

the colorful setting of the Ottoman Empire's capital, newly raised building

typologies becomes the conjuncture of the architects, users, viewers and the

patrons who come from different backgrounds. Among those new building

typologies, one is especially significant because of standing as a case for the

conceptualization of modernization and changing parameters of daily life inside

the Empire at the same time. Theater buildings those start to increase rapidly in

terms of number during the nineteenth century, becomes an attraction point thanks

to their multi-lingual and multi-cultural structures. They serve a multi-layered

spectrum that depends on the movement of the ideas, financial sources and

different typologies besides the culture. Therefore, the nineteenth century theater

buildings of Istanbul need to be reconsidered with the recognition of the terms

'translation' and 'interpretation'.

1.1 Theaters of Istanbul in Nineteenth Century

For the case of translation, the theater structures of Istanbul in the

nineteenth century offer an interesting case. The non-existence of a built theatrical

space makes the issue of translation to be the main inspiration of the construction

of a theatrical space. Like the other spatial outcomes of geographic, architectural

2
and cultural interactions, the formation of a built theatrical environment involves

in the task of translation rather than 'transportation' or „transformation‟4. It is true

that the main forms of the theater structure were transported from the Western

style but due to the former existence of the concept of a theatrical space in the

traditional Ottoman theater, they have also transformed. So together with the

function the forms and architectural language of the structures were transformed

while transported into a new geography and culture. Besides the forms,

architectural language and function, the performances, artists, audiences and the

theater culture had also translated. Therefore, this study does not focus only on to

the translation of the architectural language but also concentrates on the

translation of the theater with its all aspects including the translators, translated

parameters and the types and degrees of translation. Hence, during the structuring

of the thesis, rather than following a chronological order, the chapters are

organized according to their conceptualization of the task of translation. In this

context, the first part is going to cover the embassies and court theaters in order to

understand how theater is evaluated, applied and conceptualized during its

translation by state that stands as a role model during the foundation of theater as

an institution inside the Ottoman Empire. The second part is going to focus on to

the examples in Pera and Galata as an organic case that involves into a different

type and degree of translation that was criticized as a 'direct' one. The third part is

going to evaluate a local case in order to understand the most spontaneous and

natural form of translation that depended itself onto the traditional spatial

4 Akcan, E. Çeviride Modern Olan: şehir ve konutta Türk Alman ilişkileri. Istanbul: YKY,2009.
Pg 13.

3
organizations of the performance spaces inside the capital. Finally, the

possibilities of the 'literal' and 'genuine' translations of the theater structures will

be discussed. During this process, the cultural and geographical backgrounds of

the palaces, Pera and the historical peninsula in going to taken into consideration

in order to understand the degrees and conceptualization of translation in those

spaces.

The idea of performance depends on the earlier centuries of the Ottoman

Empire and theater as a part of this leisure time activities and artistic

performances gained several meanings during the nineteenth century. Sometimes

it is the strongest mean of communication with the European politicians,

sometimes a gainful enterprise and sometimes a way to have some fun besides

being an artistic expression. Those changing meanings of the theater are followed

by the changing forms and spatial understanding of its performance spaces. Those

varieties of meanings are not only identified with the colorful urban life but also

Fig.1. 1: Levni in Surname-i Vehbi. Koceks. 1720. Depiction of the koceks in Ahmet the III's
circumcision ceremony. This miniature is an example of the entertainment culture inside the lace
ceremonies5

5
See <http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Koceks_-_Surname-i_Vehbi.jpg>
13.08.2010

4
show how European concepts are interpreted and blended to the capital. Istanbul,

still keeping the properties of the Islamic capital, during the nineteenth century

stands as the intersection point of the modernization, new performance concepts

and spaces. Metin And explains this intersection with the identification of the
6
history of theater buildings with the history of modernization for the Ottomans.

He takes attention to the importance of the year of 1839 and the rapid increase of

the theater buildings with the introduction of the modernization ideals. 7 This idea

should not be identified with the non-existence of the theatrical spaces before the

modernization period due to the earlier existence and continuity of the

performance spaces inside the Empire.8 However, it is true that non-Muslim

subjects leading role that brings the layman and theater together is undeniable.

With the stronger opportunity to express themselves in the urban space The

Tanzimat Era can be a starting point for the theater buildings that welcomes not

only the elites but also to the layman. In this context, Palace's positive reaction on

the theater appears as a starting point due to the legitimization of the theaters

depending on its appreciation by the Sultans. 9 Therefore, court theaters occupy a

more complex place in the history of theater buildings inside the capital due to

being spatial role models. The ontological interdependency between the theater

6 And, M. Türk Tiyatro Tarihi: başlangıcından 1983'e. İstanbul: İletişim Yayınları, 1994. pg 67

7 Ibid. pg 18-20

8 Some of the examples are the temporary theaters like Çırağan Court Theater. Also, Robert
Houdin tells about a timber construction that is built during the reign of III. Selim. (And, M.
Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, 21) besides it is known that Palais de Cristal
in Beyoğlu exists before the fire of 1831, even the exact date is unknown. (And, M. Türk
Tiyatro Tarihi, 91) . Besides, Refik Ahmet Sevengil claims the existence of the theater during
the reign of Ahmed the Third and mentions the performances inside the Embassies (Türkiyede
ilk Tiyatro Ne zaman yapıldı?, 139)

9 Büyükünal, F. Bir Zaman Tüneli: Beyoğlu, İstanbul: Doğan Kitap, 2006. pg 164

5
buildings and political and social parameters find their most concrete reflections

in the court theaters. Therefore it is possible to claim that the international

relations, politics and economic conditions go hand in hand with the existence of

the court theaters inside the Palace complexes. On the other hand, it is known that

theater had already started to be popular outside the palace, thanks to the colorful

aura of the Empire that was satisfied by the non-Muslim subjects. The spatial

organizations that were designed for the circuses started to turn into theater

structures that were organized for a large number of artists and audiences as it is

in the case of Bosco's circus and Naum Theater is the most important case of this

issue that shows the rising popularity of the theater and the former existence of

the performance spaces. Together with the special entrepreneurs, the theater halls

and buildings of the Embassies and schools that belong to minorities were also

active before and during nineteenth century. Similar to Pera and Galata, the

historical peninsula also becomes the setting of spatial transitions. The traditional

coffee houses of the Ottoman culture that functions like a stage for the story-

tellers become the theater halls that are suitable for varyetes, vodvils, operets,

comedies and dramas. Therefore, thanks to the earlier existence of the different

styles, types and forms of performance spaces; issue of translation finds several

forms and meanings in the scope of the nineteenth century Istanbul. They do not

only stand for the translation of a typology from one geography to the other but

represents a unique case for the translation of modernity and cultural parameters

in the Ottoman context. This thesis focuses on the theaters of Istanbul as the

spaces that appear with different degrees and types of translation thanks to the

capital's having a wide spectrum with a large variety of the objects of translation

6
and translators. Therefore, in the scope of this study, performance spaces of

Istanbul will be discussed with the reading of political, economic, cultural and

social background of Empire in the frame of translation. 10

As it has mentioned traditional Ottoman theater does not identify itself

with a built environment as it is in the examples of an amphitheater or an Italian

style building. Therefore, the theater structures of nineteenth century Istanbul

were evaluated as the copies of the Western examples without questioning the

possibility of the literal translation of a visual object especially in a political and

cultural aura that starts to lose the exact definitions borders and limitations. This

study questions the identification of the spatial concept of the traditional Turkish

theater as a tabula rasa in the context of the Ottoman Empire. As far as a pure

formal analysis of some specific theater buildings is not going to be enough to

satisfy the aim of the study, a cultural panorama of the nineteenth century‟s

Istanbul is going to be in the scope of this thesis in order to understand the local

parameters of the interpretation. In this context some of the paradigms of the

nineteenth century such as the changing status of minorities, Westernization

movements that has started inside the Palace and increasing number and

importance of the community of intellectuals inside the Empire will be examined

because of their deep impact on theater. However, as far as it is not possible and

meaningful to cover all of the theater buildings in Istanbul in the scope of such

study, the aim is not to list all of the structures and examine them one by one but

to try to understand the idea of interpretation on some cosmopolitan examples.

10 And, M. Ibid. pg 63-65

7
 As it has mentioned by Akcan, there is no any architectural translation that

was translated and fully transformed or translated and had not transformed. The

types and dose of translation is not stable.11 At this juncture this thesis will take

the translation as a task that has degrees, different meanings and ways. Any

cultural study will take the idea of translation in a wider scale can lead the reader

to a different level. In the scope of this study, the theories of translation will be

examined as a concentration on the translation of cultures, building typologies,

styles or forms with the help of the architects, users and the viewers of the

structures. The theories of translation that were examined above were all

concentrating on the 'text' or 'translator' or 'reader' but not offering a theory that

covers all of them. Naturally this study will not come up with such a theory but

try to put equal emphasis on the object of the translation, all of the translators like

the patrons, architects or the designers of the performance spaces and the users

besides the viewers of those spaces. Besides, it will be kept in mind the changing

roles of those actors by being aware of their acting like a second-degree of

translator (actors who do not translate consciously but change the degree of

translation like the minorities, embassies and voyagers) viewers and the users of

the theatrical spaces. Therefore changing relations with the minorities and their

pivotal position in the history of Ottoman theater require extra interest for this

thesis. Due to this change, this study also looks for the paths of the reasons of

such translation and tries to understand the possibility of 'imposition' that may

stem from the changing economic and political balances between the 'West' and

'East'.

11 Ibid, pg 14.

8
 As far as this thesis does not come up with an aim to cover all examples of

the Ottoman theater architecture, the parts is going to contain the most concrete

examples of the different cases and doses of translation issue. In the first part, I

discuss the embassies and Ottoman Palace in order to understand their effect as

role models and the agents of the translation. As the objects of translation an

analysis of Dolmabahçe and Yıldız Court Theaters is going to take part. The

conceptualization of the entertainment and leisure time activities inside the

embassies and Palace is going to be in the scope of this chapter in order to

understand the cultural translation in a more effective way. In the third chapter, I

will focus on Pera and Galata which are identified with the 'literal translation' not

only for the case of theater structures but also for cultural and spatial

understanding. In this chapter, the concentration is going to be on the possibility

of the 'literal translation' for the case of the architectural objects and question of

the 'imposition' of the Western style. While examining the social and cultural

structure of the district, The Levantine culture and their contact with theater is

also going to be discussed. The last chapter is going to be about Şehzadebaşı

which offers the most suitable setting for the evaluation of the spatial

understanding of the traditional Turkish theater. This chapter is going to be

important in order to be able to understand the degrees, types and background of

the translation of the theater buildings of nineteenth and early twentieth century

Istanbul. While concentrating on the evaluation of the theater buildings and the

performance arts, the last chapter also tells about the contributions of Armenian

community to the conceptualization of the theater and theatrical space in

Direklerarası.

9
1.2 Urban Space and Daily Life

The nineteenth century of the Ottoman Empire can be identified with rise

and falls, changing borders, economic downturn, rising importance of the

international relations, new power balances and arrangements for the sake of the

minorities. Naturally, several parameters can be added to the list and none of them

will be enough to describe the exact situation of the Empire during the general

mode of alteration that is dominant all around the world. However, one certain

point which stands at the center of the whole picture can be determined as the

decreasing power and authority that is followed by the necessity of change in

every aspect of the management. This wind of change becomes not only an

inspiration for a new education, military or economic system but forms its own

social environment at the same time. Hence, the new bureaucracy is completed

with a new life style that starts to require a new spatial understanding. While the

new building types satisfy the needs of brand new experiences; this spatial

understanding forms a unique architectural language that reflects the wide social

spectrum of the Empire during the nineteenth century. While the architectural

language gains new styles, wide borders inside the urban fabric starts to be less

determinant.

The relationship between the space and daily life is a reciprocal and

interacted one. While a part of this relationship is shaped according to the

necessities of people, another part can be identified as the urban fabric's

dominance on the shape of the daily life. As the capital of the Empire and as a

large and colorful city, Istanbul gives countless spatial and style opportunities to

10
several group of people who do not share the same language, religion and life

style. While it seems easier to differentiate those different groups and their daily

tastes from each other thanks to the cultural heterogeneity and its reflections on

the spatial organization; those definitions leave their places to looser

identifications with the nineteenth century. The capital's natural urban structure

gives a definite shape to the understanding of the entertainment. The urban

structure of the classical period of the Empire is identified with districts which act

like cells by forming the essential spaces of the daily life inside the capital.

However, rather than focusing on economic or political conditions, the separation

between the districts depends on the religious differences. Those smallest

structures of the urban fabric separate the different substances of daily life by

concentrating on different types of worship. Hence, when you walk through one

district to the other you pass through one religious belief to the other at the first

level. Then, depending on the different habits of the different beliefs; distinct

social life, languages, architectural elements and spatial understanding come into

the picture. So the difference between the districts is clearly visible for an

observer due to the heterogeneous structure of the city. This heterogeneous

character leaves its place to a warmer atmosphere between the different religions

thanks to the new political arrangements. Hence, due to the multi-layered

structure of the nineteenth century the concepts 'like purely Western Pera' or

'Muslim Uskudar' becomes loose. Even though the habits and cultural

environments that were formed centuries ago are still dominant; the meetings of

the members of the different districts open the way for a new society. Decreasing

authority, rising fiscal problems, increasing dependency to the European

11
economic and military power is combined with the demographic reasons and give

rise to a more chaotic, vivid and colorful urban life. Hence, the traces of harsh

cultural differences start to appear less when compared with the classical period
12
and the city gains a multi centered shape. This multi- centered urban structure

ends up not only with a colorful daily life but also creates a multi-lingual

architectural language according to the new necessities. The hard borders of

districts are started to be broken by the Muslims who get used to form a social life

that is identified with a dead-end street. A new spatial experience starts with the

discovery of the streets that gives more freedom and chances to meet with new

people and spaces by leaving a determined space.

Fig. 1.2: A scene from the house of Ottoman elite. The photograph shows the changing daily life
activities with the contribution of the Western rituals. 13

12 Işın, E. İstanbul'da Gündelik Hayat: tarih, kültür ve mekan ilişkileri üzerine toplumsal tarih
denemeleri, İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 1999. pg 538-541
13
Library of Congress: Abdülhamid II Collection
<http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ahii/>

12
1.3 Political and social background of the change

At the first level, the changing policy of the Empire appears as the reason

for such a social turning point. The breaking points those allow such a meeting

are the Gülhane Edict of 1839 that gives the first rights in the Westernized sense.

In 1856, the Islahat Edict reinforced these rights. The first Ottoman constitution is

the 1876 Constitution known as Kanunu Esasi, or fundamental law, adopted on

December 23. Although it still reserved a vast array of rights to the Sultan who

actually had no burden of accountability; it instituted a Parliament with Upper and

Lower Chambers. Following the Tripoli and the Balkan wars, changes which

increased the Sultan‟s power, including the right to dissolve the Assembly, were
14
made in 1914. The sincerity of this relatively democratic atmosphere and its

reflections on the Ottoman society remains as a questionable issue due to the

dominance of the European countries on the political and economic life of the

Empire. However, the changes inside the urban structure and social life that the

democracy brings to the capital are undeniable. It is true that the rapid changes

inside the Europe make the countries of the continent as the trend identifiers.

Their modernist point of view and technology start to appear as a target that

should be reached by the Empire. As far as European countries do not only set the

innovations that the Empire must follow but also rule the economic and political

situation, they develop a peculiar of policy for the case of the Ottoman Empire.

The general aim appears as creating a kind of power balance in order to let none

14 Andıç, F., Koçak, M. “Governence and the Turkish Constitutions: Past and Future” Social
Science Research Network 11. 03. 2010 <http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?id=1112833>

13
of the countries get stronger than the other. Hence, the Empire that stands as a

focus point of the conquest, gains a strategic position that should be kept on an

even keel. The political and economic progresses of the Empire stand in the hands

of the European countries as something that should be analyzed managed and

directed. So, the policy on the Ottomans depends on the satisfaction of the needs

of balance by keeping the Empire always in trouble but alive. Examples like

Serbian rebellion, Greek freedom War and Mehmed Ali Pasha's conquest attempt

of Istanbul can be seen as the results of this strategy of Russia, England, Germany

and France. 15This ontological dependency of the Empire to the Western countries

gives rise not only to the economic or political renovations but also to

bureaucratic and cultural changes. Military forces, education and all aspects of

daily life go under radical alterations. Therefore the understanding of the

bureaucratic system and culture of the Western Countries turn into an obligation

that requires the knowledge of the Western languages. The rising interest for the

Western languages inside the Empire turns into a necessity in order to find an
16
occupation inside the State. Therefore, every aspect of the Western culture,

including the language and literature start to appear as an attraction point. The

reflection of this approach is visible in the performed plays of the court theaters

that focuses mainly on the Italian opera's or English tragedies.

As far as the essence of the urban fabric is shaped according to belief,

mosque carries an emphasized importance during the construction of the structure

of a district. While the general characteristics of a district is determined with the

15 Quataert, D. The Ottoman Empire: 1700-1922. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

2005. pg 97-100

16 Ibid. pg 106

14
existence of a mosque, bazaar and residences that situates in a dead end street, the

borders of social life is formed around this urban structure. The determinacy and

collectivity that is dominant in every aspect of social life interdependently exists

with a peculiar spatial understanding. The rules of being a Muslim stand in the

middle of every part of life- including work, family or friendship- and also

regulate the shape and borders of the leisure time activities as well. While

entertainment in the modern sense depends highly on the individual tastes and

personal activities; religion brings this individuality to a different level by framing

the leisure time with rituals. Therefore, the collectivity that is supplied inside the

mosque goes on in the social life and entertainment turns into an activity that

depends on commonsense. 17 However, as it has mentioned, the changing political

aura decreases the centrality of the religion inside the social life and makes being

a Muslim a part of the individuality rather than the essence of being for a group of

people. Those parameters make the nineteenth century a breaking point for the

daily life and the conceptualization of the entertainment inside the Empire. While

Galata and Pera start to be more effective in the lives of court people and Ottoman

elite who are supporting the westernization ideals, the shape of entertainment

starts to change for the layman as well. So the daily life and leisure time is not

possible to be identified only with the traditional coffee houses or baloz in Galata

anymore. New spaces like cafes, modern night clubs and café chantant create

their own urban and social structure. Ottoman elites who are attracted by the lives

of Levantines and people who turn their faces to the streets start to appear in

'Tracadores' 'Byzantian Alcazar', 'Mandas' or 'Palais de Cristal'. New concepts like

17 Işın, E. Ibid. pg 544

15
women on the streets and stages, night life, pantomime, revue, theater and cinema

halls and gardens find their authentic spatial meaning with the introduction of the

Ottoman people to the picture. The raising place of the performance arts inside the

entertainment give rise to new relations between the Muslim and non Muslim

subjects. 18 While the variety of the relations and their density increases a new and

stronger realization of the individuality appears. When the new political

arrangements for the minorities go into the picture of the daily life, a part of the

theatrical experiences can be explained as their self- expression. The opportunity

that supplies a possibility for a stronger expression of individuality fins its

reflections on Muslims as well. In this case, theater gains another meaning for the

individual who starts to develop different tastes. By satisfying this search of the

individual that starts to shape the daily life in an effective way; theater offers

more contemporary tastes when compared with the traditional ways of

entertainment like games, fests or weddings that makes people to focus on one

single idea. As a performance art which depends on authenticity and originality, it

breaks the religious collective frame. As a result the condensed relations with the

European countries and European culture's realization and appreciation inside the

Palace, give a chance to change the habits of entertainment and performance

concepts of the people. The strong interest with the examples of high-art artistic

performances that start with Selim the third goes on with Mahmud the Second. A

new age starts in 1827 with Giuseppe Donizetti‟s becoming the head of the

Müzika-i Hümayun. While this situation leads to a more intensified artistic

18 “Eğlence Hayatı” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı Yayınları,
1994. pg 143

16
relationship with Italy and France; becomes also visible in the architecture of the
19
nineteenth century theater buildings. It is for sure not only those relationships

but also the Levantine and Armenian minorities play a major role in forming a

theater culture and spatial understanding. Hence, new trends come up with new

ideas and naturally create their own authentic spaces thanks to Istanbul‟s unique

social spectrum.

1.4 The Task of Translation

In her book that questions the role of translation in architecture 20, Esra

Akcan claims that any kind of transformation from a plan to a building, from a

diagram to a project, from one discipline to the other or from one place to another

one, requires a translation process. This process can not be identified only with

transportation or transformation but refers to the task of translation which

'transforms while transporting'. For the case of the visual culture, the circulation

of the visual object may not depend on translation but ends up with the

hybridization. However, for any kind of translation no matter if it is a cultural,

visual or textual one, there is the hegemony of the „original‟21. With the post-

structuralism, this hegemony was started to be shaken and the authenticity of the

'original' started to be questioned. However, during the debates of the translation,

the object of translation (the 'original' text) keeps its centrality. Therefore another

19
Kuban, D. Osmanlı Mimarisi, İstanbul: Yem Yayınları, 2007. pg 666

20 Akcan, E. Pg, 12-14.

21 Akcan uses the word özgün metin which also confirms the originality of the translated text in a
way. Therefore, I preferred to translate it as 'original'. (pg 13)

17
question- the positioning of the result of translation to the main text- appears and

also shows differences according to the type of the translation.

While the translation of a written text tries to stand as close as possible to

the original text, the translations of architecture give effort for the opposite. The

architectural translation targets deviations and tries to situate far away from the

translated architectural object. Therefore there is no possibility for the wrong

translation and no need for the faithfulness. However, there is one fact – which

appears as one of the main themes of this thesis also- should not be ignored:

There is no any architectural translation that was translated and fully transformed

or translated and had not transformed. The dose and types of translation show

varieties for the different cases. 22

1.5 Meeting with the 'other'

While action and speed appear as the essences of the modern life;

changing economic, political or cultural parameters and technology make the

concepts like transaction, emigration, voyage and moving daily issues. Naturally,

this transformation ends up with the necessity to understand and experience the
23
'other'. It is obvious that having a kind of relationship with another individual,

22 Akcan E, Ibid, pg 12-14.

23 Actually, the term 'other' can be defined in many ways as it is seen during the history of
philosophy. In the scope of this thesis the 'otherness' will appear in two ways. The first and
more important one is the 'otherness' in a wider and cultural sense that emphasises the possible
outcomes that occur as a result of the contact of two different cultures. In the second sense, that
stands in the essense of the translation debates, I will follow a more Lacanian way. In his

18
no matter if it is a family member or a person from another continent, always

come up with very hard but interesting results. In the first level of this contact

language carries a crucial role. The Freudian psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan

describes the subject as the manque ả ẻtre (the want to be) and parlẻtre (speaking

being). They co-exist in human being starting from the birth. The strongest

character of the parlẻtre- language- becomes a hope for declaring the self but it

cannot fulfill this desire. Child starts to suffer more because of the things which

cannot be put into the words. Hence, language starts to develop a mortifying
24
effect on the infant. The German existentialist Martin Heidegger, who affected

Lacan deeply, explains the similar phenomenon as „being born to the vocabulary

of the others‟. As far as the subject has to define and declare him or herself by

involving the language of the other, he or she starts to lose the authenticity and
25
become alienated until the formation of a personal history. When they are

considered in the borders of the possibility of communication, both of the

arguments lead us to the idea that every expression's being a translation of the

thoughts and clearly declares the failure of the language in this sense. As a result

it is not possible to claim that the subject comes to an understanding point with

other people thanks to be able to speak his or her language. Therefore, the spoken

terms the subject always attempts to form a relation to the Other and the mode of this
articulation is desire. This desire stems from the idea of „lackness‟. Subject and the Other
testimony the „lackness‟ of each other. This lack is irremediable and it makes the subject and
the Other interdependent to each other whereas strengthen the alienation of the 'other'.

24 Lacan, J. The Four Fundemental Concepts of Pschoanalysis. Harmondsworth: Penguin,

1979. pg 29.

25 Mulhall, S. “Introduction” in Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Heidegger and Being

and Time. London: Routledge, 1996. pg. 7-10

19
words of the 'other' remain as another possible world for the individual no matter

if he or she is the speaker of the same language or not.

If it is clear that any expression is a kind of translation, human being's

communication is perfectly dependent on translation as it has mentioned many

26
translation theorists. It is the only possible way that makes the subject to have

some conduct with the 'other' besides giving opportunity to tell about the self.

1.6 Translate or not to translate

Due to the rising possibility to contact with the 'other', the importance of

the 'other' changes rapidly and translation can be counted as the strongest mean

and only option of a culture that enables it to understand the others and tell about

itself in the international arena. However, the studies on translation - no matter if

they are a part of linguistics or epistemology- question the possibility and

reliability of the 'translation' theories again and again. Therefore, with the

appearance of such a necessity to conduct with something that is out of the self

and sometimes even with subject's own thoughts; the subject again faces with the

problem of translation. Throughout the cultural and political history there are not

enough evidences that can declare the success of translation as a meeting point.

Similar to what Wittgenstein claims, our language is determined by our world and

we are trying to bring another person's world closer to ours by translating his or

26 The detailed ideas of some of the supporters of this view like Jacques Derrida, Georger
Steines, Wilhelm Von Orman Quine and Donald Davidson is going to be examined in the next
part of the “Introduction” chapter.

20
her words.27 Starting from this point translation stands as a two-way road that

needed to be looked both ways. This interesting issue that fascinates many of the

researchers of social sciences for decades identified with its two contradicting

faces. Does translation stand as a helping hand for the people to contact with the

other and tell something about the self; or is it a dangerous smoothie that detains

the subject by leading him or her to a fake picture about the world of the other?

Octavio Paz mentions that the feelings and impressions are universal.

Therefore they can be translated in any language without any loss in the meaning.

This humanist view focuses on a universal reality that is shared by all languages

and claims the possibility of their literal translated into any language. On the other

hand, according to Derrida there is no way for literal translation. As far as there

are different languages there is need for the translation. However, translation is an

impossible task that is identified with incompleteness and dissatisfaction. He

claims that there is no way to fasten the meaning and no way for the literal

translation. While there is a contradiction going on between the humanist and

post-structuralist approach, Walter Benjamin declares translation as the essence of

an authentic production. When a text gives possibility for the translation without

losing anything from its essence, this issue stands for its authenticity. He claims

the existence of a reine sprache that stands in the center of every single language.

When a text has the possibility to be translated, this shows its closeness to the

reine sprache. Here, the task of the translator cannot be defined with faithfulness

or freedom but making the both languages as a part of reine sprache while

translating. The main fault of the translator was treating the foreign languages as

27 Wittgenstein, L. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London & New York: Routledge. pg. 5.6

21
German and tries to make them German. However, during the translation German

should turn into those languages in order to get deepen, improve and get rid of the

limitations and borders.

While Paz and Derrida focus on the possibility of translation, Benjamin

celebrates translation as a part of the authenticity. On the other hand, Goethe

comes up with the idea of the 'phases of translation' which concentrates on the

translator rather than language and puts him or her to the center of the task.

According to Goethe, there exist three phases of translation. During the first

phase, the translator understands the text with his or her own words. In the second

phase, he or she gets closer to the idea in the text but represents it that has already

existed in his or her own culture. At the last stage the translator was identified

with the text, leaves the foreign language and native language to a side and

creates a third language. 28

Depending on my own background as a philosophy graduate, I can

mention that another translation theory gets popular in the frame of analytic

philosophy which brings translation to the edges of scientific approach. In 1960,

Orman Quine came up with the idea of 'radical translation' where he questions the
29
possibility and limits of translation. Quine describes the language as the

complex of present dispositions to verbal behavior, in which the speakers of the

same language have perforce come to resemble one another without touching to

the process of acquisition.

28 Akcan, E. Ibid. pg 15-19.

29 Quine, W.O. Word and Object. USA: The Massashusetts Institute of Technology, 1960. pg-26

22
 For the case of the translation of kindred languages that shares the similar

geographies and cultures -even the equality of the meaning is not going to be the

exactly the same- there is still possibility of the communication. However, he

claims that translation engages not a partial communication between the closer

languages and cultures. It has some universal ambitions in delivering the

expressions of distinct geographies by satisfying a perfect equality in meaning.

Depending on this idea, Quine adds the term 'radical translation‟ to the

terminology of the translation theories. In this harshest degree of translation, the

translation of the language of a hitherto untouched people whom does not any

means during the process is aimed. He makes us to think about our possible way

of communication with a people of „archipelago‟. Hence, he invites us to a

'radical' thought experiment about the situation of the translation of a completely

distinctive world and language. The first reaction of the people who are facing

with this completely unknown language and the culture is trying to depend the

communication on the common points of body language. Naturally the translator

forces him or herself to rely solely on the observed behavior of its speaker in

relation to their environment and at the end it appears a radical translation that can

end up with several manuals that we may set up in divergent ways. As it has been

mentioned, manuals can be compatible with the totality of the speech dispositions

but they do not necessarily compatible with one another.30 Therefore he concludes

with two ideas: there is no way for 'radical translation'. For the case of the cultural

studies, the chance of translation decreases when the geographies and culture gets

30 Quine, Ibid, pg. 30-32

23
far away from each other. Hence he claims that there is no way for the

communication of two distinct societies that does not share similar cultures. 31

However, by introducing the idea of 'interpretation' rather than

„translation‟ Donald Davidson widens the borders of Quine's epistemological

attempts.32 He cares about the same questions more or less and focuses on how

we come to an understanding point and realize the meanings as an entity of a

sentence. During his examination of the acquisition of meaning of another

language he asks two basic questions: what plays the essential role in

interpretation and how come we have the knowledge that enables us to interpret.

Rather than speaking on the possibility of a translation theory, Davidson accepts

the insufficiency of a translation theory alone to ensure the understanding of the

language it translates. So even though he is aware of the strong kindred between

31 Quine tells a story in order to make this picture clearer. A radical translator meets with a tribe
which is completely unknown and unfamiliar both in terms of culture and language to him. In
this case the only way of communication is to understand the gestures and utterances of the
members of the tribe and form a manual as a result of his implication. A member of this tribe
sees a rabbit and says 'Gavagai'. As the first reaction the translator notes down the word
'Gavagai' as 'Rabbit' without thinking the other possible meanings of the word like 'Animal' or
'White'. Therefore it becomes impossible to rely on the utterance because of the indeterminacy
of the meaning. However, if the translator is stubborn and analytic enough, he or she can go
on to work on to reduce the possible meanings of the word 'Gavagai' and reach to the exact
solution. He or she starts to query the combinations of native's verbal expressions and stimulus
situations. Hence, he starts to narrow down his guesses by trying different word-stimulus
combinations. However, if we turn back to the problem of the translation of the non-verbal
expressions, we can see that the translator's experiment is not so easy because of the different
expressions of assent and dissent. In his example, Quine thinks about Turks as the members of
the society that shows completely the reverse of Americans gestures of assent and dissent.
Therefore, it becomes impossible to take the gestures as the certain values for the translator.
So, all he or she can do is combining the verbal and non-verbal expressions with the gestures
of assent or dissent and after a long observation period see how well his guesses work. So the
translator asks 'Gavagai?' and the reply can be 'Evet' or 'Yok' and if the people who speaks
Turkish pretty regularly elicits 'Evet' rather than 'Yok' then the translator can be sure 'Evet' is
'Yes' and the combination of pointing a rabbit, saying 'Gavagai' and assenting as 'Evet' is
'Rabbit' in the translator's language. However, naturally he or she should do some changes if
something breaks down his generated working hypothesis. As a result the linguist may settled
on what to treat as native signs of assent and dissent and gets ready to get inductive evidence
and accumulate them to translate 'Gavagai' as 'Rabbit'. (33-35)

32 Davidson D. “Radical Interpretation” .Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation. New York:
Oxford University Press, 2001. pg 125-141

24
translation and interpretation, he insists on the inadequacy of the term 'translation'
33
and replaced it by 'interpretation'. In ' radical interpretation' there exist a way

for the communication thanks to the theory of translation's accompanied with the

theory of belief that depends on the evaluations of the translator about the

competence of the verbal and non-verbal expressions. 34

With the rising importance of the evaluation of the social sciences with

scientific methods, Naom Chomsky's linguistic theory started to draw a frame for

the translation task; even he does not aim such an intersection. The idea that

language is created inside one's mind independently of outside experience

eliminates the possibility that the external world is the common source of all

languages. But a common source of all languages underlies any attempt to explain

the possibility of translation. Chomsky suggests that the common basis of all

languages is universal phonetics and semantics, with the result that "certain

33 Davidson, D. Ibid. pg 125-131

34 In the meeting of translation theory with a belief theory, Davidson starts with the assumption
of a case that the attributions of belief and assignments of meaning is consistent with one
another and with the speaker's overall behavior besides being consistent with the evidence
afforded by our knowledge of the speaker's environment. In other words, we come to an
agreement point in the speakers beliefs and our beliefs and also know that our beliefs are true
in the simplest case. Thus, we have a kind of manuals of our own beliefs that will guide us to
the beliefs of the speaker. Therefore, the interconnection between the belief and meaning will
lead us to the understanding of the speaker's utterances. For instance, when we apply
Davidson's interpretation theory on the word“Gavagai”s translation example the story shows
some explicit changes. When the member of the tribe uses a certain sequence of sounds
repeatedly in the presence of the rabbit, we can interpret those sounds as utterances about
rabbits or a rabbit, as a hypothesis. Once we have arrived at a preliminary assignment of
meanings for a significant body of utterances, we can test our assignments against further
linguistic behavior on the part of the speaker, modifying those assignments in accordance with
the results. Using our developing theory of meaning we are able to test the initial attributions
of belief that were generated through the application of charity, and, where necessary, modify
those attributions also. This enables us, in turn, to further adjust our assignments of meaning,
which enables further adjustment in the attribution of beliefs. The development of a more
finely tuned theory of belief thus allows us to better adjust our theory of meaning, while the
adjustment of our theory of meaning in turn enables us to better tune our theory of belief.
Through balancing attributions of belief against assignments of meaning, we are able to move
towards an overall theory of behavior for a speaker or speakers that combine both a theory of
meaning and of belief within a single theory of interpretation. (139-143)

25
objects of human thoughts and mentality are essentially invariable across

languages”.35 However, staring from the 1970's the theory which supplied a

scientific frame to translation was criticized due to its being too deterministic.

One of the critics belongs to James Holmes who is concentrated on the experience

of translation itself and suggests different type of translation theories for different

types of texts. Therefore, the theorization of the translation starts after the

experience of translation.36

1.7 Cultural Translations

According to the translation theories examined above, when the degree of

otherness rises, the importance and the failure possibility of the translation rises

too. In this sense, the harder issue appears as the translation of the words of

people who are coming from completely different backgrounds; whom the

subjects are sharing less common points in their personal world. Hence, the need

to translate not only the spoken words and inner world but also the whole culture

of the 'other' appears.

In 1975 George Steiner offers the revival of hermeneutics in translation.

According to him, the meaning of a text or art work depends on the culture that

those were produced in. Therefore, none of them can be translated to the other

mechanically. He mentions that language has strong ties with its spoken time,

culture and geography and translation is possible only in the condition of the

35
Chomsky, Noam. Language and Mind. NIT, 1968, p. 66
36 Akcan E., Ibid, pg 21

26
translation of all of those parameters. Similar to the philosophers like Quine and

Davidson he also declares that any speech between two people is a kind of

translation and understanding to each other requires a translation process. While

the translation stands at the center of any communication, its main aims are

determined as penetration and appropriation despite to the possibility of defeat.

Hence, the main task of the translator focuses on forming a culture theory during

the process of translation because translation does not only happen in language

but also in the objects of culture and art. Therefore, if societies have a common

cultural zone - a topology- translation brings them together. However, this idea

makes him to involve in a conservative and Western-oriented approach. With this

idea, the history of the West appears as an eternal translation process that happens

on the same topology. The rest, non-Westerns, stand as a defeat that situates

extremely away from the West and has no possibility for the translation. So the

only function and the value of the translation was its supplying the continuity

inside the same topologic zone.37

As it is understood, rather than concentrating on the alienation of the

translation, Steiner prefers the resemblance theories. However, the application

area of his theory just covers a limited zone and becomes useful only between the

societies that 'resemble' each other in terms of culture and geography. On the

other hand, alienated translation theories accept the possible differences between

the societies from the beginning and concentrates on the translation despite to

those differences. Supporters like Lawrence Venuti claims that translation cannot

be done literally because the translator reduces the differences between two

37 Akcan E. Ibid, pg 22-23

27
cultures while bargaining for the conceptualization of the cultural and linguistic

differences in another language and puts a local difference instead. Therefore, the

task of the translator appears as reminding the differences of two languages to the

reader, consciously.38

1.8 Architectural translations

Writer, translator, reader and the user of the original language, translated

language or a third meta-language that were used during 'translation' stand as the

agents that makes people to think about the possibility of translation. In his work

The Republic Plato imagines a group of people who have lived chained in a cave.

All of those people's lives go on by facing a blank wall. The people watch

shadows projected on the wall by things passing in front of a fire behind them,

and begin to ascribe forms to these shadows. According to Plato, the shadows are

as close as the prisoners get to seeing reality. He then explains how the

philosopher is like a prisoner who is freed from the cave and comes to understand

that the shadows on the wall are not constitutive of reality at all, as he can

perceive the true form of reality rather than the mere shadows seen by the

prisoners. 39 If the problem of translation is tried to be explained in the eyes of the

architect in Platonic sense, the translated visual object may stand for the shadows

that he or she see on the walls of the cave. Therefore the architect starts to face

with several questions. Is the translation of the visual objects banishing people

38 Ibid, pg. 24

39 Plato, The Republic. Trans. By Jowett B. NewYork: Modern Library, 1941. 514a-520a

28
from the reality? Does the architect decrease the value of the translated visual

object just by translating it? In other words, does he or she create just a fake copy

of the copy or is it possible to think about adding new concepts, ideas and values

to it while translating it? All of those questions stand in front of the architect

during his process of translation.

Naturally, the architectural translations do not carry the hesitations of

'being creative' or 'original' only. As it has mentioned by Akcan they also stand in

a 'tension zone' due to their close relationship with political relations while being

the objects of cultural translations. Therefore during the architectural translations

as a part of cultural translations, one of the basic problems appears as the

conceptualization of the 'other' and the possible reactions to it.40 Translation may

appear in other forms like 'imposition' or 'compulsion' according to the political

and geographic relations of the two societies that architectural translation takes

place. For the case of the architecture the cultural and political translation of the

architectural object may depend on the patron, user or the viewer of the object of

translation. However, while those appear as the main determinants, the whole

issue finds an end with the architect's evaluations and preferences. A translated

architectural object carries the hesitations of being a cheap copy or a cold

foreigner. Architect has to give a decision about to remain closer to the local or to

the original. While giving a decision he or she considers the fact that if the

structure remains closer to the local it faces up with the questions like eclecticism,

being a fake or a copy that is away from the authenticity and creativity. On the

40 Ibid. pg. 27

29
other hand, if it stands closer to the original roots it has to face with the

inappropriateness or alienation.41

As far as it is not possible to think about a structure that does not involve

in the historic, political and cultural stories of the local, its translation to the other

geographies always come up with multi-layered and complex questions. So,

similar to all cultural objects, including the works of literature, history and art,

architectural objects also have deep problems with the idea of translation that is

impossible to ignore in the scope of architectural history. Similar to the architect,

patron, viewer or the user, architectural historian also involves into the translation

task. Therefore this study evaluates the architectural meaning and structure of the

theater buildings and culture of the nineteenth century Istanbul as a case that

involves in the task of translation.

41 Ibid, pg. 11

30
 CHAPTER II

COURT THEATERS

In his 'A History of Building Types'; Nicolous Pevsner mentions that the

birth of theater as a building type depends on the Italian Renaissance. The

building itself brings the actor who acts on the streets on the several stages to the

single stage and changes the wandering spectator into the audience with the fixed

auditorium. He reformulates this statement on the theater structures as the change

of location from the market place and the streets to the palace. 42 It is possible to

claim that the political efficiency of the court followed by the cultural efficiency

all over the world and the court theaters become pioneers for the other theater

structures. However, the court theater always comes up with different parameters

such as being a show arena for the display of the power, becoming a kind of

special enterprise of the sovereign that makes him the patron of the building or

standing as a display window of the culture and authority for the foreign visitors.

When a theater building is inside a Palace; its concern maybe thought as

spreading and intensification of the political ambitions of the State via the

structure of the theater and performances. However, the court theater is a

multilayer structure in terms of meaning, similar to the imperial lodges. It cannot

be only identified with the political aims but also stand for the setting of highly

sophisticated and refined form of performance art. When the parameters of 'high

42 Pevsner, N. A History of Building Types, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1976. pg
63.

31
art' and 'authority' is combined with the Ottoman background, the architectural

outcome of the court theaters stand as a cultural and structural translation. The

Sultans' interest to the Western style performances like operas and dramas is also

fed by their attention to the traditional arts as it is in the reign of Abdülaziz.

Therefore, it is not possible to define 'high art' inside the Palace as the Western

style art but as a synthesis that give rise to different types and doses of the task of

translation. Therefore, this chapter does not only concentrate on the architectural

translation of inside the court theaters but also concerns the cultural translations.

Besides, the chapter will focus on the debates that will form a base for the

following chapters besides the debates on the changing meanings of visibility and

invisibility of the imperial lodges, monumentality and modernity.

2.1 Dolmabahçe Court Theater

Fig 2.1: The monumental and neoclassical facade of Dolmabahçe Court Theater. 43

43 Gülersoy, Ç. Dolmabahçe. Istanbul: Türkiye Turing ve Otomobil İşletmeleri Yayınları: 1984.

32
 Dolmabahçe Palace does not only coincide with the ideals of the

Westernization with the rising use of iron or glass but also with its hospitality for

the foreigners with the Muayede Saloon and Süfera despite to the obliqueness and

closeness of Topkapı. Another departure inside this new complex is the first

realization of the Sultan's interest for the theater. The monumental and detached

theater building stands as a three dimensional conceptualization of Abdülmecid‟s

passion for theater. The theater that locates in front of the Dolmabahçe Mosque,

on the corner of the road that leads to Bayıldım Hill, is built between the years of

1857 and 1859. 44 Several sources offer several architects for the theater. Nikogos

Balyan, Barborini and two French architects Dieter and Hammant are some of

those names.45 Among those names the Levantine architect Barborini who is

known as the designer of important theater structures inside the capital, appear as

another name that is claimed as the architect of the Dolmabahçe Palace theater. In

1875 he planned the Varyete Theater (Eldorado, Verdi, and Odeon) and in 1872

with the permission of Abdülaziz, Guatelli Paşa offers him to plan a theater inside

the Tepebaşı Cemetery area. He prepared a large scale theater project but it is

never realized. 46 The other possibility concentrates on the Italian architect who

becomes popular inside the Palace. Gaspare Fossati who gains great popularity

has a plan that seems to be designed for the Dolmabahçe Court Theater.

44 And, Ibid. pg 96.

45 While Selim Nüzhet Gerçek (Dolmabahçe Tiyatrosu, 178), Deniz Esemenli mentions Dieter
and Hammant (218) Kuban mentions the name of Nikogos Balyan (620). On the other hand
Cengiz Can declares Barborini as the architect of the structure

46 Şehsuvaroğlu, H. “Dolmabahçe Sarayı Tiyatrosu” İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Koçu

Yayınları, 1968. pg 54

33
Fig. 2.2: A plan that was designed by Fossati in 1846 maybe as a suggestion for the Court
47
Theater.

However, when compared with the photos, this plan does not coincide with the

general appearance of the structure. The design refers to a smaller and private

family theater which reminds the 18th century French theaters. On the other hand,

Dolmabahçe Court Theater aim to be a less isolated more dominant public

structure thanks to its free standing style, monumentality, scale and central place.

The aim of Abdülmecid is found its reflections on the style and scale of his theater

47
Züst, G. Gaspare Fossati. Lugano: Feda sa Fidia edizioni d'arte, Pinacoteca Cantanole, 1992.

34
besides the large number of guests. As it is understood from the sources, not only

the members of the Palace but also the non- Muslim nobles, ambassadors, their

wives and high-level members of the military forces besides the foreign guests are

invited to the performances.48 Therefore, Fossati's plan may not reflect

Abdülmecid's ambition for a larger scale theater audience that will be the pioneers

for the society. While Abdülmecid stands against to the criticisms on his theater

passion and forms a role model as the audience, his detached structure satisfies

the needs and ambitions of its patron with its visibility and monumentality. On the

other hand, there exists an interesting tension between the inner representations

and the photos of the facade of the Dolmabahçe Court Theater. While the inner

depictions of the theater creates the impression of a larger opera hall,based on a

large circular area, the photos of the outer structure stand for a rectangular

prolongation that based on three floors.

By creating a larger scale theater in the new city center, the isolated space

turns into an attainable performance space that announces the importance and

legitimacy of the theater for a group of people. The theater is seen as a fabulous

stone structure of its time by most of the people who get used to smaller, less

monumental and wooden theater building examples. The theater has three tiers of

balconies with more than thirty boxes and designed for three hundred people. The

parterre and the boxes are covered with glittered velvet whereas the Sultan's box

is covered with golden cage and glittered curtains.49 This monumental structure

has two neoclassical pediments on the facade. Similar to the Palace itself, the
48
Gerçek, N.S. “Dolmabahçe Tiyatrosu” İstanbul'dan Ben de Geçtim, İstanbul: Kitabevi Yayın,
1997 pg 178
49
Celal, M. Eski İstanbul Yaşayışı, İstanbul: İletişim, 1992. pg 70

35
inner decoration of the theater is designed by the decorator of Paris Opera Hall,

Séchan. The foyer which is leading to the stage is covered with a wooden dome. It

has glittered decoration and lightened with a magnificent luster. The upper floor

has an ante- room which has a gate to the Sultan‟s box that situates in the middle

and appears as the strongest architectural element thanks to its glorious cage and

scale. Behind his box there are two rooms and one of them has the stairs that lead

to Harem. The theater hall has the entrance with parterre that is decorated with red

seats and the best machines of the time. The floor that is reserved for the members

of harem is a single theater box that is covered with a golden cage and red velvet

covered seats. The first two floors of the theater boxes have curtains and

ornamented decoration.50 A large dining room for the diplomatic dinners is

designed for completing the function of creating a diplomatic and leisure time

spatial organization. The monumental aura of the structure has reflections on the

decoration of the dining room similar to the theater hall. The walls of the room

were covered with decorated wooden panels for two and a half meters while the

rest of the walls with glittering grain leather. The room has two large entrances

and twelve windows. The doors are decorated with bronze and one of them has a

hidden space for the Sultan in order to watch the meetings by being invisible

where as the other door have a space for the invisibility of the orchestra. 51

50
Esemenli, D. Osmanlı Sarayı ve Dolmabahçe, İstanbul: Homer, 2002. pg 218
51
“Dolmabahçe Tiyatrosu” Tanzimattan Cumhuriyete İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul: İletişim
Yayınları, 1985. pg 3967

36
Fig 2.3: The back door of the theater and its close relationship with the street. 52

While the Western culture and people start to find a stronger chance to

contact and affect the Ottoman culture, the spatial reflections of the

Westernization movements inside the Empire get condensed. Not only the new

spaces for the newly established foundations, like post offices or railway stations

but also the traditional spaces like the Palace is effected by this new

understanding. When the house of the Sultans, Topkapı Palace, is started to be

identified with the tragedies and become outdated when compared with the

structures of the Industrial Revolution; a new space that carries the traces of the

Westernization ideals besides keeping the main elements of the traditional

52 Tuğlacı, P. The role of the Balian family in Ottoman Architecture. Istanbul: Yeni Çığr Kitabevi,
1990.

37
 Fig. 2.4: The photograph of Bayıldım Hill nad Dolmabahçe Mosque at the end of the
nineteenth century. 53

organization of the Ottoman Palace is decided to be built. 54 In this case, not only

the technical and architectural changes but also the location of the Palace complex

carries a major role. One breaking point can be evaluated as the Palace's getting

closer to Pera- Galata district. However, Divanyolu still carries its spatial power

53
Gülersoy, Ç. Ibid

54 Küçükerman, Ö. Sanayi ve Tasarım Yarışında Bir İmparatorluk İki Saray: Topkapı ve

Dolmabahçe, İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2010. pg 159

38
and becomes more popular during the nineteenth century as a leisure time space.

For the case of Dolmabahçe Palace, the real breaking point is the close spatial

relationship between the mosque, theater and the clock tower may reflect the new

approaches to the ties between modernity and religion. While the mosque, tower

and theater represents a strong architectural existence, their coming together

bravely stands as an opposition to the literal translation of the theater typology

from the Western examples.

Fig 2.5: The representation of the Dolmabahçe Mosque with the Court Theater as a case for the
local application of the translation of the theater typology. 55

55 Gülersoy, Ç. Ibid.

39
2.2 Dolmabahçe Palace Complex

Fig 2.6: The plan of the Dolmabahçe Palace complex. 56

The first Ottoman court theater was constructed as a part of Dolmabahçe

Complex. The alternation that has started with Mahmud the Second goes on

during the reign of Abdülmecid and a new spatial organization is created in the

place of 'Beşiktaş Sahil Sarayı'. The construction starts in 1842 (or 1844) and

finishes in 1855 but due to the negative effects of the Russian War, the opening

ceremony cannot be realized until the end of the war. The chief architect of the

palace is Garabet Balyan and Paris Ambassador Ahmed Fethi Pasha plays an

active role both in the construction of the Palace and theater. Thanks to his strong

56 Esemenli, D. Ibid

40
relationship with Paris, the decorator of the Paris Opera Hall- Séchan comes to

Istanbul. When the aim of building a new monumental space coincides with the

fiscal problems, the same economic story continues. During the decoration of the

Palace the irony of borrowing money from the European countries and spending

the money for accessorizes that are bought from the European countries appear

again and again. While the architectural language of the structure carries the

traces of French Baroque, German Rococo, English Neoclassicism and Italian

Renaissance, the inner decoration consists of Sévres vases, Lyon silks, Baccarat

crystals, English chandeliers, Venice stained glasses and German, Czechoslovak

bohemian luminaries. 57 In this way, the Palace speaks a multi-lingual language

in a monumental scale in its every single detail including the location, the smallest

element of decoration and householders.

2.3 Yıldız Court Theater

As it has mentioned by Sermet Muhtar Alus, the performances started after

the yatsı prayer. The absolute silence and the stability even during the funniest

plays were must. After the performances, the sultan gave presents to the visitors.

The theater was the meeting place of the most important operas like La Traviata,

İl Travatore, Sevil Berberi and La Maskot that were directed by Stravolo, besides

the Abdülrezzak's tuluat and comedies. 58

57 Batur, A. “Dolmabahçe Sarayı” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk Tarih
Vakfı Yayınları, 1994. pg 91-96
58
Alus, S,M. “İkinci Abdülhamid'in Muayedeleri” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. September 1951:
966-971.

41
Fig 2.7: Facade of the theater that emphasis its detached structure to the other buildings and close
relationship with the palace complex. 59

Yıldız Court Theater, the second court theater that is situated inside the Palace

complex, is completed in 1889. Rather than the outer facade, the inner decoration

of the theater with its coquette style takes the attention. The ceiling of the

structure is blue and ornamented with glitters and star motifs. It has a small dome

in the ceiling and scenic printings on the apron. Balcony sets on wooden posts and

Sultan's box situates above the entrance. 60

59 Bilgin, B. Geçmişte Yıldız Sarayı, İstanbul: Yıldız Sarayı Vakfı Yayınları, 1988.
60
Ibid. pg 17

42
Fig 2.8: A detail from the ceiling.61

The saloon is reserved for men and the members of the harem follows the plays

from the two tiers of boxes that are covered with glittered cages. The guests are

invited only during the fests with their wives. While sultans and kadınefendi's

have their own boxes, female guests follow the performances with the members

of harem. While the women who come with their most shining dresses and jewels

become the focus point; the men who sit in the salon are not allowed to look

above and warned by the officers if they act inappropriate. The plays are generally

performed by French and Italian actors. However, thanks to the fast development

of the students of the imperial orchestra and their attempt to create an authentic

theatrical attitude in their own language make them more dominant in the
62
performances in Yıldız Court Theater. Similar to Dolmabahçe Court Theater,

several names are offered by the researchers for Abdulhamid‟s theater in Yıldız

61 Ibid.
62
Şakir, Z. “Yıldız Tiyatrosu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası, March 1954: 2972-2974.

43
Palace. While Kuban63 mentions the name of the Italian architect Raimondo

D'Aronco; Metin And claims that the architect of the structure is Yanko, the son of

Vasilaki Kalfa.64 However, the architect of the structure is mentioned as Vallaury-

who has worked with Raimondo D'aronco during the construction of the

structures inside the Yıldız Palace Complex- by Ziya Şakir.65 The capacity of the

theater is for one hundred and fifty people and it is reserved only for men.

2.4 Yıldız Palace Complex

Fig. 2.9: Yıldız Palace and Hamidiye Mosque. An ezample for Yıldız Palace’s inorganic and
separate planning. 66

63 Kuban, D. Osmanlı Mimarisi pg 666

64
And, Türk tiyatro Tarihi pg 69

65 In his article, Ziya Şakir mentions several plans that are brought from Paris and Vienna.
Abdulhamid examines all of the plans one by one and choses the most suitable one according
to him. Şakir claims that the architect of the plan is not known but the applier is the court
architect Vallaury. (Yıldız Tiyatrosu, 2973)
66
Library of Congress: Abdülhamid II Collection
<http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ahii/>

44
While Dolmabahçe Palace offers a strong relationship with its environment and

visualize the paradigms of the nineteenth century by offering close ties between

Dolmabahçe Mosque and Court Theater both in terms of space and architectural

language, Yıldız Palace act more like a 'complex' with its detached structures

rather than offering a unity. While the structures have an individual and separated

understanding of existence that situates on a large area, the theater could not find

a detached identity among those individual structures. Yıldız Court Theater's

situation and relation with other structures completely contrast with Dolmabahçe

Court Theater. Despite to Dolmabahçe Theater's strong identity that situates freely

in front of the Dolmabahçe Mosque, Yıldız Court Theater represents a less strong

architectural existence. Naturally the spatial conditions and the strength of

existence go hand in hand with the Sultans' interest to the theater as the patrons of

the complexes. While the individual structures of Yıldız Palace were distributed to

a large they do not offer any visual contact with the city. The visibility of the

structures merged itself to the landscape and the monumentality was only

represented by the high walls of the entrance. 67

67
Çelik, Z. The Remarking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in the Nineteenth Century.
The University of California Press. London: 1993. pg 132-133

45
Fig. 2. 10: Interior of the conservatory of the imperial ceremonial palace Yıldız 68

2.5 The duality of being visible and invisible

This idea of invisibility finds its reflections stronger in the second Court

Theater of the Ottoman Empire. Despite to the free, monumental, authentic, clear

and open entity of the Dolmabahçe Court Theater, Yıldız offers a more private,

oblique, limited and hidden structure. According to the plan of the second court
69
theater, the two third of the theater is occupied by the parterre and stage. So,

when the scale of the theater and boxes are thought together with the restrictions

for the audiences; the aim of an isolated family theater becomes more visible.

68
Library of Congress: Abdülhamid II Collection
http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ahii/
69
And, Türk Tiyatro Tarihi pg 96

46
Abdülmecid's ambition for idealizing a role model as a theater audience by

inviting the foreign guests, non-Muslim subjects and high-level members of the

army with their wives to every performance leaves its place to a theater that

satisfies the taste of the members of Palace. Hence, the Court Theater starts to be

more isolated and less inviting for the foreign visitors except the fests. In this

context rather than the Italian architect D'Aronco who gets closer to the European

style in Yıldız Palace complex, a Levantine architect who is known as the most

authentic interpreter of the Ottoman and Western styles Vallaury seems closer to

the general aim of the theater that starts to gain a more traditional meaning and

appearance. On the other hand, Batur sees a kind of continuity through the

architectural languages of Chalet's additional building that is designed for

70
Wilhelm the second and theater. However, this kind o continuity is not visible

when the Yıldız Court Theater is thought with the former existence of a court

theater like Dolmabahçe which sends stronger references to the European Opera

Halls. On the other hand, Dolmabahçe Theater Hall does not only appear more

European in terms of appearance but also shows a much more innovative

perspective. The short life of the first Palace Theater brought many new things to

the life of Istanbul. Even an exhibition is made here. The first Turkish drama Şair

Evlenmesi by Şinasi is written in order to be performed in this theater. In 1863,

the theater had a fire and its interior is partly burned and never recovered. Then it

70
Batur, A. “Art Nouveau”. Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1993. pg 330

47
is used as tobacco depot and destroyed during the arrangement of Ayaspaşa,

Dolmabahçe road.71

2.6 Imperial Boxes

Similar to the sultan box of Dolmabahçe Court Theater, the situation of the

box in Yıldız also emphasizes the existence of the Sultan inside the space but try

to protect his privacy at the same time. For the case of the Sultan who stands in

the middle of the whole picture for the State, the issue of visibility and invisibility

carries a dual and controversial meaning. The introduction of the boxes instead of

the galleries is a great change in the architectural language of the theater buildings

in the seventeenth century. However, it cannot be named as an innovation due to

the earlier existence of the theater boxes in during the sixteenth century. Not the

structure but the meaning of the compartments, separated by wooden panels,

starts to change in the seventeenth century. They start to serve for the clerics,

noblemen and council members. In other words, compartments start to be the

property of the ones who can afford to pay more for them. Therefore during the

late seventeenth century tiers of boxes started to be known as the better class
72
seating and become the property of those who had paid. The continuity of the

boxes inside the court theaters represents an interesting case. Actually for the case

of the court theaters the totality of the structure acts like a private box. This

71
Umur, S. “Dolmabahçe Saray Tiyatrosu” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi.İstanbul: Türk
Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1993. pg 96-97
72
Pevsner, Ibid. pg 71-72

48
insistence on the privacy is not an extra-ordinary issue for the case of harem.

However, for the Sultan's box, it is not possible to think about the disturbance of

his security or privacy by the limited number of guests and artists invited by the

Sultan himself. Hence, it is not possible to claim the dominant existence of the

Sultan's box purely stem from the need for the security and privacy. On the other

hand, the difference in the scale and the appearance of the boxes can be depended

on the essential conceptual differences between the two court theaters inside the

Empire.

Rather than standing for the level of royalty or richness, the difference

between two Sultan boxes may refer to the level of the openness and publicity of

the theaters and touch to the issue of security and privacy partly. While Yıldız

Theater as a whole, acts more like a box; the sultan's box inside the theater

remains more representational rather than functional when the function is defined

as the protection. The main attention remains on the parterre and stage due to their

dominant scale. On the other hand, Dolmabahçe Court Theater's Sultan box offers

a larger area and ante-room for the Sultan. The monumentality of the outer space

goes on inside the Sultan box and this situation supports the idea behind the

establishment of the theater. It is clear that while Abdülhamid thinks about a

family theater which suits well to the general structure of the court theaters,

Abdülmecid aims to act as a role model and organizes a detached theater in the

new center of the capital.

49
 Fig 2.11: The photograph of the façade of Dolmabahçe Court Theater at the end of
nineteenth century. 73

Fig 2. 12. The Sultan box and theater boxes of Yıldız Court Theater. 74

73
Library of Congress: Abdülhamid II Collection
<http://www.loc.gov/pictures/collection/ahii/>
74
Bilgin, B. Ibid. 72.

50
 Piermarini's design in Milan can be evaluated as the climax for the boxes.

The Theater Scala, the largest theater ever, stands as a kind of turning point for

the Italian theatrical architecture. This theater which is designed by Piermarini

and built during the years of 1776 and 1768 is financed by the box- holders. This

issue leads the opportunity to decorate and furnish the boxes and ante-room
75
according to the owners' tastes. While the general style of the theaters starts to

appear in Baroque with the rise of the opera, conflicts against the functionality of

the Baroque designs appears. Francesco Milizia who starts a war against Baroque,

criticizes boxes and their function inside the theater. He finds boxes bad for seeing

and hearing and claims that they make serious listening and high-art examples
76
impossible. In this case the question of visibility reappears in another way for

the court theaters. In practice, a box that is paid by the owner and decorated

according to his taste should be comfortable and suitable enough to evaluate the

high art examples of theater. However, when a part of the construction aim of the

box becomes turning the box into a stage that should be followed and watched by

other audiences rather than the stage itself; the baroque boxes seem ideal with

their refulgent appearances. For the case of the Sultan, his box that situates in

front of the stage show some parallels with the functional meaning of stage.

Sultan as the patron of the theater, the most prestigious audience, owner of the

Palace, ruler of the State and as the caliph becomes limelight when compared with

the artists on the stage. His mimics, reactions, dislikes and appreciations are the

center of the whole issue and more important than any play, actor or decor for all

75
Pevsner, Ibid. Pg 74.
76
Ibid. Pg. 80

51
of the audiences. Therefore it seems like for the case of the Sultan box, the main

concern of the architect is not being able to create a suitable space for following

the high art products in an effective way but represents the stage-like allurement

and dominance of the box inside the court theaters.

2.7 Morality and Boxes

Besides the functional deficiencies, the theater boxes refer to the ideas of

hiding the personality and activities inside the boxes. For Milizia, besides its
77
being bad for seeing and hearing, they are also immoral. Actually the morality

of the theater is a popular debate starting from the later middle ages. In all

European Countries, drama actually started in the Church and moved into public.

However, in 1574 the theater is forbidden essentially for the moral danger arising

out of unchaste, uncomely, and barefaced speeches and doings. Therefore, theater

started to be seen as the activity that leads to the corruption of the youth, and

other enormities. In a preacher in England in 1578, the theater called as ' a show

place of all beastly and filthy matters'. 78Four centuries later, similar reactions are

visible from the religious people and layman inside the Ottoman Empire. As it has

mentioned, those criticisms are not only for the ones who deal with theater or the

ordinary audiences but for the Sultan himself as well79. While the whole

77
Pevsner, Ibid. pg 80
78
Ibid. Pg 69.

79 Eventhough the name of the newspaper and date is not mentioned, both Sevengil and Gerçek
mention about a declariton. In the declation a group of people claim that 'Padişahın böyle levh
ü lûb mahallerine devamının nazar-ı millete hoş görülmediğini ve zat-ı hareketin de münasip

52
management mechanisms of the Empire starts to gain a more rational aspect,

Mufti's opinion still has its strongest effect on the social life. The abundance of

the rules which focuses on 'forbidding' rather than regulating takes the attention.80

Similar to the rules that tells how to sleep, eat or clean; the rules on theater also

focus on restrictions. However, Sultans strongly believe in the necessity of

Westernization. Therefore theater means something more than performance or

leisure activity for them. Hence, their belief in theater provides a kind of security

for the people who are dealing with theater in any way and prevents the possible

reactions that may come from tyrannical ideas.81

Sultans who believe in the necessity of Westernization become passionate

audiences and patrons of the theater structures. However, as it has mentioned, the

source of this interest stand as a questionable debate. It is not possible to

determine that the reason of the interest to the theater is a result of personal tastes

of the Sultans or their conceptualization of theater as a necessary part of the

protocols of the modernization era. No matter what the reason of their interest is,

it certainly works for the legitimization of theater inside the Empire. Their being

the patrons and the audiences of the theater at the same time prevents the possible

tyrannical activities. However, as it has mentioned this process was not an easy

ve vekâr-ı şâhâne ile kabil-i telif olamaz'. (Türkiyede İlk Tiyatro Ne Zaman yapıldı?, 139)
(Dolmabahçe Tiyatrosu, 178)
80
Kayra, C. Osmanlı'da Fetvalar ve Günlük Yaşam, İstanbul: Boyut Yayınları, 2008. pg 131.

81 Sultans believe in the necessity of the theater but alsa awre of its political power on the people.
Hence, they want to use this political power for the sake of the Empire and try to prevent the
spread of opposite ideas. Therefore sometimes theaters are seen as the means of the realization
of political aims and closed and destroyed. For instance Şark Theater tnot only closed but the
structure is destroyed because of the celebrations for Nalbatyan. On the other hand Asya
Kumpanyası that is also celebrating the same event is not closed and just ignored. They were
performing politically tricky plays like Machbeth of Miserables in Naum but the Palace was
just ignoring rather than closing. (Osmanlı Tiyatrosu, 45)

53
one and the decision of building a theater in front of a mosque stand as a highly

radical attempt that also stand as a role model for the Şehzadebaşı area as it will

be discussed in the following chapters. Despite to the strong wind of changes

inside the Empire there were negative reactions for the modernization ideals and

the new habits that started to give a new shape to the daily life. Even the sultan's

attempts to form a role model as a theater audience seem useless for the

legitimization of the theater as quick as they hope. As a result court theaters offer

a softer transition by creating a more isolated space inside the palace complex. 82

On the other hand, it is not possible to think about the Empire that is sublimated

from the repressive rules that is defined by the Sultan as the caliph. As it is seen,

one interesting point in this sense is the rules' getting stronger than the Sultan‟s

own initiative and taste in some situations.

The leisure time activities are an indispensable part of the Palace. Even

though the history of the performance arts depends on the earlier centuries of the

Empire, they get stronger and take their place in the social life of the layman with

the modernity. As it has mentioned, it is not possible to eliminate the power

relations, authority, religious background, changing statues of the minorities,

Sultan's personal interests, economic problems, role of Westernization ideals and

the multi-layered structure of the Ottoman culture and society while evaluating

the court theaters. Even though those variables are valid for all court theaters as it

is in the Western prototypes, the applications of those variables inside the Empire

give the possibility of translation that saves itself from creating a copy of the

82 Nüzhet refers to the reactşons agains Abdülmecid‟s interest and financial support for Naum
Theater. Abdülmecid visits the theater every week. A red carpet and speacial lightening are
used during his visits. He has a large and splendiferious box inside Naum Theater.
(İstanbul'dan Ben de Geçtim, 178)

54
western typology. All of those concepts come together and form a complex

architectural meaning that cannot be limited with the construction period, patron

or the architect as it is in the meeting of Dolmabahçe Court Theater with the

Mosque or Yıldız Theater's fabulous Sultan box that refers to the invisibility of

the Sultan. Hence, Ottoman court theaters come up with a unique meaning that

cannot be identified with a literal translation of a Western prototype and supplies

the authenticity to their architectural language thanks to the unique case of the

Istanbul that is still keeping the traditional understanding of the performance arts

and start to interpret the social requirements of modernity.

It is not possible to identify all aspects of performance arts with the

modernization but on the other hand it is impossible to ignore the importance of it

during the establishment of the theater as a 'high art' institution inside the Ottoman

Empire. When the emphasis is on the relation between the theater and

modernization the major role belongs to the embassies. Besides bringing a new

understanding to the leisure time activities of Istanbul; their being the protector of

the minorities supply them a larger area for the freedom of expression both in

terms of art and architecture. Therefore, while offering important theater activities

to the capital, they also encourage the artistic expressions of the minorities.

Besides their theaters the communities of the minorities like Societa Goldoni,

Unione Dramatica di Constantinopoli that was established for performing Turkish

plays, Societa Operaia Italiano Armonia, Unione Shermistica are the important

communities that were supported by the Embassies. 83

83 And, M. Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu. Ankara: İş Bankası Yayınları. 1972.
pg 43-44

55
 2.8 Embassies

The first Embassy was established in 1454 in the capital by the Venetians.

In 1475 Poland, 1477 Russia, 1478 Naples, 1525 France, 1528 Austria, 1538

Florence, 1581 England, 1602 Spain, 1737 Sweden, in 1739 Prussia, in 1756

Denmark and in 1740 Sicilians were established embassies inside the borders of

the Empire. However, the active participation of the embassies to the social life

starts with capitulations. While Pera and Galata start to be the host of the

embassies, the population of those districts started to be dense. The growing

emphasis and function of the embassies were not only in front of the eyes of the

minorities. Throughout the nineteenth century their efficiency in Bab-ı Ali and

prestige of the French and English ambassadors were growing day by day for

Mahmud the Second and Abdülmecid.84

As it has mentioned, Embassies do not only refer to the political ties

between the European countries and Istanbul but also stand for the exchange of

the cultural phenomenon. While they brought the habits of the European culture to

the capital, such as tea parties, dances and balls, they were eager to carry the
85
atmosphere of the 'East' to their countries. While theaters, balls and other

activities that become more common day by day inside the Empire is the one part

of the exchange, paintings and photographs are the interesting representations for

the presentation of the Ottoman culture. Actually this fascination started with the

sixteenth century when diplomats had their portraits painted wearing Turkish

84 Sakaoğlu, N. “Elçilikler” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1993. pg 149-150

85 Ibid. pg 150

56
costume. With the growing demands, some of the Istanbul embassies started to

have employed artists to do paintings and drawings of Turkey, Middle East and

Egypt. Naturally those were not only for self- exposition but especially for the

satisfaction of the curiosity of their friends in Europe. Hannavy evaluates this

situation as the beginning of orientalism and takes attention to the exaggerations

86
and distortions Maybe it is possible to talk about a kind of realism in the

representations of the Empire in Europe with the invention of photography but

naturally breaking the frames of the image that was shaped centuries ago thanks

to the paintings was not possible easily.

Figure 2.13: “Kaiser Wilheml II”. Artist: Max Fleck 1916 in German Embassy in Istanbul 87
This picture stands as an example for Hannavy's claim with the depiction of the ambassador with
a fez.

86 Hannavy, J. Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography. New York: Routledge, 2007. pg

1036

87 See
http://www.istanbul.diplo.de/Vertretung/istanbul/tr/02/KanzleiResidenzTarabya/Generalkonsul
at/Bildergalerie__Generalkonsulat,pageIndex=1.html. 05. 08.2010

57
Lewis mentions that diplomats were actually acting like travelers. Ambassadors

were the ones who were able to get some more detailed information about the

capital and have possibility to carry them to their own cities. This kind of relation

depends on the times of Byzantine Empire and Venetians who formed resident

communities. The recognition of the Consul of the Venetians in Constantinople by

the Byzantine government as the head of the Venetian community was the
88
beginning of the residential embassies inside the capital. This cross-cultural

exchange that started centuries ago was also visible in the architectural language.

Embassies and the artists who were appointed to the European embassies in

Istanbul were one of the important means that supplied a kind of architectural
89
interaction between the Ottoman and Renaissance Italy. While the architects

who come to the capital started to be fed with the capital's architectural language,

their styles on the embassies made Grand Rue de Pera a European inspired urban

artery. The embassies that competed with each other in terms of monumentality

(and started to be named as Palace) have played a crucial role in the construction

of the neo-classical language of the quarter. Pera's landscape was dominated by

the large gardens, often attached to the religious and educational facilities. Çelik

claims that their overwhelming identity was highly effective in the architectural

style of the other building types like hotels, cafes, restaurants and theaters. 90

88 Lewis, B. Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2004. pg 144

89 Ali O., Essa A. Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the Renaissance.
London: Cromwell Press Group, 2010 pg 237

90 Çelik, Z. The Remaking of Istanbul: Portrait of an Ottoman City in Nineteenth Century. USA:
University of California Press, 1993. pg 133

58
 The embassies impact on the life of Pera cannot be limited with the formal

background of the architectural language. The activities that impressed the

formation of such a style like the dances, balls and theater is started to be

recognized more and more with the existence of the embassies. During the

Tanzimat Period, Embassies brought a kind of recognition to the capital for the

European theater and dramatic literature. The reformist approach of the Sultan

Selim the Third is a turning point for the formation of such recognition. Starting

from the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries foreign embassies were

presenting plays like Corneille, Moliere or Montfleury. 91

Fig 2.14. The view of German Embassy in 19th century. 92 An example for the monumentality of the
embassies. The structure is easily recognizable thanks to its large scale and strong stylistic
expression

91 Halman, T. 'Introduction' , İbrahim the Mad and Other Plays: An Anthology of Modern
Turkish Drama, ed. By Halman, T. , Warner, L. New York: Syracuse University Press, 2008.
pg 18

92 See
http://www.istanbul.diplo.de/Vertretung/istanbul/tr/02/KanzleiResidenzTarabya/Generalkonsul
at/Bildergalerie__Generalkonsulat.html 04. 08.2010

59
Several reasons give rise to the popularization of theater as a leisure time activity.

Most of the Embassies are the important audiences of the plays and give

important clues about the plays and general theater aura with their diaries. The

other side of this relationship- the diaries of the Ottoman Embassies who were

abroad- was also important. For example, Yirmisekiz Mehmet Çelebi's

observations on a performance in Paris carry great importance in order to

understand an Ottoman's reaction to the opera. He declares his astonishment for

the technology that was used during the performance and high expenses that was

paid by the government. He mentions that the audiences were mostly consisted of

the elites and the setting of the performance was 'a palace that was built

specifically for those performances'. 93

Embassies are one of the most important means of the popularization of

Western theater in Ottoman Society with their theater halls. Nearly every

Embassy has its own space for the performances. Especially the theater of French

Embassy is important but not for its being a smaller prototype of the Theater

Farnese in that becomes a role model of every theater building with its horse

shoe shape and framed stage in 1619 by Aleotti. Similar to all other theater

structures inside the borders of the capital, its authenticity stem from its after life

and interesting creation story. The French Embassy Theater was planned by

Cornelia Magni. Actually he was not an architect and did not want to plan the

building. However, the French Embassy Marquis de Nointel told him not to worry

93 Rado, Ş. Paris'te bir Osmanlı Sefiri: Yirmisekiz Mehmet Çelebi'nin Fransa Seyahatnamesi.
İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Kültür Yayınları, 2008. pg 52.

60
Fig 2.15: The architect's plan and the representation of the French Embassy. 94

and plan the structure because he thought that there was no one to be able to

criticize the structure. As a result Magni accepted to plan the theater building and

his building became so popular that everybody asked him how he could plan such
95
a fabulous building. He explained the inspiration behind his plan was his long

examinations in Italy. Actually he mentions that the only place that he visited in

Italy was Farnese. As an appreciation of the beauty of this structure many

important plays like Macbeth -not only light comedies- were performed in this

building. The main attraction point of his plan was the large theater box that was

94 Beyoğlu, 1870-2000-Bir Beyoğlu Fotoramanı: Bir Efsanenin Monografisi. İstanbul: Yapı Kredi
Yayınları, 2000.
95
And, Ibid. Pg 39.

61
designed for the elite guests of the Embassy. Because of the largeness of the

private boxes; he made extra seats that surrounded the stage. Besides, he made a

special box for women that were sending references to the Ottoman rituals. 96

While the theater performances of the Embassies were taking attention and

becoming a kind of model for the Ottoman elites and Sultans who were allured by

the European life style, balls were feeding this attraction by creating theatrical

scenes. First ball was given during the reign of Mahmud the Second by the

English Ambassador. The ball was inside a ferry in Haliç. It was the first

European style ball that the Palace had also attended. After five days the French

embassy also wanted to give a ball in order to compete with England. However,

as far as the memories of the first ball became famous inside the capital and

criticized by the bigot people, the government refused the invitation. An important

invitation was given by the French ambassador Tuvenel in 1856. One of the

guests of the ball was Abdülmecid who had accepted the invitation and attended

to the ball surprisingly. Firstly, he had an interview with the ambassador and

rested in a room. Paris Congress was a part of their discussion. Then he visited the

dancing ball and chat with people. The other Ambassadors also waited for the

attendance of Abdülmecid to their balls but this one was the first and the last ball

that Abdülmecid accepted to come. In a similar manner Napoleon the third visited

the Ottoman embassy in Paris during a fabulous ball. After the Paris Congress in

1856, all of the allies gave balls inside the Embassies. 97

96 And, M. Ibid. pg 38-40

97 Sirer, M. “Türkiyede Verilen İlk Balolar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. December 1954: 3567-
3573.

62
Fig. 2.16: A ball in French Embassy in nineteenth century98

The strong physical and cultural existence of the embassies should not be

identified with the idea of „imposition‟. As a result of the growing emphasis of the

international relations Ottomans also send ambassadors to Europe. Therefore, as

far as the representation issue is valid both for the European and Ottoman parts,

the relationship can be evaluated as a cultural and political interaction rather than

„imposition‟ of the West to the Ottoman Empire.

98 Akbayar N., Sakaoğlu, N. Binbir Gün Binbir Gece: Osmanlı'dan Günümüze İstanbul'da
Eğlence Yaşamı, İstanbul: Denizbank Yayınları, 2000.

63
 CHAPTER III

THEATER IN PERA

99
Fig. 3.1: The Goad Plan of Pera and Galata .

99
Kubilay, A. Y. İstanbul haritaları : 1422-1922- Maps of Istanbul : 1422-1922. İstanbul :
Denizler Kitabevi , 2009

64
 It is possible to claim that theater is not the essence of the whiplash aura100

of Pera and Galata. As it has been mentioned in the previous chapter, theatrical

space has already existed inside the Empire in different places and for different

aims. On the other hand if any of the theater buildings in Pera and Galata is

eliminated; this leads to the undermining of a wide social life and culture that is

identified with dances, actors, audiences, cafés chantants, beer gardens and

singers. Moreover, it is true that similar to hotels, cafes or patisseries; theater has

been an indispensable part of not only Pera but also the whole capital. Also it is

known that some of the European composers' operas were performed firstly in

Pera. Then the question on the reason of this indispensability rises. What makes

'Pera's theaters' special despite to the existence of many spectacular theaters in

other European cities or inside the Ottoman Empire? In other words, why the

theaters in Pera should not be evaluated as the literal translations of the Western

prototypes, despite to the close social, cultural and architectural ties between the

European cities and Pera? The reason brings us to the essence of the uniqueness

of the district besides explaining the special relationship between this multi-

cultural space and theater. In this chapter's context, Pera itself appears as a kind of

theatrical space, whereas the audiences as the actors and also creators of the

space. As it was told in the memories of the Scottish traveler John Reid, rather

than the acrobats and jugglers on the scene, he prefers to watch the audiences due

100This aura that has been started to be formed during the nineteenth century has been defined as
'wiplash' by many autors of the era and contemporary literature. For instance, in 40 Pare Enis
Batur emphasizes the importance of the rigour, violoence, and defects besides the harmony and
pleasure during the formation of this authentic aura. Ahmet Rasim and Naim Tirali
concantrates the contrast between the people, activities and rythm of night and day. Accoriding
to their first hand experiences, the wiplash aura of Pera comes from this contrast. The colorful
but harmonius and peaceful atmosphere of the district leave its place to chaotic and traumatic
feelings with the night. (Büyük Cadde and Fuhş-i Atik)

65
to their being 'as colorful as the rainbow'. The men with knifes and guns, many

people with several European costumes, Italian and Greek women with gorgeous

hats become the decoration and also the leading actors of the theater in Reid's

terms. However, the 'climax of the performance' starts with the appearance of a

group of women from Harem, who visited the performance with the special

permission of the Sultan. 101 Therefore, the theater structures in Pera do not appear

as the literal translation of the Western prototypes despite to the strong presence

of the embassies, minorities and their interaction with their own identities.

As far as the urban fabric is an organic structure that can rise, develop and

transform, its creation period never comes to an end. Similar to the urban fabric,

buildings- as the elements of this picture- have the same property. They are

created as ideas, gain a form and by time changing cultural, environmental or

economic parameters end up with the transformations in their form and meaning.

Therefore, the after life of a structure which carries the paths of the architect and

patron but more importantly stemming from the users, audiences, environment

and changing relations of the structure's with those parameters appear as the part

that gives the identity to the structure. While the after life of a building makes

every kind of structure unique; it also appears as one of the aspects that makes the

direct translation of the architectural language from one structure, geography or

plan to the other impossible. The after life of a theater structure becomes the

indispensable part of it in the scope of this study for two reasons. Firstly, its being

the setting of theater; a performance art that is highly in contact with the users and

101Aracı, E. Naum Tiyatrosu: 19. yy İstanbulu'nun İtalyan Operası.İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları,
2010. pg 50-51

66
the viewers of the structure in the personal and social level and acting like a

mirror rise the importance of the after life of the theater buildings. Secondly, a

theater hall's afterlife in Pera is an important quality of it due to its situating in a

space like Pera- which offers a social atmosphere as colorful as rainbow as

102
defined by Reid. Therefore, when the after life of a structure is considered,

especially in a cultural mosaic like Pera it becomes the most important part of the

creation process of a theater hall. The uniqueness of the theater in Pera does not

stem purely from the style of the buildings or the aesthetic understanding of the

patrons and architects but directly related with the users of the theater buildings

and their contact with the urban structure that is shaped by the multi-cultural

understanding. While the multi-lingual style of the urban structure breaks the

cliché of a despot Empire and represents one of the most important examples of a

vivid, multi-layered and spectacular culture, its reflections on architecture goes

beyond the frames of any label. As far as the after life of the buildings is the

essence of the uniqueness of Pera, this property emphasizes the undermined factor

of user and viewer. This idea puts the user and viewer into the limelight of the

theater buildings and changes the whole district into a theatrical space and makes

the people on the street as the main actor in the creation of an authentic theatrical

space. As far as the importance of the theaters in Pera depends on their direct

contact with such a cultural spectrum, this chapter focuses not only to the names

of the structures, architects, patrons or building dates of the theaters but aims to

reflect the relationship between the theatrical space and people in Pera. Thanks to

being the leading actors of the creation of a unique theatrical space, Levantines

102 Ibid. pg 51

67
and their cultural identity carry the greatest importance in the rejection of a direct

translation of the theater buildings from European cities to Pera and Galata. 103

3.1 Levantine Background

When the after life of a theater structure is considered, social atmosphere

which contributes to the formation of the identity of the structure carry a major

role. If the social background of the audiences, actors or entrepreneurs who

succeeded in creating a theater culture in Pera is taken into consideration, the

examination of the district in a multi-layered manner is needed thanks to the

multi-lingual aspect of the Levantine culture. The story that goes between the

Levantines and Istanbul depends on the tenth century and can be identified as a

starting point in the East-West encounters in Mediterranean. As it is mentioned by

Rinaldo Marmara, trading communities from Venice, Genoa and Pisa came to

Istanbul in tenth century. In 1082, the Emperor Alexis Comnenos gave a district to

the Venetians in Constantinople and Italian colonization starts in the right part of

Golden Horn in Perama, (the later Bahçekapi, Balikpazari and Zindankapi

districts). However this Italian-Latin identity that was formed in tenth century

should not be understood in the same way with the Levantine identity of the

nineteenth century. Marmara determines the differences between the Ottoman

Latin and Levantine as their quite different life conditions and formers‟ partly

disappearance with the conquest of Istanbul in 1453 by the Ottomans. Also,

103 One of the most popular expression of this clishe is formulated by Mithat Cemal Kuntay
in Buhariyi Yaktılar. He evalautes Pera as the 'unconquered' İstanbul.

68
contrary to the 19th century Levantines, those people do not have a major

architectural production. Their main interest and means of living was trade and

they could be evaluated as the people who carry Eastern culture to the West rather

than being an agent of the opposite direction. Thus, a part of the Italian-Latin

community turned into the Ottoman-Latin community inside the Empire and they

can be evaluated as the ancestors of Levantines. However, this relation does not

refer to a cultural continuity due to the breaking points in the identity. 104

A group of Latin people who stay and similar to other minorities inside the

Ottoman borders obliged to pay jizya tax is named as non-Muslim subjects-

reaya. Marmara call this group the transitory inhabitants, the „Ottoman- Latin‟s

and emphasizes their different position when compared with Levantines who lives

much more comfortable and freely as a result of the existence of embassies. In

that case, the major breaking point that supplies freedom and comfort for the

Levantine identity is the Hatt-i Serif of Gulhane. The First Constitutional Era‟s

outcomes such as the abolition of capitation tax for the non- Muslims can be

evaluated as the subject of the second and the major breaking point that gave rise

to Levantine identity. However, neither the pressure that came from foreign

countries and resulted in more economic and politic rights inside neither the

Empire, nor their relatively good relations with the Muslims saved the Levantine

being the 'other'. It is not possible to guess that if being the „Other‟ inside the

Empire or being called as the „Other‟ by the people who came from Europe was

worse for the Levantine community. Due to their being Catholics and living

104 Marmara, R. Bizans Imparatorlugu’ndan Günümüze Istanbul Latin Cemaati ve Kilisesi,

Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2006 pg 13-28

69
according to the rules of another point of view were making Levantines and

Ottomans the members of different worlds. On the other hand, as it is mentioned

by Alessandro Pannuti, the word „Levantine‟ itself was used instead of heimatlos,

cheater and fiddler by the European voyagers who come to Istanbul.105 However,

the popularity, economic and political conditions besides the social life that fed

the Levantine identity was one of the strongest one inside the Empire which show

great effort in order to preserve its fundamentals while forming a new culture with

the borrowings from a completely different one. Therefore, their authentic culture

including their life style, clothes, art and entertainment understanding become the

source of inspiration especially for the other communities inside the Empire but

also for the Ottomans who were affected by the European lifestyle with the aura

of Tanzimat.

3.2 Social Structure

Pera starts to gain new aspects in terms of culture with the contribution of

several non-Muslim communities and their gaining wider opportunities in

expressing themselves in terms of culture, space and style. The question of the

meaning of Pera for the non-Muslim communities can be answered as

„everything‟ and this „everything‟ concept is explained by Bareilles as Pera's being

the spatial „abstract‟ of the social life of non-Muslim communities. He mentions

105 Oktay, Nilüfer. “The interview with Alessandro Pannuti about his doctorate thesis :'20. yy.‟da
Istanbul‟daki Italyan Levantenler'” Milliyet. 09. 06.2010
<http://www.milliyet.com.tr/2002/11/07/cumartesi/cum03.html>

70
the necessity of visiting Pera if there was a need for finding or meeting with

someone, buying a hat or umbrella, drinking a beer or wants to get marry. 106

Fig 3.2: Pera Palace Hotel and the entrance of Tepebaşı Garden Pub. Two important structures
that occupies a large space in Levantine’s daily life. 107

It is true that nineteenth century's political atmosphere give more chances

to non-Muslim subjects to represent themselves in the urban fabric. More freedom

led to more space and more institutional organizations for the communities. In the

late 1900‟s missionary schools, banks and embassies were dominating the city‟s

skyline. This pressure was felt by the Muslims and they started to give effort for

106 Bareilles, B İstanbul'un Frenk ve Levanten Mahalleleri: Pera, Galata, Banliyöler, İstanbul:
Güncel Yayıncılık, 2003. pg 44.

107 Akbayar N., Sakaoğlu, N. Binbir Gün Binbir Gece: Osmanlı'dan Günümüze İstanbul'da
Eğlence Yaşamı, İstanbul: Denizbank Yayınları, 2000.

71
building a new structure in front of a non-Muslim structure. Therefore, besides the

needs of modernity ideas, during this era schools and banks that belong to Muslim

community were also built in order to compete with the non-Muslim spatial

identity in Pera and Galata. However, the Empire was out of cash and was not

being able to establish new schools or support the Muslim investors as strong as

Westerns do. As a result, a large area, starting form Pera and Galata, started to be

covered by the Western institutions with a stylish architectural language.

Monumental structures like embassies followed by the residential architecture and

108
the ambassadors started to live in houses as gorgeous as the Ottoman Palaces.

Hence, in Pera, European communities were meeting with the people who were

like them without eliminating any of their authentic existent.

On the other hand, Pera was not only the „meeting place‟ of the non-

Muslims but also the meeting place of those communities with Muslims. This

meeting of the cultures was giving rise to a new culture because each part of the

society has possibility to find a common point and compromise while

entertaining, shopping or eating. „Standing and living together‟ became the main

aim of every single culture and the cultural mosaic offered a very colorful picture:

The cafes and grocery stores were Rum, the fashion and door plates were French,

the styles of the coats were English, beer gardens were German, the fiestas and

serenades were Italian and Spanish whereas the red fez, night guards and porters

108 Bareilles, B. Ibid. pg 45-46.

72
were Turkish. So all those elements were leading to a multi-lingual social

language and all of the theaters carry the effects of this multi-lingual life. 109.

3.3 Borders of the District

In a district that is shaped with the contribution of a society like

Levantines who cover a large variety of languages, cultures and habits, any

definition always seem incomplete and ready to be changed. Similar to many

blurred characteristics of the area, even the borders of Pera can be defined in

many ways. The most common one is determining Pera as the district that covers
110
the streets of Istiklal Caddesi and the street itself, between Tünel and Taksim .

However, as Koçu mentions it was not possible to define the borders of Pera

exactly, due to the complex structures of the streets that find an end finally in

Grand Rue de Pera. He offers a less deterministic definition and defines the

district as the area that situates behind Kasimpaşa, Findikli, Galata and Tophane.

However, the complex topography and the changing borders due to the rapid

growth of the city were leading the determination of the exact borders to

ambiguity and left up-and-down definitions. 111

109 Ibid. pg 35-38

110 Akın, N. “Beyoğlu” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1993. 212

111 “Beyoğlu” İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Tan Matbaası, 1958. pg 2703

73
3.4 The name of District

Another blurred issue on Pera appears as calling the district as Pera or

Beyoğlu.112 As it has mentioned by Arkan, the name of the district is another

matter of debate in today's discourse. Calling the district as Pera rather than

Beyoglu started to refer to the Western pressures on Empire whereas Beyoglu

113
stands for Turkish roots of the district. . When today's discourse was left aside

and concentrated on the historical meaning of the name 'Beyoglu', Fatih Sultan

Mehmet's conquest of Trabzon appeared as the beginning of the story. The last

Emperor Komnenos and his family were taken as prisoners and Fatih tried to

finds a settlement place for them. They settled in Pera and integrated with the

Islamic culture. Emperor‟s son Aleksios became a Muslim and lived in today‟s

Tünel district for a long time. Thanks to his close and sincere relationship with

people; he started be called as 'Beyoglu'. Thus, the name Pera turned into

„Beyoglu‟ and the former name started to be forgotten114.

3.5 Urban Structure

In a district that pushes the limits of every kind of definition and frame,

urban fabric and architectural language naturally follows the same path. However,

this idea should not be evaluated as the synthesis of styles or eclecticism. Similar

112 In this thesis the district is called as Pera without referring any Ottoman, Republican or
Western point of view but considering the cultural parameters of the nineteenth century.

113 Arkan, Ö. Beyoğlu: Kısa Geçmişi, Argosu, İstanbul: İletişim, 1989. pg 18

114 Koçu, R.E. Ibid. pg 2703

74
to culture, the district follows its own rhythm and rules during the creation of

space. The formation of spatial characteristics of the district depends on the

seventeenth and eighteenth century but mostly take its strongest characteristics

from the architecture of nineteenth century. As Akin claims in the first decades of

16th century, Pera was a place with full of gardens. However, this „garden-city‟

turned into a settlement area for the non-Muslim European communities during

17th and 18th centuries. The dominant structure of the period was the embassies

and they gave rise to the birth of the parishes. It is known that, during the

nineteenth century, this open- space area transformed into a secluded area with its

narrow and dirty streets. Unfortunately, this problem was not tried to be solved by

the government. However, Istanbul was a city that had high catastrophe risks

because of earthquakes and fires. Thus, the problem solved naturally and the 1831
115
fire destructed the area and gave rise to new and more ordered streets . It is

known that the 1831 fire destructed the left part of Galatasaray whereas the 1870

fire led to the growth of the northern part of the street and the street started to be

named as „Cadde-i Kebir‟. Important structures like Naum Theatre and English

Embassy were destroyed during this fire as well. The main reasons of the fires

were the timber dominated architecture, narrow and dead-end streets besides the

strong winds of the capital. After the fire, a new understanding of restructuring

that was also including the residential spaces appears. Besides the embassies, the

houses of the rich Greeks, Catholics and Armenians and some of the hotels were

115 Akın, N. Ibid pg 212

75
made up from stone were built and the district started to gain a new life and
116
architectural style with the use of stone and new building typologies.

Fig. 3.3: Fire in Pera.

3.6 Architectural Language

Naturally foreign and Levantine architects gain a popularity thanks to be

able to form a cultural transition beside the spatial one. While the new cultural

116 Birsel, S. Ah Beyoğlu Vah Beyoğlu, İstanbul: Sel Yayınları, 2002. pg 6-9

76
necessities started to be satisfied with the new building typologies; those

typologies came up with inexperienced architectural languages during the

nineteenth century. In the era of the economic and political decline, the rapid

growth of the entertainment structures identified with the new styles like Art

nouevau and Neo classicism. Due to the rapid changes in the capital of the Empire

like the changing demography, raising effectiveness of the transporting, import,

export and being a port, the variable needs of the demography and the capacities

to satisfy those needs began to increase. While the traditional social structure lost

its power day by day, a new bourgeoisie started to appear on the streets. The

raising bureaucracy, Levantine bourgeoisie and their specialized needs started to

be more important than the former centuries, with the decreasing economic and

political power of the Empire. Fashion, communication and art changed into a

need rather than luxury in Pera. 117

With the rituals of this new life style, new spatial needs appeared. Istanbul

started to offer new job facilities for construction. The necessity of the foreign

architect may rise from those increasing needs or from the need of a Westernized

language inside the urban fabric. This opened the roads to the Western architects

from the 18th century. Hassa mimarlar Ocagi or Sanay-i Nefise Mekteb-i Alisi or a

few Ottomans who went to Europe for their education were not enough to satisfy

the needs of the empire that grows rapidly.118 Foreign architects like Krikor and

117 Batur, A. “Art Nouveau Yapıları” Dünden Bügüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk Tarih
Vakfı Yayınları, 1993. pg 327

118 The author does not refer to Ottoman's architects not using the Western styles inside the urban
fabric. Similarly I also beware of such a generalization that threats Art Nouvea or neo-
clasissicm as the exported styles besides ignoring Ottoman Baroque or authentic neo-classim
in Topkapi Palace.

77
Garabet Balyan, Smith, Melling, D'Aronco and Fossati Brothers besides the

Levantine ones like Vallaury and Mongeri start to form a different language that

started to appear in schools, hospitals or government buildings and also theaters.

The urban architecture started to gain a different language with the contribution of

several styles and architects who were transforming their own style from several

nations. Batur claims that during the formation of this new language and fabric,

rather than becoming invisible; Eastern and Islamic style appeared still strong and

contribute to the unique language of the architectural language of the nineteenth

century 119

3.7 Theater in Pera

3.7.1 French Theater

According to the information in Bir Beyoğlu Fotoromanı the first theater

building in Pera was known as the French Theater which was built in 1827 and
120
rebuilt in 1831. It was closed in 1906 and torn down in 1920. . And claims that

this theater belonged to an Italian entrepreneur named as Giustiani. It was an

Italian style theater with a horse-shoe plan. It had six floors and twenty six theater

boxes that were for eight people. The theater did not have any balconies or

galleries. It opened up to a large parterre. Gold and velvet dominated the

decoration. After a while a rectangular ball room with galleries that were carried

by eighteen columns was added to the theater. There existed a large salon at the

119 Batur, A. Ibid. pg 328.

120 Beyoğlu, 1870-2000-Bir Beyoğlu Fotoramanı.: Bir Efsanenin Monografisi. İstanbul: Yapı
Kredi Yayınları, 2000. pg 127

78
center of the building and its entrance was made by glass. Hence, it started to be

named as Palais de Cristal starting from 1861. The ball room was leaded by a

corridor that was lightened by sixteen oil lamps. On the left side there exists
121
another room for dancing, a kiosk and a smoking room. Therefore, it is

possible to claim that Palais de Cristal has an aim of satisfying the every aspect of

social life in Pera. It represents all aspects of a theater hall with additional

facilities that addressed to the rising social demands and variety. An ordinary day

in Pera starts in a cafe goes on with shopping and ended up with theater and

dance. In the social atmosphere of the district none of those activities were less

important than the other and a theater hall could not have remained in the frames

of theater but appeared as performance and leisure time space. The

transformations of a theater hall from its classical definition to a recreation area,

the new concepts in the social atmosphere were the main determinants. While the

varieties in social life started to be richer, the activities gained new meanings and

aims. For instance, dancing could not be defined only as „dancing‟ in the

nineteenth century‟s Istanbul because it was standing at the heart of social

relations. Dance nights were reminding the English balls and becoming the most

widespread and significant entertainment style in Pera. Besides, the charity balls

were the most important and beneficial way of supplying money for the schools,

hospitals or asylums. Orphans, homeless old people and poor people were

becoming the subject of the public spirit during those nights and dances were

turning into the source of hope without expecting anything from the government.

121 And, M. Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu: 1839-1908. Ankara: İş Bankası
Yayınları, 1972. pg 200

79
Bareilles mentions that if there were not any dances in Pera, most of the schools

would be closed or most of the hospitals would not be able to accept any patients

because everyone in the nineteenth century‟s Ottoman setting was trying to

122
survive by him or herself . As far as having a theater is an important part of

business during nineteenth century, the different demands of people are tried to be

satisfied by the entrepreneurs. Thus new habits of the new social life of the local

people gave rise to the several translations of the theater typology. As it is in the

example of Palais de Cristal, those changing demands and needs of the society

stand in the middle of the creation of a theatrical space and may give rise to

essential changes in the plan of the structure.

3. 7.2 Varyete Theater

While the social life transforms and gains new meanings, this

transformation finds its reflections in the urban fabric. The rising popularity of

theater becomes the essence of the change in some structures. For instance, circus

that covers a large area and becomes an important leisure time activity starts to

leave its place to theaters as it is in Varyete Theater. The theater that situates in

Halep Bazaar, at the end of the Halep Gate was established instead of Circus

Theater that started to lose its popularity. This large space that was planned for a

circus was changed into an opera hall- Theatre Cirque de Pera. When the owners

of the area got the permission to use the circus as the theater the dome was

eliminated and wide windows were built. However, problems like lightening or

the odor of the horses that remained from the circus days could not be managed

122 Bareilles, Ibid. pg 73

80
and they got worse during the summer time. Therefore Varyete asked for

permission from Ridvan Paşa in order to use Tepebasi Theater during summer. In

1904 the theater who was directed by Raminez was renovated and added seventy

theater boxes. Those changes were designed by Ramon and theater was planned to

be active during six months in the beginning. However, groups performed here for

eighteen years. During the widening Campanaki designed a new and wider door
123
for the theater and changed the facade. Those enlargement operations and

renovations despite to the planning of the theater as a short-term structure could

be explained with the disappearance of Naum and keeping the growth of the

demands for a social life like Naum Theater offers. As it has mentioned by Akin,

with the disappearance of Naum in 1870, a social gap in Pera's entertainment life

had occurred. She claims that Varyete that belonged to Lamberger brothers

became one of the theaters that could fill this gap. 124

123 And, M. Ibid pg 212

124 Akın, N. 19. Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında Galata ve Pera, İstanbul: Literatür Yayınları, 2002. pg.
259

81
3.7.3 Naum Theater

Fig 3.4: A celebration for the honour of Garibaldi in Naum Theater.

As it is understood from Abdülmecid's emphasis and the growing

importance of theater as a leisure time activity; Naum occupies a large place in

the social life of the nineteenth century. Mihail Naum and Yusuf Naum, two

entrepreneurs who were aware of the rising popularity of theater wanted to build a

structure. However, the first Naum Theater was converted from a crib but gains

great popularity despite to the lack of the acoustics and comfort that a theater

must have. In 1844 the first version of the theater was built as a timber

construction. Selim Nüzhet Gerçek claims that this structure was built thanks to

82
the insistence of Russian, French and English ambassadors and accepted by

Abdülmecid as a result.125

However, Palace's affinity on theater and other arts have already started

and go on with a growing sympathy during the reign of Abdülmecid as it has

mentioned in the earlier chapter. The structure situated inside the Hristaki Passage

and started to serve for a large group of people. When the capacity of construction

was thought to be small and a new structure was started to be planned; the

building was burned up during the fire of 1846. 126 The third and the most mature

architectural expression of the theater belong to the year of 1848. After the

destruction of the Second Naum, Mihail Naum contacted with the government and

asked for material support. Actually from the first day of its establishment Naum

was supported by the government. In 1842 the theater had ten years of license and

exempted from taxes in 1862. The theater re-opened in 1848. It was for one

thousand and five hundred people and its entrance situated on the main road.

Therefore, the structure does not isolate itself from the theatrical atmosphere of

Grande Rue de Pera and does not exclude the people on the street. The theater

carried the classical properties of an Italian design as a reflection of the condensed

political relations between Dolmabahçe and Venice Palaces. The horse- shoe

planned saloon had a large parterre and three floors boxes around the stage.

125 Gerçek, Selim Nüzhet, 'Uc Naum Tiyatrosu', Istanbul'dan Ben de Gectim Kitabevi, Istanbul,
1997. pg 188

126 Ibid. pg 188

83
Verdi's Il Travotare was performed in Naum before Paris. The theater was

disappeared at the end of 1870 fire. 127

The original plan of the structure and the interior design were made by

Gaspare Fossati and Giuseppe Fosatti. The main shape of the plan was rectangular

and consisting of three main parts. The facade consisted of two colonnades and

four pilasters. A square planned foyer, a parterre that consisted of three floors with

horse- shoe plan and a large rectangular stage was the important interior elements.

Thus, the entrance consisted of two floors whereas the parterre and the stage part

consisted of four floors. The two floored entrance part had a symmetrical

approach because both of the floors have three circular belts and they gave rise to

three openings. At the base, there existed two pilasters and two colonnades. The

colons were Ionic at the base whereas they gained a Corinthian style in the first
128
floor.

As it has mentioned theater occupied the largest place of the social life of

Pera and Galata for a long while. The theater's opening ceremony announced the

start of the entertainment season for the winter. Italian groups who came from

Italy and lived in Istanbul were the inalienable actors of the theater. Besides

Naum's being a Catholic Armenian made him to support the Armenian groups and

rent the theater for the Armenian Community's celebrations. In 1862 of 15 th May

Journal de Constantinople announced that the theater would be closed for three

127 Büyükünal, F. Bir Zaman Tüneli: Beyoğlu, İstanbul: Doğan Kitap, 2006. pg 167

128 Akın, Ibid pg 257

84
years for the renovation. Despite to the theater‟s reopening after two years; the

death of Duhani brought the theater to a financial crisis 129

3.7.4 Elhamra Theater

It is clear that Naum brothers‟ success encouraged the other

entrepreneurs. Their success and popularity not only within the Armenian

community but also inside the Palace and whole Pera announces the

legitimization of theater as a business and entertainment activity. Therefore, the

number of theaters starts to increase rapidly as a result of demand and supply

relations besides the support of the government. The places of old theaters

were occupied by the new ones thanks to the rising number of audiences,

groups and entrepreneurs. Therefore, the important and popular architects of

the era who live in Istanbul started to be more active in the construction of

theaters. Elhamra Theater which was opened in 1871 and burned down in 1874

left its place to another theater hall. In 1875 Barborini planned a theater with

two storeys and balcony. 130The dominated colors inside the theater were white

and gold and it was lightened by sixty oil lamps whereas the stage was

lightened by two hundred and eighty oil lamps. The entrepreneur was Giordon

and the theater was planned to be named as Verdi but announced as Eldorado

129 Ibid. pg 258

130 This theater should not be confused with the theater and cinema hall inside Elhamra Passage
that was built instead of Palais de Cristal.

85
in 1877 with the changes in its shape. Then in 1897 it appeared as Verdi and
131
finally announced as Odeon.

3.7.5 Café Des Fleurs

During those years which was full of new spatial organizations, rather than

building distinguished examples of theater architecture, creating a theatrical space

by changing gardens or open spaces into theater started to appear more. One of

the examples of this populist view was Café Des Fleurs that belong to the

entrepreneur Scribe. The complex consisted of a theater building and a garden that
132
is a cafe-concert. It has a special space for Karagöz. Therefore, the

entrepreneur‟s aim of keeping every part of society together without realizing a

large amount of investment find its reflections in this garden theater. Different

groups like the ones who want to watch a Karagöz performance and drink beer

while listening to music come together in the same leisure space. Besides the

existence of a specialized place for the Karagöz performance can be evaluated in

two ways. Firstly it gives the impression of theaters' in Pera getting popular

among the Muslim subjects. Secondly, it gives the idea that Karagöz was a

popular performance art for the non-Muslim community. Both cases show the

theater's not being a literal translation and not a copy of the Western prototype

that cares about its local cultural parameters.

131 And, M. Ibid. pg 212

132 Ibid. 205

86
3.7.6 Şark Theater

The idea of „a performance cafe' in the modern sense can be identified

with other examples like Café Oriental. The space was organized as a cafe and

turned into the theater thanks to the Armenian Community.133 The efforts of

Hekimyan, Ekşiyan and Güllü Agop and positive reactions from the Palace and

people encouraged others. Hence, Altundaryan brothers rent Café Oriental that

situated in the place of Tokatliyan. The building that was built in 1859 named as

Şark Theater and performed only one Armenian play in 1862. Due to political,

financial and language problems besides the Catholic and Gregorian tension, the

theater was closed. The ones who were not satisfied with the money went to Izmir

and established Vaspuragan group. Later Magakyan established a group who

perform in Turkish in Şark Theater. However, he could not keep the group

together and some of the members started to act in Ortaköy-Hasköy Theater. As

far as the performances were in Turkish and did not refer to political issues;

palace helped the theater to keep it alive. 134.

Altundaryan Brothers appeared as one of the important theater

entrepreneurs of the nineteenth century. After Şark Theater, they established

another theater which is named as Şark Theater again. They destroyed the Alcazar

Theater and built a new one instead. The entrance of the theater was decorated

with marble and bronze statues. Rather than the thick columns that were hindering

the visibility inside the theater boxes, thin iron columns were used. It had two

exits that led both the Grande Rue de Pera and to the back street. It was lightened

133 Akın, Ibid. pg 261

134 And, M. Osmanlı Tiyatrosu: kuruluşu, gelişimi, katkısı, Ankara: Dost Kitabevi, 1999. pg 42-
44

87
with oil lamps and the theater had a kiosk and a smoking room.135 However, for

this new theater they could not gain the support of the Empire due to the rising

political tension. During the years of 1866 and 1867 The Empire was against the

Şark Theater. During those years, Sivaciyan started the realist approach in

Armenian theater with his plays that were inspired by the daily life of the

Armenian people. During the celebrations of the death anniversary of nationalist

writer Mikael Nalbatyan, the theater was decided to be closed because of having

political aims. 136 The building was torn down during the construction of the street

railway and in 1884 and a new theater was built on the land that belonged to
137
Armenian Church by Aznavour.

3.7.7 Talimhane-Croissant Theater

Another interesting transformation of space belongs to Taksim Talimhane-

Croissant Theater. It was opened as a cafe in 1860's but originally this large arena

was used as a drill field of Topçu Kişlasi. It was covering such a large area that

when it was turned into a theater hall the capacity was for two thousand people. 138

It had mobile circular curtains in order to prevent the sound and dust that came

from the launching area. However, similar to the other transformed spaces this

area could not be evaluated as an example of theater architecture. The dust and

noise were never prevented and due to the largeness there was lack of acoustic

135 And, M. Ibid. 210

136 And, M. Osmanlı Tiyatrosu. pg 44-46

137 And, M. Tanzimant ve Istibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, pg. 209

138 “Talimhane Tiyatrosu”. Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı. Pg
88 Yayınları, 1993.

88
 139
quality. Alcazar Byzantin, American Alcazar and Tracadero appeared as the

other theater halls that were famous with women singers, sailor audiences and
140
fights. Therefore, theater in Pera cannot be framed with famous Naum and

with its Italian style architecture, Italian operas and actors besides the elite

audiences. Theaters in Pera always come up with surprising varieties, spaces and

audiences. It breaks the rules and shows that even inside the most European part

of the Empire, theater as a culture, does not imitate and translate the Western

point of view as a copy. While representing the most sophisticated examples of

Italian style as it is in Naum; it also violates the forms of Italian theater

architecture and creates theatrical but not architectural spaces.

On the other hand, as far as it is known, Pera does not have a traditional

performance space like the coffee houses. In this case, the outdated and cliche

question re-appears: Does it mean that Pera is an imitation of Europe that stems

from its synthesis with the Eastern culture when it was necessary? It is clear that

this kind of reading of Pera leaves its place to a wider and more meaningful

discourse and gives up the anxiety of incapacitating an empire to the labels like

'east', 'west' or 'synthesis'. Naturally, elimination of such questions refers to many

other cultural theories and requires a deeper and more specified research on Pera;

that cannot be fulfilled in the scope of this study. However, at this level, it is

beneficial to mention that during the evaluation of the spatial organization of

entertainment we need to get rid of that kind of anxiety. This clarity will open the

road to the realization of Pera where stands for all of the changing and blurred

139 And, Tanzimat ve Istibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, 209

140 “Talimhane Tiyatrosu”, Ibid. pg 205

89
definitions of the nineteenth century and does not need and suit any framed and

harsh conceptualization.

3.7.8 Concordia- Jardin des Fleurs

Concordia also appears as a part of the esteem changing the gardens into

the performance spaces. It situates on the opposite of French Theater where the

Church of St. Antoine exists today. During the winter theater situated on the

street and a summer garden theater existed behind it. In 1871 Ricci and

Parmegiani planned a theater for this space. The stage was so small that only five

or six people could perform together. It became a cafe- concert in 1886. In 1904

the director Livadas made some changes but in 1906 it had built down and the

church of St. Antoine was made instead. 141

Before the year 1871 the theater carries the properties of a café chantant.

After turning into a theater, important performances like La Traviata was shown
142
here. . It is a garden that includes a pub, a summer and winter theater. In 1871

this area was turned into a theater hall and started to be the performance hall of a

series of comic opera by Ricci and Parmegiani in order to compete with the Palais

de Cristal. In 1874 the hall was burned completely and the next year another

building was built. The summer theater was consisting a stage was raised on

simple timber columns and simple curtain decorations. The garden was designed

according to the baroque understanding with the geometric shapes and covered

141 And, Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, 206

142 Akın, Ibid. pg 263

90
with a fabric tarp. Even though French artists and plays were performed here, they

were mostly the ordinary comedies rather than the artistic performances. 143

In 1882, a pub was opened which was suitable for community celebrations

and national fests. Greek musicians were playing here. In 1886 the winter theater

was recovered and turned into a café-concert. The owner of the theater, Malia

Andreas was using the advantages of the minorities and opened a casino here. In

1904 the director Livadas changed the entrance that was turned into a timber

construction, heightened the timber foyer of the stone building and add seats. In

1906 all structures inside the garden was destroyed for the construction of the

Saint Antoine Church. 144

3.7.9 Tepebaşı Summer and Winter Theaters

As the essence of transitions and translations, Pera always appear with

interesting breaking points. While an Armenian theater, Concordia, appears with

the possibility of turning into a Catholic Church as it is in the example of St.

Antuan; a Muslim cemetery can turn into a theater inside a garden. Even though

the cemetery areas can refer to the excursion spot generally, it‟s changing into a

garden and than into a theater garden still reflects the vivid understanding of

modernity inside the Empire. Actually, for the case of the transformation of the

cemetery area to a garden theater, rather than functional, it is possible to observe a

formal change. Rather than planning a leisure time space according to the needs

of modernity, the change can be evaluated as a formal necessity at the first level

143 Durudoğan, S. “Concordia Tiyatrosu”. Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul: Türk
Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1993. pg 439

144 Ibid. pg 439

91
due to the areas having one of the most beautiful scenes of Istanbul. Grand Rue de

Pera which starts to gain a more domestic face with the rising number of stone

structures started to seek a kind of empty point with a picturesque landscape.

Therefore, while the cemetery area offered a sacred space for the rituals of the

dead body for the Muslims, the same space had already becomes a „promenade‟

area for the non-Muslims. Hereby, the same space brings the different religions,

languages and people together as it is in the example of theaters. As it had

mentioned in the memories of a French noble, choosing a cemetery area for

promenade was an uncommon way of performing a leisure time activity.

However, not only the non-Muslims but also the Muslim subjects, despite to the
145
idea of the sacred body, was using the area for the picnic or chatting.

Fig 3.5: The representation of the garden and theater.146

145 Gülersoy, Ç. Tepebaşı: bir meydan savaşı, İstanbul: İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediye Başkanlığı
Kültür işleri Daire Başkanlığı Yayınları, 1993. pg 13

146 Gülersoy, Ç. Ibid

92
While an interesting contradiction happens between the people who attend to the

ceremonies and enjoying the landscape, the spatial meaning of the area had

already started to change due to the variety of functions. The formal change

started at the end of 1850s. As it has already mentioned in the previous chapters,

Crimean War came up with many departures. The French Band which started to

play on the little roof of the cemetery area was one of those inexperienced ways

of leisure. With the regular attendance of the minorities to those mini-concerts a

147
Jardin culture starts to appear here, near the Muslim cemetery. The year of

1871 was the time of the construction of a very interesting tramway and an

interesting way of using the remaining soil from the digging of the tunnel.

However, the creation of a regular garden and a theater inside depended on the

year of 1872, when Abdülaziz wanted the construction of a theater from Guatelli

Pasha. Abdülaziz who was mostly attracted by the performances depending on

imitation, supported the traditional Turkish art mostly. Therefore, when the

Sultans were considered in terms of their artistic interests, he was famous with his

ignorance of Dolmabahçe Court Theater and Western theater as it was mentioned

in the previous chapters. However, according to a letter that was written by Namık

Kemal to his brother, the Sultan wrote a play and it was performed in the Palace.

Besides he kept visiting the opera performances in Naum after the fire in

Dolmabahçe Theater. Rather than reconstructing the structure he preferred to

watch the play from a temporary stage in the garden of the Palace. The year of

1867 and his visit of Vienna could be evaluated as the start of Abdülaziz's interest

for the Western theater. The Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph invited him to a

147 Ibid. pg 10-13

93
performance about the failure of the Ottoman army in Vienna. Abdülaziz, who

became sorry about this performance, did not mention anything to the Austrian

Emperor but when he turned back he ordered a play about the Vienna to the artists
148
of Muzikay-ı Humayun. . As a result of his rising interest for the Western

theater and maybe because of the lack of a monumental theater structure after the

destruction of Naum the theater was decided to be built despite to the limited

space and budget. During the search for a suitable space, the cemetery area was

chosen because of its covering a large space and violating the picturesque scene of

the structures that were started to be more and more popular in Tepebaşı. While

the decision of the destruction of Muslim cemetery area was an example for the

inefficiency of the Sultan, a larger area started to be created with the usage of the

left-over soil from the tunnel in 1874 and 1875. Finally, in 1881, nothing had

remained from the Muslim cemetery area. A promenade area with a Parisian look

besides an English garden and an Italian theater started to appear in the same

space.149

As it has mentioned, similar to the other theaters, the authenticity of the

theater does not only depend on its architectural language but stem from its

architectural understanding that is shaped by the different conceptualization of the

modernity inside Pera. While the modernity offers a new understanding of

management to the Empire, it is possible to identify Pera and Galata as an

experiment space for the new applications. The Sixth Municipality; which was

including non-Muslim subjects besides the Muslims, started to offer a different

148 Cezar, M. Sanatta Batıya Açılış ve Osman Hamdi İstanbul: Türkiye İş Bankası Yayınları,
1971.pg 89-91

149 Gülersoy, Ibid. pg 29-30

94
kind of urban understanding with a series of new plans and regulations. One of

the first applications was against to the fatal destruction of the fires. The

Municipality demanded the static maintainability of the buildings and conditions

to strengthen the constructions if it was necessary. 150 Therefore, an Italian theater

which was decided to be built according to the decision of Guatelli Pasha on the

Mezarlık Street was required to be a stone structure. However, similar to the some

of the ideals and ideas of modernity, the stone buildings remained as a thought

rather than application due to the financial crisis. Barborini's expensive and

monumental plan was eliminated due to the fiscal reasons. 151

152
Fig 3.6: The amphitheater after the reconstruction.

Naturally, during the construction of a theater on the Muslim cemetery

150 Akın, Ibid. pg 264

151 And, Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, 205

152 Gülersoy, Ç. Ibid.

95
area, the only possible problem was not the fiscal one. Metin And mentions that

with the announcement of the construction of a theater on the cemetery area; the

oppositions started to appear not only on the streets by the Muslim subjects but

also inside the government and press. 153Despite to the oppositions, Mr. Blauqe, as

the head of the municipality, supported the idea of a theater on the cemetery area.

He made an agreement and the soil that was left as a result of the construction of

the Tunnel was used in order to fill the high slope and supply a suitable position

for the construction of the theater and garden. He planned to carry the soil that

was left from the Tunnel's construction and filled Tepebaşı with this soil and

supply an amount of money for the construction of the theater. However, this

money was not enough and in order to convince the rich people to subscribe

money for the theater, he made the gypsies to abide in this place. Hence, the

disturbed aristocrats donated money and he financed the park and theater with this

money. Metin And tells about his doubts about this story due to some non-

overlapped dates.154 However the construction story of the garden was told in the

same way in the memories of one of the most important people in the Ottoman

theater. Ahmed Fehim who could know the story from the first-hand also tells

about the brightness of Mr. Blaque in solving the main problems in Pera in an

effective and practical way by telling the same story. 155

153 And, M. Ibid. Tanzimat ve İstibdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu, pg 206

154 And, Ibid. pg 206-207

155 Alpman, H. K. , Ahmed Fehim Bey’in Hatıraları, İstanbul: Tercüman Matbaa, 1977. pg 22-23

96
 As it has mentioned the structure was decided to be planned by Barborini.

However, this large and expensive project was decided to be replaced by a smaller

and cheaper one that belonged to Housep Aznavur. Even though the plans of the

theater could not be found; the theater attributed to him. He was a London born

Armenian architect who lived in London for a long time. Then he came to

Istanbul with his father who was established a janissary museum in London. The

same year he was sent to Venice and in 1876 he attended to Rome Fine Arts

Academy. He was graduated with the Valore mansion and known as the winner of

a competition that was planned for the construction of a villa while he was a

student. After his graduation in 1879 he turned back to Istanbul and stayed there

until the First World War. He went to Egypt; worked and died there. 156

Barborini planned a horse-shoe shaped parterre and two stored theater

boxes around it for Tepebaşı Winter Theater. The facade was an example of

neoclassicism with its Ionic head plasters, three arches and a parapet at the end.
157
Actually the building was planned as a part of garden that would be used

during the summer time. However, due to the effect of the hot weather and the

bad isolation conditions of the theater; this building was used as the winter theater

and another garden theater was built for the summer. 158

156 İbişoğlu, V.S. “Tepabaşı Yazlık ve Kışlık Tiyatrosu”. Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi,
İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1993. pg 511

157 Kuban, D. Osmanlı Mimarisi, İstanbul: Yem Yayınları, 2007. pg 666

158 And, Ibid. pg 206

97
Fig 3.7: The view of the facade of the winter theater. 159

An opera improviser named Cladius planned the summer theater in the beginning

of the summer of 1889. However, the stage was extremely far away from the

audiences who sat at the back. It consisted of four theater boxes, had a small foyer

and seven different roads leaded to the stage. Stairs and floor were timber and
160
lodges situated near the foyer entrance. In 1890 the theater was burned. After

the fire, Cladius was in a deep financial crisis and wanted help from the French

ambassador. According to the information in Dünden Bugüne İstanbul

Ansiklopedisi, the ambassador accepted to help and until the end of the

reconstruction, Cladius' group performed in the winter theater for a month. In

1892 a tunnel which leaded directly to the main road was added to the plan.

159 Gülersoy, Ç. Ibid

160 And, Ibid. pg 208

98
Another change was made in the entrance door. In 1905 the entrance door directed

to the Glavany House rather than Kallavi Street. The author of the plan was

Campanaki who was also enlarged the theater to one thousand and two hundred

people. The seats were made by Maison Vesbecker in Paris and the decoration

was designed by Leon. Thanks to its amphitheater shape it was known as 'amphi'

as well. 161

The opening year of the theater coincides with the years that motion

pictures started to be popular. The famous film maker Pathé Fréres sent Weinberg

to Istanbul in order to rent this building and converted the theater into Pathé

Cinema. In 1915, the cinema hall was rented by Charles Varian and until 1924

several investors rented the theater, gave it several names and used as a cinema

hall. In 1924 it was started to be used by Şehir Tiyatroları Comedy Department

and built down in 1958 without any reasons. 162

The end of Grande Rue de Pera reaches to Galata and meets with another

kind of leisure time understanding. Even with a slight geographical change, the

profiles of the audiences, artists and the activities show great changes. Baloz

which appears as the main space of the leisure time activities of Galata could be

seen as a parallel understanding of cafés chantants like Concordia and Odéon.

Those structures carried the common property of putting the emphasis not only on

to the stage but the evaluated the whole space as the stage of the dancers and

musicians. As it is told in a story by Rasim, a night that had started in the parterre

of Odeon went on with the belly dancer's visiting each table and asks for money.

161 And, Ibid. pg 209

162 Üsdiken, B. “Şehir Tiyatroları” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi, İstanbul: Türk Tarih
Vakfı Yayınları, 1993. pg 358

99
While smoking and alcohol accompany to the performances, spaghetti and

Gruyere cheese with beer appear in the menu of Concordia. Hence, rather than

representing the elite high art mood of Naum, later theaters like Concordia and
163
Odéon resembles Galata's Balozs.

Meyhane, beer gardens, baloz and women dancers had the leading role in

the entertainment life of Galata. Arap Yorgi's Şerbethane Baloz was the most

famous one among many ones. Yüksek Baloz or Sakallı Yorgo's baloz also stood as

the important entertainment areas which became the meeting point of

performance and entertainment. As far as listening to the musicians and watching

the women dancer while eating and drinking were the main activities in

Şerbethane Baloz, the prices were not so cheap. The baloz of Adalı Yanni had a

distinctive structural approach with its small theater hall which had a parterre for

an orchestra of seven or eight people. Maybe as a result of his structural

contribution to baloz that caused more concentration on stage and allowed more

sophisticated performances most of the customers were Greeks, Levantines and

foreign sailors. 164

While people are traveling, spreading new ideas to new geographies and

contribute to the local culture, it is impossible to evaluate this process as a one-

way relationship. Therefore the nineteenth century's Pera cannot be evaluated as

the setting of the Western typologies but should be considered as the outcome of

an interaction. As far as the architectural reproduction cannot be limited with the

structuring process and goes on with the ontological existence of the building the

163 Rasim A. “Eski Eğlenceler ve Sazlar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. August 1956: 503-507

164 Alus, S.M., “Eski Galata'nın Eğlence Yerleri” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. March 1951: 640-642

100
afterlife of the buildings gains a major role in the examination of them. When the

after life of the theater structures are considered it is seen that they do not fit any

labels and limitations that were made them a part of the literal translations.

101
 CHAPTER IV

DİREKLERARASI

Improvisation, the most natural expression of human consciousness,

stands as the essence of the traditional Turkish theater. The genre that starts with

the stories of meddah and goes on with orta oyunu and tuluat does not identify

itself with any peculiar built structure. However, this situation should not be

characterized with the non existence of an organized performance space. Contrary

to this, the improvisational attitude of the artists and audiences that depend on

very basic human instincts like curiosity, need for self- expression and

entertainment give rise to a genuine translation of the Western style theater

typology in Şehzadebaşı. Inspired by the essence of improvisation, the evolution

of the theater buildings in Şehzadebaşı follows a very instinctive path. While the

streets appear as the settings of the first spatial organizations for the traditional

Turkish theater; and lately theater buildings become the performance spaces.

While the first stages, the streets and coffee-houses do not refer to any intentional

aim of creating a built architectural structure for the theater performances, they

still appear as spontaneous spatial organizations. Therefore, the later formations

carry the paths of this evolution and offer an authentic spatial organization which

speaks in its own language. This chapter focuses on the genuine interpretation of

the theatrical space and does not limit the borders of the architectural translation

of the typology only with the theater buildings. In the city scale, Direklerarası

stands as an example for the spatial organization of the theatrical space on the

102
street, the district's astonishing meeting with the Şehzadebaşı Mosque represents a

unique case that passes beyond the existence of Dolmabahçe Court Theater and

Mosque, for the case of the authenticity of the interpretation. Besides many other

small and temporary performance areas, Ferah and Millet Theaters make great

contributions to this formation in the district similar to Letafet Apartment that acts

like a performance complex. As an architectural organization, coffee-house also

appears as an interesting performance area that reflects the spontaneous formation

of the theatrical space. For this case, Fevziye Kıraathanesi represents an evolution

process that stars as a coffee-house that becomes the setting for the artistic

performances and goes on with a theater structure and cinema hall.

4.1 Ramadan: time for the appearance of new performances and spaces

Fig 4.1: A view from Direklerarası during Ramadan. A large crowd is waiting in front of
the theaters and performance spaces. 165

165 Şehsuvaroğlu, H. Asırlar Boyunca İstanbul: eserleri, olayları, kültürü. İstanbul: Cumhuriyet
Gazetesi

103
 The long wars and stressful international politics increased the need for

entertainment inside the Palace despite to the dramatic decline of the economic

situation. Celebrations like Sultan's having a child, circumcision weddings of the

shahzadah's, the marriage ceremony of the sultans or the military success was

celebrated with the fests. Those showy celebrations offered a setting for the

several leisure time activities like the performances of musicians, jugglers,

166
acrobats and Karagöz. Among those celebrations the Ramadan month appear

as a flashy ceremony not for the Muslim subjects but also for the non- Muslims,

especially for the Armenians due to their having the leading role in the leisure

time activities. Therefore, with the participation of many cultures the Ramadan

month appears as the most important and restless time period of Direklerarası.

Fig 4.2: The view of arcades together with the road. 167

166 Süha, A. “Eski Şenlik ve donanmalar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası Resimli Tarih Mecmuası.
February 1956: 81-88

167 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi September 2007, Number 166.

104
While the each night of whole month was treated like a fest, Şehzebaşı act like a

'Ramadan complex' that also includes harmonies and ironies in it. The

monumental mosque of Sinan was built for the memory of shahzadah Mehmet,

the son of Sultan Suleyman who had died in a young age. The name of the

Mosque and also district was inspired from the buried heads of the young

shahzadahs who were killed and have cemeteries in the courtyard of the Mosque.

In front of the corner of the Mosque, muvakkit who set the time for the people and

repair watches situates.168 Hence, the requirement of the modern times,

consciousness of time, the Mosque, cemetery of the shahzadahs situates together

with the coffee houses, restaurants and theater halls. This chapter concentrates on

how the meaning of the theater structures in this district pass beyond their forms

and offer an authenticity created by the regional culture and spatial formation of

Şehzadebaşı.

Fig 4. 3: The view of the Mosque together with the shops and theaters. 169

168 Tutel E. “Eski Direklerarası Tiyatroya Hasret” Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi.: September 2007. pg
65

169 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi, Ibid.

105
 Ahmet Rasim describes one of the performances in a Ramadan night as the

meeting point of beautiful, attractive and coquettish Armenian cabaret singers

with the rude sailors and the audiences who seek for easy and light leisure time
170
activities. However, similar to the rejection of the pure formal analysis of the

theaters in this district; this chapter claims the function of those performances

cannot be limited with the middle-class audiences and light plays due to their

offering a base not only for the Ottoman theater but also modern Turkish theater.

While those theaters become the houses of tuluat and kanto, traditional coffee

houses become as the stages of the story tellers and Karagöz players which appear

as the genres that give great clues about the Ottoman culture. In a similar manner,

most of the Armenian artists contributed to the modern Turkish theater by forming

a genuine relationship with the Muslim subjects who want to contribute to the

development of theater and appear as the audiences, writers, theater owners and

actors. Hence, those genuine performances create their own theatrical space and

reflect an authentic leisure time understanding that chooses Divan Yolu, Bab-ı Ali,

Direklerarası and Gedikpaşa as the setting. In this period groups like Şems

Theater, Mınakyan Theater, Abdürrezzak Theater, Benliyan Company performed

in Turan Theater, Felek Cinema Hall, Hilâl Cinema Hall, Meşrutiyet Theater,

Kagir Theater, Sanayi-i Nefise Mektebi Theater, Sahne-i Musiki-i Osmanî

Theater, Bizans Theater, İstanbul Theater, Küçük Kagir Theater, Şark Theater,

Millet Theater, Ferah Theater, Malûl Gaziler Theater, Fevziye Kıraathanesi that

would appear as the Emperyal Theater and Millî Cinema Hall respectively. Artists

170 Rasim, A. “Altmış Sene Evvelki Tuluat Tiyatrolarında Kanto ve Kantocular” Resimli Tarih
Mecmuası January, 1954: 35-39

106
like Kavuklu Hamdi (1841-1911), Abdürrezzak (1835-1914), Küçük İsmail

(1854-1928), Naşit (1886-1943), Şevki ve Kel Hasan (1874-1929) performed in

those spaces with their groups and companies.171 Actually it is not possible to

determine the exact list of the theater and cinema halls in Şehzadebaşı due to their

rapid growth in terms of number in the district during nineteenth century. Besides,

in most of the sources, the names of the structures with the general aura inside are

attainable thanks to the memories of the writers like Ahmet Rasim and Sermet

Muhtar Alus. However, as far as the clarification of the information like the

architects, plans and the exact dates pass beyond the aim of this study, it is

beneficial only to mention that not all of those structures were active during the

same decades and their existence cover a time period exceeds the half of a century

and had great contributions to the social life of the nineteenth century Istanbul.

4.2 Armenians and Theater

According to a source that was named as “Yeğanak Düzantyan” that was

published in Venice in 1818, there existed 1150 Armenian houses in Pera. After

the construction of the monumental Church in Pera this number increased rapidly
172
and went on until the First World War. The Armenian inhabitants' appearance

in Istanbul depends many centuries ago. However, as it has mentioned the

modernity stands as a turning point for them - as it is for many of the non-

171 Tutel, Ibid.

172 Pamukciyan, K. İstanbul Yazıları:Ermeni kaynaklarından tarihe katkılar. İstanbul: Aras

Yayınları, 2002. pg. 180

107
Muslims- despite to the strong struggle between the Greeks, Armenians and

especially between the Apostolic Catholics and Protestant Armenians.

While the Tanzimat reforms supply more space for freedom, it also opens

the roads of a higher education level of the minorities that resulted with their self-

realization and expression. Similar to other minorities, with the capitulations,

Armenians get the chance of a more effective education. With the acceptance of

Nizamname-i Millet-i Ermeniyan, those schools were started to be ruled by the

Armenians. In 1858 the number of Armenian schools in Istanbul was forty two

and most of those schools had important roles in the popularization of the theater

with their performance halls. Hence, the newly established schools made

Armenians to increase their level of culture; they also offered suitable

backgrounds for the theaters. 173

The Armenian theater between the years of 1859 and 1908 are remarkable

during the establishment of Western Style Theater in Turkey. Şark Theater,

Osmanlı Theater, Manakyan Theater, Büyük Benliyan Operet Theater,

Fasulyacıyan Theater were the most important groups who enriched the Ottoman
174
theater and opened the ways of modern Turkish theater. Therefore, the

establishment of Ottoman theater depended one a kind of genuine relationship

that was shaped during the nineteenth century. It is not possible to claim that

theater was represented in its high-art form in Direklerarası. However thanks to

the Armenian artists‟ real interest and curiosity to this art; its applications- acting,

plays, spatial understanding and theater as a business- found the most authentic

173 Ibid. pg 7-8

174 Arpad, B. Bir İstanbul Var İdi. Doğan Kitapçılık: İstanbul: Aralık, 2000. pg 46

108
form inside the capital of the Empire. Therefore, Armenians appear as the leading

actors who form a more sincere bridge between the Ottoman layman and

performance arts and require a deeper interest in the scope of this study. In this

context, nineteenth century appears as a turning point thanks to the freedom it

supplied in Armenians' way of representing themselves as the artists, owner of the

theaters, actors, actresses or writers.

Even though the starting point of this interest can be explained with

curiosity, its strong existence as an indispensable part of Armenian community

cannot be clarified only with curiosity. Besides, Armenians integration with

theater cannot be simply explained with their need to express themselves

artistically. Theater represents a life style for most of them and contributes to their

life as business, art, political expression and a leisure time activity. Similar to the

encouragement of the success of Naum brothers for the other entrepreneurs, the

popularity of theater among the Ottomans became an inspiration. Ottoman

society's following the theater as the regular audiences gave rise to new job

facilities for the Armenians. After a while this supply and demand relationship

created its own artists like Güllü Agop, Magakyan, Atamyan and Fasulciyan who

starts to establish their own styles and become a kind of prototype for Ottoman

actors. Especially with the great efforts of Agop Vartaryan who had born in

Istanbul in 1840, traditional Turkish theater started to form an authentic

relationship with the Western theater. He was not famous with his acting

performance but famous with the several contributions he made to Turkish theater

with his conceptualization and management of his theater. Vartanyan started his

career in Şark Theater, that was acting in Armenian and directed by Naum. After

109
several years Şark Theater started to perform in Izmir, where Vartanyan also

moved and went on his career as a director of a new group that was established by

young Armenian actors. When he turned back to Istanbul he continued to perform

in several plays with Asya Company in Armenian language. 175 At the end of 1868

Güllü Agop was the director of Asya Company and in 1869; Asya Company left

its place to Osmanlı Theater. Actually, the group was performing before Güllü

Agop and they had already started to known by the people who were bored with

the hurly burly life of Pera. Osmanlı Theater was the name of the building rather

than the name of the group and the name was started to be used by Güllü Agop for

his group after a while. In order to keep the audiences satisfied, they were

performing only Turkish plays during the Ramadan whereas performing in

Armenian during the Christian fests. Actually, the first performance of the group

was in Italian thanks to the Italian educated Sırapyan Hekimyan, and Turkish.

After a while, with a special permission they started to act in Armenian in Naum

Theater. Due to the financial reasons, performing in Turkish was more beneficial

because only Armenians were coming to the Armenian plays whereas both

Armenians and Ottomans were watching the performances that were acted in

Turkish. Hence he declared his need for the Muslim actors in order to put on

Turkish plays and improve the pronunciation of the Armenian actors. Therefore a

demand for the Muslim actors and writers occurred and a few Muslim partook in

the group. However, this growing emphasis on Turks disturbed the three

important actors of the Ottoman Theater: Bedros Magakyan, Aznif Hratça and

175 Çavaş, R. “Agop Vartanyan” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih
Vakfı Yayınları, 1994. pg 91.

110
Bedros Atamyan left Osmanlı theater and declared their opposition to Agop

Vartanyan 176

As it is understood from Vartanyan's management policy, he tries to keep

the political and cultural balances of the district while trying to satisfy the

economic needs of his theater. During his support for the Turkish writers in order

to make them to develop an authentic language in theater by putting emphasis on

Turkish translations; he also starts to search for the Muslim actors for the

correction of the pronunciation of the Armenian artists. Hence Moliére becomes

familiar with the Turkish audiences, actors and writers with the performed

translations of Teodor Kasap and Ahmed Vefik Paşa. For more translations into

Turkish and the reproduction of the new plays that were written in Turkish, he

started to work with Ebuzziya Tevfik, Director Ali Bey, Recaizade Ekrem, Namık

Kemal and Ahmed Mithat Efendi. Several Muslim actors attended to the theater

like Ahmed Fehim, Ahmed Necib, Muhterem Efendi, and Mehmet Vamık. With

their great efforts, tuluat, the new language of the traditional Turkish theater,

found its authentic representation with the actors like Kel Hamid, Kavuklu

Hamdi, İsmail Hakkı and Küçük İsmail who were performed with Osmanlı

Theater. As a result of his great efforts Agop Vartanyan took a privilege that

declares Osmanlı Theater's being the only theater that could perform in Turkish

for ten years. After the ten years of privilege, the popularity of theater started to

decrease with the raise of new groups. He started to work with Mınakyan in his

theater in Şehzadebaşı. In 1882 Abdülhamid ordered him to work in the Court

176 And, M. Osmanlı tiyatrosu: kuruluşu, gelişimi, katkısı. Ankara: Dost kitabevi, 1999 pg 44-48

111
Theater. As a result of this invitation, he became a Muslim and named as Güllü

Yakub Efendi. 177

4.3 Gedikpaşa Theater

As a result of Agop Vartanyan's efforts that create an authentic language in

Turkish theater, Gedikpaşa Theater as the setting of this unique formation gains a

special meaning. The theater was in Gedikpaşa which was situated on the north

side of Byzantine‟s famous Kadırga Harbor. As it is understood from the

Byzantine remaining in the district, it was a very old inhabitant area. After the

conquest of Istanbul, the district did not lose its popularity and remained as a

settlement area. During the 15th and 16th Century the main inhabitants of the area

were Greeks and Armenians. The settlement of Armenians in Gedikpaşa was

explained in two ways: After the conquest, Fatih invites Armenians from Bursa in

order to prevent a possible Rum rebellion. According to some other historians,

Armenians who were escaping from Celali Rebellion moved to Istanbul and

started to live in Gedikpaşa in the 17th Century. The Polish voyager declares the

existence of one of the biggest Armenian Church - Surp Asdvadzadzin Patrick

178
Church- situates near to Gedikpaşa. On the other hand, Kevork Pamukciyan

claims that the settlement of the Armenians to this area was relatively late when

compared with the other districts like Pera. He mentions the Armenian Church in

177 Çavaş, R. Ibid. pg 91

178 Hür, A. “Gedikpaşa” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1994. pg 388- 389.

112
Gedikpaşa was built in the middle of the nineteenth century and gave rise to the

increasing of the population. 179

Fig 4.4: The view of the theater which takes attention with its circus-like circular organization. 180

The popularity of the district starts with the theater's changing here to a
181
kind of culture center. Actually the structure was built for the Soullier Circus

who came to the wedding celebrations of Cemile and Münire Sultans in 1858 and

started to perform in the theaters like Palais de Fleurs . First a temporary theater

was built in Maslak for their performances. However, after a while the

government decided to support the construction of a theater structure. They

bought a place in Gedikpaşa Tatlıkuyu for the construction of a theater in 1859

and established Istanbul Theater Constitution. However, the exact construction

179 Pamukciyan, K. Ibid pg 184

180 And, M. Osmanlı Tiyatrosu.

181 Hür, Ab. Ibid. pg 189

113
date of the theater is unknown due to some news that was published before 1859

about the renovations that were made inside the structure. Besides the

performances of the Soullier Circus the newspapers mentioned the lightening of

the coffee house and theater with the gas oil besides the pantomime performances.

In 1864 Soullier left Gedikpaşa and the building was used by other groups for

dance, pantomime, bale and opera.

However, together with the Armenian artist Aramyan who convinced the

government in order to support the theater, they rendered the establishment of

Osmanlı Dram Company. Then Gedikpaşa Theater became the setting of Osmanlı

Theater that belonged to Güllü Agop with some renovations in order to change the

space that was designed for the circus performances more like a theater hall.

Stepyan mentions the first rehabilitation was done in 1867 and renovated in 1870

without touching to the facade of the structure. The entrance had brick columns

and oil lamps that leaded the audiences to the open space. On the left side a salon

with good lightning and decoration was situated. Even though the theater had

marble columns and stairs the construction was timber. The structure that had

three layered lodges was lightened with a big chandelier. In front of the stage,

there was Sultan's box with its closed curtains and big scale. On the first floor

there were couches and chairs. The stage was extremely big and had lots of rooms

behind. The writer Murat Efendi (Franz von Verner) who wrote on theater in the

newspaper mentioned the social vividness of the structure with its foyer that

situated under a glass porch. In his words a great number of people came here and

114
drank tea, coffee or hookah. However, despite to the renovations he declared his

dissatisfaction about this theater hall because of its still reminding a circus. 182.

The theaters good relationships with the Palace and the government's

support had lasted for a long while. However, with the growing emphasis on the

security intelligence as a result of the growing paranoia a play named as Çengi ve

Çerkez Özdenleri found inappropriate due to its emphasizing the rebellion

activities. The play brought the end of the structure and the theater was destroyed
183
in 1884

4.4 Urban Structure

184
Fig 4. 5: The view of the arcades.

182 And, M. Ibid. pg 34-41

183 Üsdiken, B. “Gedikpaşa Tiyatrosu”. Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk
Tarih Vakfı Yayınları, 1994. pg 500

184 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi, Ibid.

115
 In order to understand the structural and cultural dynamics of

Direklerarası, the spatial meaning of Divan Yolu, Bab-ı Ali, Gedikpaşa and

Cağaloğlu carry crucial roles due to the urban ties that refers to those streets close

spatial relationship. Direklerarası situates between today's Vezneciler Street and

185
Şehzadebaşı Mosque. The both sides of the road had stone colonnade arches

and the distance between the two columns was approximately five meters. This

colonnaded structure of the road was preserved until 1910. Then it was ruined and
186
the tramway road was built instead. The district has important structural ties

with Divan Yolu axis and its tracts that give rise to the cultural interactions.

Therefore, all of those street's offering several cultural paradigms and forming a

multi- centered performance space require attention for the examination of

Şehzadebaşı. The district's close connection with the Divan Yolu axis, which was

identified with the authority area of the capital but actually offering a multi-

layered meaning, the rising popularity of Bab-ı Ali and Cağaloğlu as the center of

press and the vivid leisure life of Gedikpaşa thanks to the Osmanlı Theater offer a

unique reading of Ottoman modernity.

The main street of the two Empires, Byzantine and Ottoman, can be

identified with power relations and national or international policies. However,

the axis passes beyond its authority area definition thanks to situate at the center

of the relation between Gedikpaşa, Sehzadebaşı and Bab-ı Ali. In this respect

Divan Yolu locates between Sultanahmet and Beyazıt today, offers a multi-layered

spatial meaning. While the street get narrower contrary to Mese's large and

185 Tutel, Ibid.

186 Koçu, R.E. “Direklerarası” İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Tan Matbaası , 1958. pg 4478

116
monumental space conceptualization, it offers wide cultural opportunities by

appearing as a tie and give rise to the formation of a multi- centered, multi-lingual

and genuine leisure time space. 187

The colorful aura of the axis does not only stem from its situating in the

middle of a city scale performance complex. The street itself was the setting of

an authentic leisure time understanding. Actually in the 17th century there were no

taverns, entertainment and music in the central area. However, the second half of

the nineteenth century appeared as a turning point for Divan Yolu thanks to its

contributions to the social life. This drastic change was visible in the architectural

structure as well. With the street's getting free from the Janissary corps supplied

more space for the civil life. Most of the buildings, like the shops and taverns,

started to be used by the civilians and a new social life was shaped here. The first

signs of the leisure time spaces appeared with the large concentration of tea

houses, coffee-shops in which meddah and karagöz performed. Theaters and

cinemas followed them and an alternative performance space was built outside of

the Galata-Pera district across the Golden Horn. With the growing popularity of

performance arts like Karagöz and meddah, towards the end of the 19th century

the Çemberlitaş-Beyazıt tract of the Divanyolu became the setting of large

number of coffee-houses and tea-houses where function like performance spaces.

188

187 “Divan Yolu” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı Yayınları,
1993. pg 72

188 Cerasi M. Divanyolu. İstanbul: Kitap Yayınevi, 2006. pg 74

117
 During the creation of an alternative entertainment and performance space,

Bab-ı Ali Street, also starts to gain a different face. Before the Republic the street

starts from Sirkeci Square and goes on with a straight hill, Cağaloğlu, until it

coincides with Nuru Osmaniye Street. The word itself refers to the management

center of the Empire and starts to gain a different meaning as the center of the

press and publishing houses after the 1870's. With the changing ideologies and the

rise of a new kind of Ottoman nationalism, Young Ottomans start to appear as an

opposition to the Levantine culture of Galata and Pera. Contrary to the French and

other foreign languages' domination in the newspapers that were published in Pera

and Beyoğlu, Cağaloğlu and Babı- Ali becomes the center of Turkish newspapers.

The street feeds the intellectual curiosity and ripens the authentic ideas of

Ottoman modernity. 189 Hence, it stands close to the government both literally and

metaphorically while becoming spatial source of the oppositions to the Emperor.

Also as a result of the maturation of the modernity concept of the Muslim

Ottoman identity, it represents a cultural response to Galata and Pera.

In his memories Ahmet Rasim tells about the surprising possibility of the

meeting of Rums, Armenians, Catholics, Syrian Orthodox, Jews, Italians,

Levantines, Polishes, Hungarians, Germans and French besides the Muslims.

Similar to Rasim, Cerasi also tells about the cultural dynamism of Divan Yolu

axis. Therefore, the spontaneous meeting of those people in the same coffee-

house or theater and becoming the audiences of a meddah or a tuluat offer the

most suitable setting for the internalization of the Tanzimat ideals. During the

growth of a 'Tanzimat society' on the streets of Divan Yolu; the changing

189 Koloğlu, D. 'Bab-ı Ali' Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi Ibid. pg 524

118
ideologies and new formations gave distinctive functional attributes to the axis.

While the retail commerce, Ottoman type leisure activities, housing and religious

activities were keeping their existence, the second half of the nineteenth century

brought interesting trends. The Tanzimat era people did not meet only with the

Western style theaters and cinemas but also internationally linked activities like

the dances or concerts started to be popular along the axis. Hence, between

roughly 1880 and 1920 Şehzadebaşı tract appear as a kind of ante litteram

Beyoğlu- Taksim thanks to the centralization of the modernization ideals in this

part of the city. 190

While Cerasi defines the Şehzade-Firuz Ağa tract as an ante litteram for

Pera, actually the district stand as the ante litteram of the Dolmabahçe Palace

Complex as well. As it has mentioned in the earlier chapter, the meeting of the

Dolmabahce Mosque, Dolmabahce Court Theater and the Clock tower stand as an

extraordinary visualization of the modernity inside the Palace. However, the

genuine representation of the translation of modernity in urban scale situates

Şehzadebaşı. The glorious meeting of Sinan's monumental work Şehzadebaşı

Mosque and the mosque's muvakkithane with Direklerarası where the theaters,

coffee-houses and performance areas goes beyond the braveness of Dolmabahçe

Palace and gains a second meaning in the scope of modernity as an ante litteram.

190 Cerasi, Ibid. pg 65

119
Fig 4.6: The representation of the view of the colorful aura in Şehzade. In the beginning of
1900s191

4.5 Meddah Orta Oyunu and Tuluat

Fig. 4.7: A orta oyunu performance in Letafet Apartment. 192

191 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi. Ibid.

192 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi, Ibid.

120
 Ramadan appears as the source of inspiration for the leisure time activities

at the beginning in Şehzade tract. Ramadan month was the most vivid time of the

Direklerarası and many it was the time for the renovations in the important coffee-
193
houses like Şule, Yıldız, Şark and Fevziye. Hüseyin Rahmi Gürpınar tells

about a huge crowd who were waiting in front of the theaters in order to be able to

get inside. He draws a picture of the district starting from Fevziye Kıraathanesi.

He mentions the impossibility of hearing the violin because of the crowd that was

too much even for a large area like Fevziye Kıraathanesi. In the corner of Fevziye

Kıraathanesi a Karagöz performance appeared. A few meters later, a group of

comedians acted in front of a large crowd. And after a few meters a group of
194
audiences appeared while watching Dram Kumpanyası. As it is understood,

while Ramadan month appear as a kind of performance time it creates a vivid life
195
that can compete with Galata and Pera. Besides the vividness or the crowd of

the streets the other important aspect was the popularity of meddah, orta oyunu

and tuluat that appear not only as the most popular but also the most authentic

expression of Turkish traditional theater.

Meddah was the most popular comedian of the time who appeared on the

stage with a scarf and stick. He was the artist who makes people to entertain by

telling tales and imitating other people. This art requires a great memory and

capacity of taking the attention of people for a long time every night. This

193 Arpad, B. Ibid. pg 48

194 Gürpınar, H. R. “Şehzadebası Ramazan Geceleri”. Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. December 1954:
3551-3555

195 Talu, Ercüment Ekrem. “Şehzadebaşı ve Eski Ramazanlar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. April
1953: 2185-2188

121
authentic performance started in the beginning of the nineteenth century but left

its place to orta oyunu and tuluat due to the stories repeating each other and

getting boring after a century. The performance of the meddah starts with his

appearance on a chair that situates on a high place. He sits on this chair with his

props which will turn into several things during the performance. Talu emphasizes

that the birth of meddah does not depend on Persian or Arabian culture but

appears spontaneously and naturally as a result of the natural need for

entertainment.196 As far as it is not possible to determine the real need for the

entertainment and its genuine satisfaction the spatial spontaneity of this artistic

performance is not an uprising fact. As far as the satisfaction of the natural

curiosity mostly depends on the instinctive actions; the performance of meddah

can be framed neither with a written text nor with specialized built environment

both for the artist and the audience. As far as the meddah's performance strongly

believes in the existence of the moment, any dialogue can be the essence of the

performance and it can happen anywhere. Therefore, their spatial understanding

which represents a distinct case that cannot be identified with the classical norms

of western architecture and requires a special attention due to their representing

the genuine translation that goes on with interpretation despite to the lack of a

built structure. Rather than building, meddah plans the space according to the

spontaneous needs of his artistic creation. Therefore, not the structuring process

but the planning strategy of the Western theaters were reinterpreted by the meddah

and his audiences again and again in each performance.

196 Ibid. pg 2187

122
 Similar to meddah, the orta oyunu artist also becomes the designer of his

performance space. Ahmet Rasim claims that Orta Oyunu describes the life in the

Ottoman Empire with its all aspects. (Rasim, 58)197 Therefore, the setting of the

plays can be anywhere- hamam, kahve, meyhane or a house. According to the

play the actor changes his clothes and even sex by changing his voice, manners

and accessories. Not depending on the degree of the seriousness of the subject; the

aim of orta oyunu is making the audience laugh and still works for the satisfaction

of the instinctive need of entertainment. Orta oyunu as a genre appear during the

reign of sultan Selim and performed for the mentally sick people inside the

hospital in order to treat them with music and leisure time activities. While Ahmet

Rasim depends the birth of Orta Oyunu to the reign of Selim the Third,

Musahipzade Celal tells the same story but depending it to the reign of Sultan

Süleyman. 198 Even though its appearance could depend older times, its popularity

started during the reign of the murad the third and it also appears in the coffee-

houses of Bursa and Erzurum as it is told by Evliya Çelebi. 199

The former name of Orta oyunu was 'Meydan Oyunu' and both of the

names emphasize the spatial property of the performance. (Talu, 2722)200 While

Italian type of Western theaters draw a distinct line between the audiences and

actors by making them face to face but not visible to each other with the help of

linear positioning and the height of the stage; Orta oyunu offers a circular

197 Rasim, A. “Orta Oyunu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. March 1956: 57-60

198 Celal, M. Eski İstanbul Yaşayışı. İstanbul: İletişim, 1992. pg 59

199 Talu, E.E. “Meddah” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. November 1953: 2721,2725

200 Ibid. pg 2227

123
understanding. By putting the artist at the center it makes audiences visible to

each other and by annihilating the height difference between the audiences and

artist both parts become closer and visible to each other. This designing

philosophy of the artist make him to get closer to the aims of audiences and

actors: circular positioning grows the possibility of acting together by creating a

group consciousness and entertain more as a result. Therefore, the visibility of the

audiences to each other gives them to the minor roles of the performance in order

to grow their reactions to the main action on the center.

Orta Oyunu could be defined as the three dimensional representation of

Karagöz play that depends on shadow. When was replaced by Pişekar, Karagöz
201
was represented by Kavuklu. Naturally not so much but only two main

characters appear in the performance. One is called as 'Kavuklu' and the other is

'Pişekar'. 'Kavuklu appear as a kind of old inhabitant of Istanbul who is known

with his reliability. Kavuk stand as a symbol of his statue inside the society. The

main dialogue depends on the relationship between Kavuklu and Pişekar but a

Zenne, a young girl or an old woman who are all acted by male actors can also

appear on the performance arena according to the main theme. As it has

mentioned orta oyunu neither depend on any peculiar space nor any written text.

The spontaneity of the text changes can change any space into a stage. As it has

mentioned, together with this spontaneity, circular positioning and the lack of

height difference end up with the disappearance of the borders between the

audience and artist. However, those borders that were emphasized in the

201 Alus, S. M. “Eski Milli Tiyatromuz: Orta Oyunu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası'' July, 1950: 261-
267

124
architecture of Italian style Western theaters results with the destruction of the

aesthetic distance which supplies the recognition of the art work by the audience.

In this case, as the designer of his own artistic space, the actor uses a prop.

Therefore, 'Yeni Dünya' appears as the main prop that acts like an architectural

element that is used in order to create a performance area. Therefore, while

creating a kahve, hamam, a house on the street or a store, Yeni Dünya supplies a

kind of aesthetic distance to the audiences in order to make them to investigate the

nuances of this 'new world'. 202

The transition from the spontaneous performance areas to the built

structures can be identified with the decreasing interest to the spontaneity because

of improvisation's growing possibility of repeating itself after a while. In this

contexts, the artist Kavuklu Hamdi can be evaluated as a turning point in the

spatial understanding in traditional Orta Oyunu and tuluat thanks to his

realization of the bored audiences. Therefore he decides to adapt the stories of

meddahs and orta oyunu to the written texts that can be acted on the stage inside a

theater building. He decided to change the concept of Orta Oyunu that was

limited only with one month and no stage. This genre is called as 'perdeli orta

oyunu' and actually does not fit to the spirit of the meddah and orta oyunu.

However, he tried to be faithful to the essence of the spontaneity of the stories

while adopting them to the texts. On the other hand he wanted to change some of

the plays that were in Güllü Agop's repertoire into the style of tuluat despite to

Güllü Agop's oppositions. However, those new interpretations gained great

success thanks to the appreciation of Abdülaziz who was an audience of

202 Ibid. pg 180-182

125
traditional Turkish theater. He was invited to the Palace by Abdülaziz but as far as

he could not act as freely as he was inside the Palace, he gave up and started to

perform with his friends Büyük İsmail, Küçük İsmail and Paçavracı İsmail in

1875. Ironically, in 1882, the loggias of Mehmet Efendi‟s theater in Şehzadebaşı

were collapsed while he was acting. This unfortunate event made him to stay

away from the theater buildings for a while. 203

4.6 Coffee-house as the setting of performance

Fig 4. 8. The depiction of a coffee-house at the end of the 18th Century . Melling. 204

203 “Kavuklu Hamdi”, Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi.İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1993. pg 176

204 Akbayar N., Sakaoğlu, N. Binbir Gün Binbir Gece: Osmanlı'dan Günümüze İstanbul'da
Eğlence Yaşamı, İstanbul: Denizbank Yayınları, 2000.

126
 As it has mentioned in the beginning of the first chapter about the court

theaters, the birth of theater as a building type depends on Italian Renaissance.

The building itself brings the actor who acts on the streets on the several stages to

the single stage and changes the wandering spectator into the audience with the

fixed auditorium. Besides, theater as an art takes itself from the streets to the

palace. Actually, the single stage and fixed auditorium was an invention of the

ancient Rome and eligible to the fifteenth century Italians with the help of

Vitruvius' book De Architectura. In Alberti's version of Vitrivius book the

auditorium was defined as a semicircle with a colonnade around the top and the

stage as an architectural set-piece with rows of columns. Also he mentions about

the acoustic, and three types of scene tragic comic and rustic. However, Filarette
205
mentions that he does not know what they look like or what they served for.

On the other hand, despite to the strong monumental effect of the classical Italian

theater, the traditional Turkish theater takes attention with its spontaneity in its

spatial organization. In this manner, the spatial language follows the identity and

context of the characteristics of the performances. However as it has been

mentioned, this idea should not be identified with the non-existence of a planned

space for the artistic performances. Any space's having the potentiality to turn into

a performance area in any time gave rise to the planned spaces that does not

require to be built. The spontaneity in the architectural definition of the traditional

Turkish theater started to be reshaped with a built structure that still keeps the

spontaneity in its design process. In this context, coffee-houses stand as a

205 Pevsner, N. A History of Building Types, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University Press, 1976. pg
63

127
breaking point because of forming a bridge during the transition between the not-

built performance arenas to the theaters.

The history of the coffee- houses naturally starts with the departure of the

coffee to the capital. Coffee came to Istanbul in the beginning of the sixteenth

century. With the conquest of Egypt, Hijaz and Yemen also remained inside the

borders of the Empire The story of the coffee- houses started in those days and

developed and changed both in terms of architectural language and function

where the popularity of those spaces where became the stages of many artists

started to compete with meyhane and baloz culture. 206 A new social life started to

be formed inside the coffe-houses which was was established by Hakim and Şems

from Aleppo and Syria respectively in Tahtakale for the first time in Istanbul.

Here, twenty or thirty people come together and play chess, gammon, sing ghazal

or read besides becoming the audiences of the performances of a meddah. 207

Generally the door of the coffee houses ends up with a courtyard that has

three cots -like wooden bedsteads and a fountain that has situated at the center of

the space. A classically planned coffee house had a plan with a square court yard

entrance. Mostly this place was surrounded by bedsteads and sometimes used for

leaving the shoes out. The main space was twenty or thirty centimeters above this

entrance and also surrounded with bedsteads. At the center a fountain dominates

the whole space. Near the fireplace there are stairs which are leading to main

bedstead- sedirlik- which belongs to the rich and important people. Also there

was a special bedstead for the regular visitors near the main bedstead and a clock.

206 B.S. “Kahveye ve Kahvehaneye Dair”. Resimli Tarih Mecmuası . November 1953: 2656-2658

207 Birsel, S. Salah Bey Tarihi I: Kahveler Kitabı. İstanbul: Sel Yayınları, 2002. pg 89

128
Similar to fountain, the veiled fire place dominates the space due to its functional
208
importance. Near the fire place there are shelves for cups and hookahs. In this

early organization, sedirlik was interpreted like a theater box that was rented or

occupied by the elites. However, starting from the early times, there were

limitations about the coffee-houses. During the age of Murad the Third and Murad

the Fourth, coffee houses were getting closed due to their being the source of

gossip and becomes the places that threats the authority of the State. 209

Together with the nineteenth century's affects on the mosques, coffee-

house had some architectural changes. While the organization of space is a

prototype of the mosque courtyard, the nineteenth century's appearance as the

time of the more emphasized secular life, this organization started to be redefined.

Bedsteads leave their places to chairs where the fountain is replaced by a stage for

meddahs.210 This organizational change brings us to the rising popularity of the

leisure time activities rather than sitting around the fountain and concentrating on

other people or self. The effect of the circular understanding becomes visible in

this new coffee-house plan as well. While meddah was appearing as the focus

point of the audiences while he was acting, chatting with other people became

another important activity that stemmed from the spatial closeness of people to

each other. As it is mentioned by Nihat Sami Banarlı, the topics of this chat may

be anything and sometimes gain a kind of academic mission that focuses on

208 Evren, B. Eski İstanbul'da Kahvehaneler. İstanbul: Milliyet yayınları, 1996. pg 46

209 Birsel, Ibid. pg 92

210 Işın, E. Ibid. pg 550

129
arguments and debates.211 Therefore, the comfortable seats, rather than chairs,

their circular organization that allows speaking and listening to anyone and

coming up with a strong group psychology. Naturally this cultural interaction of

people give rise to the formation and maturation of the new ideas that could be

dangerous for the State when appeared together with the political ironies of a

clever meddah. Therefore, bans and limitations brought the end of several coffee

houses for several times.

As it has been mentioned, coffee house was the setting of many

intellectual activity and performance arts. Especially with the nineteenth century

coffee houses turn into art clubs with the rising popularity of theater, books,

newspaper and magazines. As far as all of those were the satisfaction of the most

basic human needs, like learning and entertaining, performance coffee houses

became popular in Paris, the capital of modernity, a century later after the

Ottoman. While that “Le Cafe Théatre” s resembles the coffee houses of

Ottomans with their stage conception, they do not carry the properties of

elaborated florid Ottoman Coffee houses. They confirm the simplicity of

modernism and they revolt the glory of theater buildings. Similar to the ones in

Istanbul, there was no decoration on the stage and stage situates at the center of

audiences. So the determinants like red curtains, decorations, light, backstage and

dressing room, that separate actor from the audience disappear. 212 For the case of

the coffee-houses, the Ottoman type performance areas may appear as a role

model for the ones in Paris. However, as far as this claim can be the topic of

211 Evren, B. Ibid. pg 44.

212 Kabaklı, A. “Pariste meddah Kahveleri” in Meddah Kitabı ed by Unver Oral. İstanbul:
Kitabevi Yayınları, 2006. pg 131

130
another research and require a deeper analysis of the Ottoman-French relations in

terms of political and economic situation and the artistic interactions besides the

architectural ones.

4.7 Theater Buildings

The history of theater buildings was identified with the modernity.

However, one of the aims of this study appears as the clarification of this idea by

showing the evolution of the theater buildings' dependence of a deep spatial

understanding of the traditional Turkish theater and cannot be the literal

translations of the Western prototypes especially in Şehzadebaşı. As it has

mentioned above, coffee- houses stand at the middle of this evolution process and

carry a major role as it is in Fevziye Kıraathanesi case.

131
Fig.4. 9. Guide Nejib in 1918.

Fevziye Kıraathanesi situated in front of Damat İbrahim Paşa fountain

where Fevziye Street coincides with Şehzadebaşı. Its door was looking to the
213
Şehzadebaşı Street whereas the garden was on the Fevziye Street. The main

emphasis of the space was the large garden that could be shaped spontaneously

according to the needs of the performances. In this respect it still carries the

properties of the earlier coffee-houses and still act like an entertainment and

culture center that many actors, musicians and writers like Hüseyin Rahmi

Gürpınar, Ahmed Rasim, Mehmed Celal and Ahmed İhsan Tokgöz were the

followers of the coffee-house who visit Fevziye regularly as it was for the earlier

versions of the typology.

The exact time of establishment of Fevziye Kıraathanesi is unknown but

the most important years was between 1885 and 1900. Its capacity was for one

213 Arpad, Ibid. pg 69

132
hundred and fifty people and in some days of the week famous musicians and

actors were performing here. During Ramadan, except the Kadir night, every

night was full of the performances of karagöz, meddah and puppet shows. Some

of the famous musicians who were performed here were Kemençeci Vasilaki,

Kemani Tatyos or Kemani Memduh efendi. Selanikli Berber Şemsi, Udi

Asdikzade Boğos, Kemani Zafiraki, Nısfiyezen Kirkor, Udi Selim, Lavtacı Ovrik,

Ortaköylü Karakaş Efendi, Ahmet Bey, Kara Boğos Aga and Gümüşgerdan Bey.

The coffee-house became the setting of the important memories of the traditional

Turkish theater. Besides the leading actors' of Orta Oyunu like İbnürrefik, Ahmed

Nuri, Ahmed Muvahhid, Refet, Şadi and Nurettin Şefkati acting in Fevziye

Kıraathanesi, the 'komik-i şehir' Abdürrezzak Efendi's giving his fez and bult to

Naşit represents the starting of a new period in Orta Oyunu besides the spatial

importance of this place for the artists and the audiences. The only products were

tea, coffee and shrub. 214

The coffee-house existed until the end of the First World War and then it

turned into a hall that could be used both as a theater and cinema hall. Therefore,

the space itself became the subject of the evolution while standing as a symbol of

it in the larger picture. Its name as a cinema hall was Emperyal Sineması then

changed into Güneş and Felek. Lately, the salon was used as a dancing hall and

named as Türk. In 1928 and 1929, Cemal Sahir Opereti and Raşit Rıza Theater

performed in this hall. Cemal Sahir was the son of Abdülhamid's kehribarcıbaşı

Mehmed Ali Bey. He went to Hungary for the agriculture education but went on

214 “Fevziye Kıraathanesi” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1994. pg 307-308

133
his education in Peste Conservatory and worked in Vienna Operet. He translated

Kálmán's operetta Kontes Mariça into Turkish and performed in French Theater

that was not rented to a Turkish group until yet. English and German

Ambassadors were also the audiences of the performance who were attracted by

those young Ottoman artists‟ performances. However this success did not stand

through and the popularity of the performances with Turkish songs did not rise till

Cemal and Ekrem Reşit Rey. While the function of the space changed into a

coffee-house to a theater, cinema and dance hall, in 1958 the building was

destroyed and the space was added to the road. 215.

Ferah Theater the one of the first examples of the evolution of the theater

buildings situated in Şehzadebaşı, in number 14 and 16. It was built in 1911 and

thanks to the vivid atmosphere of the II. Meşrutiyet. Many important groups acted

here but the later performances of Muhsin Ertuğrul's group who were performing

with Darülbedayi formerly, brought the fame to the theater. Therefore in the

history of Turkish theater the period between December 1924 and May 1925 was

called as 'Ferah Period' that refers to the session which Muhsin Ertuğrul's group

was on the stage. During this season, for the first time there were matinees with

special discount for the students. Didactic banners and hand- brochures were

prepared in order to educate the audiences. In 1928 the theater was started to be

used as a cinema hall besides its main function and in 1941 Şehzade Sineması was

built instead. 216

215 Arpad, Ibid. pg 69-70

216 “Ferah Tiyatrosu”, Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1994. pg 297

134
Fig 4.10: The crowd in front of the Ferah Theater and the facade of the theater.217

Before Muhsin Ertuğrul, Ferah was the stage of Osmanlı Dram Company

that was directed by Mınakyan. In front of it there was situated the theaters of

Hasan and Şevki Efendi with its two floored lodges. While the romantic

melodramas were appearing on the stage of Ferah Theater, the performance

started with a drama and followed by kanto, duetto and ended up with a comedy

performed by Hasan and Şevki Efendi in their theater. 218

Similar to many theaters, the emphasis of the first version of the structure

was its ability to function as a circus. This evolution from circus to the theater

building is visible in some of the theaters in Pera and Direklerarası besides the

Gedikpaşa Theater. Most of the acrobats and jugglers were coming from abroad

217 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi. Ibid

218 “Dram Kumpanyası”, Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih Vakfı
Yayınları, 1994. pg 291.

135
and performing highly dangerous shows. A web that situated parallel to the stage

and a part of the seats that were not sold to anyone was set. Sometimes the shows

became more colorful and vivid with the performances of a large group with
219
animals and clowns besides the acrobats. However, by time, the popularity of

the circus left its place to the theater and naturally this change became visible in

the architectural language of the structures. The popularity of the theater and the

success of the small entrepreneurs of the theaters took the attention of the rich

business man. Ferah Theater that was built in 1911 was the first example of the

case of a local entrepreneur, who was neither the actor nor the director of any

company or group. As a result of the recognition of theater as a business, the

structure was built inside the garden of the noble Kevabizade Necmettin Mollay

Bey's mansion. The architect of the structure was Münif Fehim's father Fehim

Efendi. They worked together during the construction and decoration of the

structure. The main emphasis of the plan was the capacity of turning into a Circus

when it was necessary maybe because of the entrepreneurs' hesitations on running

220
a theater hall. Therefore, by supplying a variety of performances and group of

audiences; the theater was planned ready for the structural changes.

The structure that was standing in the beginning of the street (today's 16

Mart Şehitleri Street) that went through Bozdoğan Arch was Letafet Apartment.

This famous apartment was one of the first apartment buildings of the historical

peninsula and the setting of many aspects of social life. The patron of the structure

was important elite of İstanbul, Kazasker Rıza Pasha and built as a mansion.

219 Tutel, Ibid.

220 Arpad, Ibid. pg 49

136
However, the fame of the structure started with its usage by Darülbedayi. Cemil

Topuzlu, who was insisting on the necessity of a Western style art institute,

decided to establish it in Letafet Apartment. In order to get help, Andre Antoine

from the Paris Conservatory came to Istanbul for the selection of the actors. In

January 1914, Darülbedayi was established in this apartment and used as the
221
application stage between the years of 1914 and 1917. Therefore Letafet

Apartment was the starting point of the modern Turkish theater that was used by

Istanbul Conservatory. In a similar manner, Darul Evham(the hause of the

melody) was established in Letafet Apartment and formed the basis of İstanbul
222
Technical University Conservatory. On the entrance floor of the Apartment

there was a large concert room which was used by Da'rüttalim-i Musiki Cemiyeti.

The audiences of the traditional Turkish classical music bought tickets for the

performances and attained to the concerts regularly. In the same hall, the last

examples of the traditional Turkish theater, orta oyunu, were performed by the

important artists like Sururi.223

221 Tutel, Ibid

222 Arpad, Ibid. pg 47

223 Tutel, Ibid.

137
Fig.4. 11: An orta oyunu perfomance in Letafet Apartment.224

Naturally, the architectural language of the apartment building does not

remind any of the theater buildings in Istanbul because it was planned neither as a

coffee-house nor as a circus. The mansion had four floors and the upper floor was

timber construction with a bay on the corner. The concert hall was the salon of the

mansion that was used during the crowded invitations. The other rooms of the

mansion was used by several people like the pastries, restaurants and

entertainment spaces such as the shop that established for shooting the balloons.

224 Akbayar N., Sakaoğlu, N. Binbir Gün Binbir Gece: Osmanlı'dan Günümüze İstanbul'da
Eğlence Yaşamı, İstanbul: Denizbank Yayınları, 2000.

138
However, together with the restaurant, entertainment shops, concert hall and small

shops the structure functions like a leisure time complex which reminds the

modern shopping malls somehow.

Fig 4. 12: The half timber- half stone structure of Letafet apartment 225

The last theater building in Direklerarası was Millet Theater that was

situated between the Şehzade Camii and Ferah Theater; in front of Şark Theater.

The theater building was converted to a cinema hall named as Turan and used as a

nylon warehouse for a while in its last years. The entrepreneur of the Millet

Theater was the apothecary Kazım Bey. As it is understood the success of Ferah

Theater as a part of business inspired other rich people in order to invest to the

theaters. In a similar manner the Şark Theater's entrepreneur was Şükrü Sedef Bey

225 Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi, Ibid.

139
 226
who sold ready-made shoes in Kapalıçarşı. Eğlencehane-i Osmani

Kumpanyası was one of the most famous groups that were established in 1895.

The director was Komik Şevki Efendi and in 1901 it was performing in

Şehzadebaşı in Ömer Efendi's building that was situated in front of Letafet

Apartment. Besides the tuluat plays and kantos they were performing melodramas

and serious drams that belong to Namık Kemal and Şemsettin Sami. The

Company was consisting Armenian and Muslim artists and most of the famous

Armenian women singers were performing in this theater like Şamram, Peruz and

Minyon Virjin. 227.

Due to its becoming the last theater structure its plan symbolizes the

courage of its entrepreneur. The building was planned as a theater building that
228
had a horse shoe plan similar to the Western theater style. However, together

with Letafet Apartment it also symbolizes the end of the traditional Turkish arts,

therefore the end of the authentic architectural language of the former structures

in Şehzadebaşı.

During the second half of the nineteenth century some parts of

Direklerarası started to be progressively demolished to widen the street. The first

step was the destruction of the portico arcades to the north. Later the south

arcades were eliminated and gradually some of the small shops were demolished

or converted. Between the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century,

only two bodies of the shops of the original building of the arasta had remained.

226 Arpad, Ibid.pg 49.

227 Çavaş, R. “Millet Tiyatrosu” Dünden Bugüne İstanbul Ansiklopedisi İstanbul: Türk Tarih
Vakfı Yayınları, 1994. pg 141

228 Arpad, B. Ibid. pg 47

140
In the building to the north the shops were progressively replaced with theaters

and cinemas. The width of the street was more or less doubled in order to allow a

dual tramway line. Those regulations did not affect the monumental buildings but
229
became affective just on the minor buildings such as houses and shacks.

However, the destruction of the theater and cinema halls appeared as the next step

of the renovation process that was summarized by Cerasi. In 1960, the

monumental structure of the modern Turkish theater, Letafet Apartment was

destroyed. In a similar manner, coffee-house performance halls like İkbal or

Fevziye do not exist today and two major theater buildings, Ferah and Millet left

their places to office blocks.

229 Cerasi, M. Ibid. pg 132

141
 CONCLUSION

Comédie-Française is using the same theater building since 1791 and

Théâtre de la Nation exists about four centuries. Burgtheater in Vienna is

performing in Dr. Karl-Lueger-Ring since 1888.230 In 29 Januarry 1996, La

Fenice Theater which was two hundred years old was damaged because of fire.

The structure was rebuilt in six hundred and fifty days. 231 Unfortunately, it is not

possible to talk about such spatial and cultural continuity for the theaters of

Istanbul. While Yıldız Court Theater functions like a museum today, only a few of

the theaters in Beyoğlu is active thanks to special entrepreneurs like Ferhan

Şensoy. The others disappeared in one night without any reason, or became the

victims of unexpected fires and new investments whereas a part of them was seen

unnecessary in the new urban plans. Those inconceivable disappearances of the

theaters can not be concluded only with the architectural chopping. They also

cause the elimination of the chance of the researches to get the first-hand spatial

experiences and get closer to the cultural aura and social identity of the Ottoman

Empire's capital. However, this ignorance does not change their importance as a

translated typology that stands at the center of the conceptualization of modernity.

Theater structures of the nineteenth century Istanbul offers a wide spectrum for

the researcher to be able to comment on the possible modernity consciousnesses

of the different parts of the society. Therefore, I prefer not to limit the after life of

230
The building dates of the strcutures are taken from Vikipedia; under the related articles.

231 Aracı, E. Ibid. pg 14.

142
the theater spaces with their structural existence and evaluate this study as a

contribution to their afterlife in a way.

Every single detail like the geography, politics, economy, ideologies and

the after life of the structure that is shaped by the users, viewers and its relation

with other structures will cause changes in the meaning. Similar to any spoken

word, languages, visual objects and all artistic products; architectural object is

also impossible to 'translate' literally and cannot be named as the copy of a

prototype. It involves in the idea of interpretation that makes translation possible.

When the quality of interpretation changes due to the different consciousnesses of

the translators and possible after life of the structures; the dose and type of the

translation also changes. In the scope of this thesis, theater structures were

discussed as a matter of architectural translation. It was shown that similar to

other architectural translations, theater structures were neither fully transformed

nor had not transformed during the translation process. In all chapters, there were

examples of different doses and types of the translation. Therefore, for the

translation of a typology, the translated visual object was not evaluated as the

copy of the same plan to a different geography.

The ontological impossibility of a concept like 'direct translation' leaves no

space for claiming the nineteenth century theater buildings in Istanbul as a copy

of the prototypes of the Western typology. Rather than this, the idea of

interpretation forces us to look on the problem with a different eye by concerning

the spatial background of theater inside the Empire, role of the interpreters and the

mediums of interpretation in order to understand how the translation was

143
actualized . This study aims to follow this path and look into the theater typology

of the nineteenth century Istanbul as the outcome of a large and colorful

translation area. Therefore, this thesis rejects the direct translation that is

identified with the clichés like 'copying' the 'Western' style into the 'East' for the

case of the theaters in Istanbul. Rather, this study searched for the dynamics of the

translation in order to realize the originality of the architectural language of the

nineteenth century's theater buildings. Thanks to the authentic, multilayer and

multivariate aspects of the period's cultural life besides the references to the

conceptualization of space in traditional Turkish theater, the genuine

interpretations were realized despite to the strong architectural and cultural

identity of the classical Italian design.

For realizing the formation of a genuine translation, it is important to

notice that the history of theater and theatrical space depends on the earlier

centuries of the Empire. It is true that until the nineteenth century it is not possible

to talk about a theatrical understanding that involves in the idea of high-art and

therefore a specialized building for this aim. However, this fact does not lead to

the non-existence of a specialized and organized space for the performance arts.

Starting from the 15th Century the entertainment and leisure life culture carries

great importance, especially inside the Court. Conjurers, acrobats and meddahs

who are coming from Egypt and Iran show the capacity of the entertainment life

that can also be a clue about the demand and supply relation of the entertainment

as a business inside the Empire. While the miniatures of Levni and Enderunlu

Fazıl reflect the colorful life of the Tulip Era, voyager artists like Preziosi, Allom

and Melling seem highly attracted by the leisure time culture inside the Empire.

144
All of those artistic expressions show the existence and conceptualization of the

traditional artistic performances like Karagöz, köçek, meddah and jugglers.

Therefore, it is not possible to think about the theatrical performance life of

Empire as a tabula rasa. As far as each performance requires a special

understanding of space, it is not possible to claim the non-existence of theater

structures due to the fact that each performance's creating its own space. Hence,

theater is not a concept that stands as an analogy for the language translation of a

people from archipelago in the context of the Ottoman Empire. The pre-existence

of a performance culture leads us to the existence of a theatrical spatial

understanding that cannot be the subject of the „radical translation‟ or „radical

interpretation‟. This study rejects the cultural gap between 'East' and 'West' for the

nineteenth century Ottoman Empire. Thanks to the rising number and effects of

the mediums of translation, like the embassies, minorities, artists, architects or

voyagers, the case for the cultural translation does not depend on a gap between

the geographies but on interaction between the differences.

The leisure time activities are indispensable parts of the Palace. Even

though the history of the performance arts depends on the earlier centuries of the

Empire, they get stronger and take their place in the social life of the layman with

the modernity. As it has mentioned, it is not possible to eliminate the power

relations, authority, religious background, changing statues of the non-Muslims,

Sultan's personal interests, economic problems, role of Westernization ideals and

the multi-layered structure of the Ottoman culture and society while evaluating

the court theaters. Even though those variables are valid for all court theaters as it

is in the Western prototypes, the unique applications of those variables inside the

145
Empire give the possibility of translation that saves itself from creating a copy of

the western typology. All of those concepts come together and form a complex

architectural meaning that cannot be limited with the construction period, patron

or the architect as it is in the meeting of Dolmabahçe Court Theater with

Dolmabahçe Mosque or Yıldız Court Theater's fabulous Sultan box that refers to

the invisibility of the Sultan. Hence, Ottoman court theaters come up with a

unique meaning that cannot be identified with a literal translation of a Western

prototype. Thanks to the unique case of Istanbul that keeps the traditional

understanding of the performance arts and start to interpret the social

requirements of modernity, court theaters appear with the authenticity in their

architectural language and spatial organization.

One of the first questions of the thesis was the place of the court theaters

in the translation process. Their position and the dose of translation are important

for two reasons. Firstly, because of their acting as a role model and secondly

because of the changing political and economic balances inside the Empire during

the nineteenth century. The answers of those questions cannot depend on the

formal analysis of the Dolmabahçe or Yıldız Court Theaters only. It should be

considered that the idea of translation, especially for the case of the Dolmabahçe

Court Theater as being the first permanent theater structure inside the palace

complex, is applied for an area and actualized in the urban scale. Therefore, rather

than focusing on the translation of a single structure as a member of a certain

typology; it is beneficial not to limit the idea of translation and cause the

ignorance of the interpretation of modernity and its visualization in the urban

scale. The spatial relationship between the Dolmabahçe Mosque, Dolmabahçe

146
Court Theater and Clock Tower that appear in the same picture stand as the

architectural translation that should be re-conceptualized with the ideological,

cultural and social changes in the Ottoman Palace.

Nineteenth century cannot be identified with the military victories,

balanced international and national policies or economic satisfactions for the

Ottoman Empire. Therefore, the reasons of the translation besides the task of

translation become an important debate especially for the case of Palace. This

study rejects the possibility of imposition of the translation of the theater

structures by the Palace by showing all Sultans' self interest for art as the patron,

object or the artist in the context of nineteenth century. The reason of this interest

can be identified with many things like the talent, cultural emulation or necessity

of the modernity. As far as it requires a deeper and more specialized research, it is

not possible to determine the exact reason for the interests of Sultans for theater in

the scope of this thesis. However, it is possible to claim that showing the

translation of the theater structures as a result of the imposition of the West does

not go hand in hand with the Sultan's artistic approaches and the cultural

interaction that goes stronger inside the Empire during the nineteenth century.

For the case of the interaction Pera occupies an important space due to its

being the setting of 'Western typologies'. Not only the architectural language but

also the social and cultural life that goes on in Pera and Galata make those

districts to be evaluated as the 'direct translation' of Western point of view.

However, especially during the nineteenth century this idea leaves its place to

different paradigms. Embassies which appear as the most important determinants

of the social life of Pera gain a more organic structure by forming more concrete

147
relations with the streets and people of Pera. Hence, it is possible to observe a

growing interest for the Ottoman culture with their attendance to the daily life in a

wider scale when compared with the past. When the embassies' leave their spatial

and cultural isolation that goes inside the limited space of the Embassy buildings

until the ends of eighteenth century is thought with the new rights of the

minorities; a larger space for the expression of the life style was occurred for the

minorities. Levantine culture's contributions to the social life and their culture's

becoming more attainable for the Muslim subjects gave rise to the realization of

another life style for both parts. Similar to Levantines, voyagers were the actors of

the cultural interaction. While people are traveling, spreading new ideas to new

geographies and contribute to the local culture, it is impossible to evaluate this

process as a one-way relationship. Therefore the nineteenth century's Pera cannot

be evaluated as the setting of the Western typologies but should be considered as

the outcome of an interaction of the architectural, social and cultural paradigms.

Şehzadebaşı- Direklerarası is represented as a case for the genuine

translation of the theater typology in the scope of this thesis. Several reasons were

discussed for this case but the socialization of the Armenian community in this

district and their having the leading roles in the construction of a theater culture

was an important turning point. The rising number of the Armenian schools which

offer an important background for the formation of Ottoman theater and the rising

freedom of expression found their reflections in the architectural and cultural

translation. Armenians appear as the artists and entrepreneurs who highly involve

in the cultural interaction with other non-Muslims and Ottoman society in order to

satisfy the audiences of Direkelerarsı who come from different religious and

148
cultural backgrounds. Besides the cultural variety of the district, its spatial

background that was formed with coffee-houses and performance areas like

circuses supply a unique platform for a genuine translation. While being an ante

litteram for Grand Rue de Pera thanks to the vivid atmosphere of the Ramadan

fests that was started before the nineteenth century, the important spatial

transformations from the circus to the theater hall takes place during the

translation process. The same evolution from the circus to the theater hall is also

observable in Pera and may stand not only for the popularization of theater but

also for the interaction between the audiences, actors or entrepreneurs of

Direklerarası and Pera.

The conceptual relationship between Şehzedebaşı and Dolmabahçe also

represents an important case. Şehzadebaşı stand as an ante litteram not only for

Grand Rue de Pera but also for Dolmabahçe Palace Complex with the

'spontaneous' meeting of Şehzadebaşı Mosque, muvakkithane and several

performance and leisure time spaces. The religious life's harmony with the secular

life becomes visualized in the architectural harmony between those structures

inside the urban space of Şehzadebaşı. The spontaneity of this meeting refers to

further questions on Ottoman Westernization period that goes not only inside the

Palace or Pera but also in a space that can be identified more with the social life

of Muslim subjects. Hence the area stands for the genuine conceptualization of

the Ottoman modernity and can be satisfied with the realization of the cultural and

spatial dynamics with a deeper research. However, this study does not focus on

Şehzadebaşı specifically or tires to understand the Ottoman modernity depending

on the district. The last chapter can be evaluated as an introduction to such

149
concern that can be satisfied with deeper sociological, historic and spatial

analysis.

The ontological existence of a 'direct translation' is possible only if the

specific conditions like transforming one structure to the same place, with the

same technology, at the same time and in the same political, economic or cultural

conditions. However, satisfaction of such conditions can be possible only in a

'possible world' and neither possible nor meaningful in the frame of our physical

world. Besides, as far as translation 'transforms while transporting' as it has

mentioned at the very beginning of this study it is not possible to talk about a

concept like direct translation due to the lack of transformation in its meaning.

However, this idea should not be concluded with the 'originality' or the

'authenticity' of every single architectural translation. On the other hand, naturally,

this study does not involve in the idea of determining the 'architectural value' of

the theater structures due to their all being an important part of the cultural history

of the Ottoman Empire. I just tried to choose some specific examples for the sake

of the study that can satisfy the realization of the essence and variety of the

translation process. As I have mentioned, this thesis does not have an ambition

like covering the all theater spaces of the nineteenth century Istanbul. It would be

an illusive aim that was impossible to satisfy. Therefore, this study stands only as

a „one possible attempt of translation‟ on the architectural, cultural and historical

aspects of theater in Istanbul during the nineteenth century, among the many other

ones.

150
 Bibliography

Akbayar, N., Sakaoglu, Binbir Gün Binbir Gece: Osmanli'dan Günümüze

Istanbul’da Eglence Yaşami. Istanbul: Denizbank, 1999.

Akcan, E. Çeviride Modern Olan: şehir ve konutta Türk Alman ilişkileri. Istanbul:
YKY, 2009.

Akın, N. 19. Yüzyılın İkinci Yarısında Galata ve Pera. Istanbul: Literatür, 1998.

Ali O., Essa A. Studies in Islamic Civilization: The Muslim Contribution to the
Renaissance. London: Cromwell Press Group, 2010

Alpman, H. K. , Ahmed Fehim Bey’in Hatıraları, İstanbul: Tercüman Matbaa,

1977.

Alus, S. M.“İkinci Abdülhamid'in Muayedeleri” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası.

September 1951

“Eski Galata'nın Eğlence Yerleri” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. March 1951

“Eski Milli Tiyatromuz: Orta Oyunu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası'' July,

1950

And, M. Başlangıcından 1983'e: Türk Tiyatro Tarihi Istanbul: Iletişim Yayınları,

2004.

Meşrutiyet Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu- 1908-1923. Ankara: Türkiye Iş

Bankası, 1971.

Osmanlı Tiyatrosu: Kuruluşu, gelişimi, katkısı. Ankara: Dost Kitabevi,

1999.

Tanzimat ve Istabdat Döneminde Türk Tiyatrosu- 1839-1908. Ankara:

Türkiye Iş Bankası, 1972.

Andıç, F., Koçak, M. “Governence and the Turkish Constitutions: Past and
Future” Social Science Research Network 11. 03. 2010
<http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?id=1112833>

151
Aracı, E. Naum Tiyatrosu: 19. yy İstanbulu'nun İtalyan Operası.İstanbul: Yapı
Kredi Yayınları, 2010.

Arkan, Ö. Beyoğlu: Kısa Geçmişi, Argosu, İstanbul: İletişim, 1989.

Arpad, B. Bir Istanbul Var Idi: Anılar. Istanbul: Remzi Kitabevi, 2007.

Bareilles, B İstanbul'un Frenk ve Levanten Mahalleleri: Pera, Galata,

Banliyöler, İstanbul: Güncel Yayıncılık, 2003.

Beyoğlu, 1870-2000-Bir Beyoğlu Fotoramanı.: Bir Efsanenin Monografisi.

İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2000.

Bilgin B. Geçmişte Yıldız Sarayı. Istanbul: Yıldız Sarayı Vakfı Yayınları, 1988.

Birsel, S. Ah Beyoglu Vah Beyoglu. Ankara: Türkiye Iş Bankası Yayınları, 1983.

Kahveler Kitabı. Istanbul: Nisan Yayınları, 1991.

Büyükünal, F. Bir Zaman Tüneli Beyoglu. Istanbul: Dogan Kitapçılık, 2006.

B.S. “Kahveye ve Kahvehaneye Dair”. Resimli Tarih Mecmuası . November 1953

Cezar, M. Sanatta Batı'ya Açılış ve Osman Hamdi. Istanbul: Erol Kerim Aksoy
Kültür, Egitim, Spor ve Saglık Vakfı, 1995.

“Osmanlı Padişahlarının Eğlencelerinden Muhteşem Düğünler” Resimli

Tarih Mecmuası . February 1953: 2044-2048.

Cerasi M. Divanyolu. İstanbul: Kitap Yayınevi, 2006.

Chomsky, Noam. Language and Mind. USA: NIT, 1968.

152
Çelik, Z. The Remaking of Istanbul: portrait of an Ottoman city in the nineteenth
century. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.

Davidson D. “Radical Interpretation” .Inquiries into Truth and Interpretation.

New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Dünden Bugüne Istanbul Ansiklopedisi. Türkiye Ekonomik ve Toplumsal Tarih

Vakfı. Ankara: Kültür Bakanlıgı; Istanbul: Tarih Vakfı, 1993-1995.

Esemenli, D. Istanbul Sarayı ve Dolmabahçe. Istanbul: Homer Kitabevi, 2002.

Evren, B. Eski Istanbul’da Kahvehaneler. Istanbul: Milliyet Yayınları, 1996.

Gerçek, S. N. Istanbul'dan Ben de Geçtim. Istanbul: Kitabevi, 1997

Türk Temaşası: Meddah, Karagöz, Ortaoyunu, Istanbul, Kanaat

Kitabevi, 1942.

“Sulye Cambazhanesi” Perde ve Sahne March 1942

“Dolmabahçe Tiyatrosu" Perde ve Sahne June 1941

"Üç Naum Tiyatrosu", Perde ve Sahne February 1942

Gülersoy, Ç. Dolmabahçe Palace and its Environs. Istanbul: Istanbul Kitaplıgı,

1990.

Tepebaşı: Bir Meydan Savaşı. Istanbul: Istanbul Büyükşehir Belediye

Başkanlıgı, 1993.

Gürpınar, H. R. “Şehzadebası Ramazan Geceleri”. Resimli Tarih Mecmuası.

December 1954.

Halman, T. 'Introduction' , İbrahim the Mad and Other Plays: An Anthology of

Modern Turkish Drama, ed. By Halman, T. , Warner, L. New York:
Syracuse University Press, 2008.

153
Hannavy, J. Encyclopedia of Nineteenth Century Photography. New York:
Routledge, 2007.

Işın, E. Everyday Life in Istanbul: social historical essays on people, culture and
spatial relations. Istanbul: Yapı Kredi Publication, 2001.
Istanbul Ansiklopedisi. Ed. Koçu, R. E. Istanbul: Istanbul Yayınevi, 1946-1953.

İstanbul Kültür ve Sanat Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Tercüman Gazetesi Kültür

Yayınları, 1982.

Kabaklı, A. “Paris'te Meddah Kahveleri” Meddah Kitabı. Ed. Oral, Ü. Istanbul:

Kitabevi Yayınları, Kasım 2006.

Kayra, C. Osmanlı'da Fetvalar ve Günlük Yaşam. Istanbul: Boyut Yayıncılık,

2008

Kuban, D. Osmanlı Mimarisi. Istanbul: Yapı Endüstri Merkezi, 2007.

Kubilay, A.Y. İstanbul haritaları: 1422-1922 - Maps of Istanbul: 1422-1922

İstanbul: Denizler Kitabevi, 2009.

Küçükerman, Ö. Sanayi ve Tasarım Yarışında Bir İmparatorluk İki Saray:

Topkapı ve Dolmabahçe, İstanbul: Yapı Kredi Yayınları, 2010.

Lacan, J. The Four Fundemental Concepts of Pschoanalysis. Harmondsworth:

Penguin, 1979.

Lewis, B. Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East. New York: Oxford
University Press, 2004.

Marmara, R. Bizans Imparatorlugu’ndan Günümüze Istanbul Latin Cemaati ve

Kilisesi, Istanbul: Kitap Yayinevi, 2006

Muhasipzade, C. Eski Istanbul Yaşayışı Istanbul: Türkiye Basımevi, 1946.

154
Mulhall, S. “Introduction” in Routledge Philosophy Guidebook to Heidegger and
Being and Time. London: Routledge, 1996

Örik, N. “Mısır'ın Valdepaşaları” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. September 1951.

Quataert, D. “19. Yüzyıl” Osmanlı Imparatorlugu 1700-1922. Istanbul: Iletişim,

2002.

Pamukciyan, K. Ermeni Kaynaklar?ndan Tarihe Katkılar. Istanbul: Aras

Yayıncılık, 2002.

Peikoff, Leonard. The Ominous Parallels. New York: Stein and Day, 1982.

Pevsner, N. A History of Building Types, Princeton, N.J. : Princeton University

Press, 1976.

Plato, The Republic. Trans. By Jowett B. NewYork: Modern Library, 1941.

Quine, W.O. Word and Object. USA: The Massashusetts Institute of Technology,
1960.

Rasim, A. Dünkü Istanbulda Hovardalik. Istanbul: Arba, 1992.

“Eski Eğlenceler ve Sazlar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. August 1956

“Altmış Sene Evvelki Tuluat Tiyatrolarında Kanto ve Kantocular” Resimli

Tarih Mecmuası January, 1954.

“Orta Oyunu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. March 1956

Sevengil, R. A. Istanbul Nasıl Egleniyordu? 1453'ten 1927'ye kadar. Istanbul:

Iletişim Yayınları, 1998.

Sirer, M. “Türkiyede Verilen İlk Balolar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. . December

1954.

155
Süha, A. “Eski Şenlik ve donanmalar” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası Resimli Tarih
Mecmuası. February 1956.

Şakir Z. "Yıldız Tiyatrosu", Resimli Tarih Mecmuası, March 1954.

“Saray Harem Musikisi ve Harem Bandosu” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası.

December 1953.

Şehsuvaroğlu, H. “Abdülhamid Dönemi” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. February 1957

“Dolmabahçe Sarayı Tiyatrosu” İstanbul Ansiklopedisi. İstanbul: Koçu

Yayınları, 1968.

Asırlar Boyunca İstanbul: eserleri, olayları, kültürü. İstanbul:

Cumhuriyet Gazetesi

Talu, Ercüment Ekrem. “Şehzadebaşı ve Eski Ramazanlar” Resimli Tarih

Mecmuası. April 1953

“Meddah” Resimli Tarih Mecmuası. November 1953

Tanzimattan Cumhuriyete Türkiye Ansiklopedisi. ed. Murat Belge. Istanbul:

Iletişim Yayınları, 1985.

Tuğlacı, P. The role of the Balian family in Ottoman Architecture. Istanbul: Yeni
Çığır Kitabevi, 1990.

Tutel E. “Eski Direklerarası Tiyatroya Hasret” Toplumsal Tarih Dergisi.:

September 2007.

Wittgenstein, L. Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus. London & New York:

Routledge.

Züst, G. Gaspare Fossati. Lugano: Feda sa Fidia edizioni d'arte, Pinacoteca

Cantanole, 1992.

156