Greek Orthodox Communities and the Formation of an Urban Landscape in Late Ottoman Istanbul

As a case study for the social potential of different ethnoreligious groups in urban development processes, this examination focuses on the role of the Greek Christians in the creation of a new urban landscape in Istanbul during the late Ottoman period. While scholars have long viewed the Ottoman Empire as a Turco-Muslim space, its Christian subjects have traditionally received very little attention in historiography. Likewise, the history of Istanbul under the Ottomans has often been examined from an imperial point of view, neglecting the Christian presence in the city or relegating it to a secondary position at best. Regarding the development of an urban space, not only do we know very little about the Byzantine legacies that lived on after 1453 when the city became the Ottoman capital, but we still have much to learn about the place of Ottoman non-Muslims in Istanbul’s built environment during the succeeding periods of the new empire. The modern Istanbul that came into being in the nineteenth century was mostly the work of local Greek and Armenian architects. This information, however, is hardly known by current inhabitants of Istanbul using the buildings that were designed and constructed by Ottoman Christians.1 An examination of Istanbul’s history from the perspective of its non-Muslims therefore is all the more relevant considering the wide gap between the little attention Christians have traditionally received and their indisputable role in turning Istanbul into the city we know today.