Balat, a neighborhood on the coast of the Golden Horn, is connected to the modern district of Fatih on the historical peninsula of Istanbul. Its name comes from the Greek word for palace (Παλάτιον, palation), with ties to the Byzantine Palace of Blachernae (τὸ ἐν Βλαχέρναις Παλάτιον, tó en Vlachérnais Palátion) in the nearby neighborhood of Ayvansaray. Until the 1453 conquest of Constantinople, Balat was named the “Sultan’s Gate” (Βασιλική Πύλη, Vasiliki Pili), referring to the gate through which emperors visiting the Palace of Blachernae entered the palace.
The later Greek-derived name hints at the long-existing Greek population in the neighborhood, despite it not being in the majority. In fact, Balat was the center of the Jewish community in Istanbul starting in the fifteenth century, when Shepardic Jews fled from the Spanish Inquisition and were settled in the area by Sultan Bayezid II. Since then, Balat has become colloquially known as the “Jewish Quarter” of Istanbul. This title should not mislead; there was also a notable Armenian, Bulgarian, and Greek presence in the neighborhood, with the Church of Saint Mary the Consoler (Παναγία Παραμυθία, Panagia Paramythia) once housing the Patriarchate of Constantinople from 1587 to 1597. Thus, Balat has long been treated as a hub of multiculturalism in the city, although there is a predominantly Muslim population today.
Due to its proximity to Phanar (Φανάρι, Fener), Balat is often referred to in conjunction with its neighbor as “Fener-Balat.” While formally there are municipal borders between the neighborhoods, there is no defined street or distinct feature that separates the two when walking in the area. However, the historical reception and reputation of Balat have not always been as positive as Phanar. Aleksandros Paspatis (Αλέξανδρος Πασπάτης), a doctor in the Balıklı Greek Hospital (Ελληνικό Νοσοκομείο του Βαλουκλή), writes extensively about the filth of the neighborhood in his accounts of the hospital, as well as the Greek community and the lifestyle of minority populations in Istanbul between the years of 1830 and 1860. “After passing Phanar, we come to Balat, where many Jews live, in addition to Greeks and Armenians. The filth of this district is famous in Istanbul. The living conditions of most Jews living here are hard to believe and impossible to describe,” he says, yet he still proceeds to explain in length the wretchedness and poverty of the neighborhood. Around the same decade as Alexandros Paspatis, we encounter Greek scholar Skarlatos Byzantios’s commentary on the poor conditions in Balat, too. In his three-volume work titled Constantinople, he writes:
“Residents, from birth till death, spend the largest part of their life lying in mud,” but also adds, “Every city has her own version of Balat, just as she has her own Champs-Elysées.”
More recent scholarship has refrained from attributing these negative connotations to Balat for various reasons while acknowledging the problems Paspatis saw in the neighborhood. It is worth mentioning that the Jewish population residing in the neighborhood was segregated based on wealth, and that it was these poorer regions that were criticized for their filth. The Karabaş quarter, as an example, housed the poorest portion of the neighborhood’s population and was mostly occupied by boatmen and street sellers. ‘‘Balat proper,’’ on the other hand, was entered through the Balat Gate (Balat Kapısı) and included the kavafhane (street of shoemakers), where small business owners operated their shops and the historic Balat bazaar was set up. Phanar, being the relatively lavish and predominantly Greek Orthodox neighborhood right next to Balat, did not help improve the reputation of the criticized neighborhood either.
Characteristics of contemporary Balat are the antiquarians, the historic bazaar, and, undoubtedly, the townhouses. Also called sıraevler in Turkish, these townhouses are attached, often three-story buildings that are built multiple times at a time and are identical in architecture to their neighboring houses. Merdivenli Yokuş (translated verbatim to Staired Slope) is among the streets famous for its colorful townhouses with bay windows (cumba in Turkish). The street was notably restored and renovated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in the late 1990s and early 2000s and has been on their World Heritage List since 1985. Today, Merdivenli Yokuş is a picturesque street that attracts tourists as well as locals.
Landmarks
Balat has had layers of landmarks built and destroyed in various fires that often broke out in the small shops around the kavafhane. Particularly destructive was the Great Fire of 1729, which broke out in a grocery store and spread to destroy one-eighth of the city, according to Istanbul Fire Department records. Thus, only a very few of these landmarks survive today. While it is difficult to trace the development of residential buildings in the neighborhood due to the multiple fires that destroyed the area, there is one preserved wooden mansion in Balat. It remains unknown when this mansion was built, but it has survived to this day since the early nineteenth century. Among the brick buildings on the street (Pastırmacı Yokuşu), this three-story building stands out with its wooden exterior.
Most of the other landmarks are religious centers, which are largely inactive as the currently residing population is predominantly Muslim.
Church of Saint Stephen: Initiated by the Bulgarian Orthodox community of nineteenth century Constantinople, the Church of Saint Stephen was built as a resemblance of the independence request of the Bulgarian Orthodox community in the late-Ottoman Empire. The erection of the church was also supported by other Christian communities such as the Ecumenical Patriarchate. Despite the strict regulations surrounding the construction of new Christian and Jewish centers of worship in the city, this Bulgarian Orthodox Church opened to the public in 1898.
Until the 1980s, the church was barely visible as it was buried among the many surrounding buildings, but today it stands on its own as the neighboring buildings were demolished in an effort to clear the shore of Balat. Among the locals, the church is known as "The Iron Church"—a fitting name for a building composed entirely of iron-cast elements. These prefabricated iron pieces were fully produced in Vienna and transported to Istanbul only to be assembled on-site.
Surp Hıreşdagabet Armenian Orthodox Church: This Armenian Orthodox church first built in the thirteenth century as a Greek Orthodox Church, and was given to the Armenian community in the 17th century. It was largely destroyed in the fire of 1729, but was rebuilt and opened to worship again in 1835.
Yanbol Synagogue: Built by Bulgarian Jews who moved from Yanbol, Bulgaria, in the fifteenth century, the synagogue underwent many repairs over the centuries, the most significant one being in the late nineteenth century. A firman (ferman in Turkish) dated May 21, 1693, indicates the synagogue was present and active during the Byzantine era, too. Due to the decrease in the Jewish population of the neighborhood, this religious landmark has been recently only open for Shabbat services.
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