Do you know which is one of the most visited cities in the world? It is magnificent and fascinating Istanbul, a reality that is located between Europe and Asia, on the strait of the Bosphorus, and that offers views of pure value. For a few years, a series of deep restoration works of culture and historical heritage are underway in the city, which reveals previously neglected but incredibly beautiful layers.
The new life of the Bulgur Palas
He Bulgur Palace it is a beautiful historic building Istanbul which is located on the hill of Kocamustafapaşa, one of the seven hills of Istanbul (yes, Rome is not alone). Commissioned by Mehmet Habip Bey, it was designed in 1912 by Giulio Mongeri, a Levantine architect of Italian origin.
Over the years this building performed various functions, until it was completely abandoned. But only until 2021, the year in which the municipality of Istanbul acquired it and subjected it to enormous restoration works.
Starting from February this year, in fact, the Bulgur Palas offers wide panoramic views of the Sea of Marmara, the historic peninsula of the city dotted with minarets and its new district full of skyscrapers, but also a library with 150 seats, spaces exhibition, garden bar and much more.
Gulhane Park Cistern
2023, however, was the year in which it was reopened to the public Gulhane Park Cistern. It is a real reservoir of 1,500 years that is only 10 minutes from the much more famous one. Basilica Cistern the largest underground tank still preserved in Istanbul.
Gülhane, in particular, is just one piece of a city tank system that once included more than 200 tanks that provided water to residents at the time. It is located in a wooded park that was part of the private lands of the Topkapi Palace and it is also home to the Gothic Column, perhaps the oldest existing Roman monument in the city, and the Alay Köşkü, a jewel of a 16th century pavilion.
The rebirth of Casa Botter
At the beginning of the 20th century Istanbul was the home of the Dutch Jean Bottertailor of Sultan Abdülhamid II, who decided to build a building with a shop, tailoring studio and apartments for his family along Grande Rue de Pera, today’s Istiklal Caddesi.
For the construction of the building, the fashion designer chose to turn to Raimondo D’Aronco, a Friulian architect, who designed an ambitious building inspired by French Art Nouveau. As time passed, it was sold several times, until it became a kind of ghost in the main street of the city. However, in 2021, the Istanbul Municipality started a major restoration process and left everyone breathless.
Today the building is called Casa Botter and it is a palace of incredible charm that reopened in April 2023 as a public center of art and design, with rotating exhibitions of modern and contemporary artists.
Artİstanbul Feshane, from factory to art center
The story ofArtİstanbul Feshanea former textile factory that has been transformed into a gigantic new center with art galleries, a food court, a library and even a concert stage.
Located on the shore of the Golden hornit needed a restructuring that lasted four years, with major restoration interventions carried out by the municipality’s cultural heritage department, so that its fascinating original cast iron columns, brought to Turkey from Belgium, are still in place .
Müze Gazhane, new cultural center
In the neighborhood of Hasanpaşa in Kadıköy rises theHasanpaşa gas works, a gasometer built in 1891 that provided power to the entire Asian side of the city, until it became obsolete.
But starting from 2013, the buildings of the industrial plant were restored and refunctionalized by the city administration, transforming it into a real cultural center: the complex, called The Gasworks of the museum, currently includes six exhibition halls, two stages for theater and gasometer concerts, a library, a climate museum and a comics museum, a library, a bookstore, laboratories, a study room, and also a market and two cafes. But that’s not all, because the largest gasometer also houses an unmissable viewing platform.
Anadolu Hisarı, the oldest Ottoman fortress in Istanbul
In the end anatolian fortress, a magnificent medieval fortress located on the Anatolian (Asian) side of the Bosphorus. It is the oldest Ottoman fortress in Istanbul, so much so that it gives its name to the neighborhood that surrounds it in the Beykoz district.
A real wonder built in 1395 by Yildirim Beyazit, i.e. 58 years before the conquest of the city, which is located on a rocky outcrop three meters above sea level and which is surrounded by a protective wall with a diameter of 20 meters.
However, it remained closed for more than a decade until it reopened in May 2023. And today, during the summer night, its towers light up to make a spectacular backdrop free outdoor concerts organized by the municipality.
The wonderful city of Istanbul, therefore, has outlined a new public strategy for the recovery of its historical heritage, returning extraordinary spaces to citizens and visitors with a new face and exceptional value.