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Selimiye is a neighborhood in the Üsküdar district of Istanbul. It’s full of military buildings, universities and schools, and hospitals.
Introduction to Selimiye
Selimiye sits behind the unsightly docks of the Port of Haydarpaşa (Haydarpaşa Limanı), piled high with containers unloaded off ships from all over the world. This is an area often overlooked by those exploring Istanbul, but there are some unique historical treasures to be found. A few of the interesting buildings located in the area are visible from the ferries coming from the European side to Kadıköy.
Getting to Selimiye
To get to Selimiye from the European side, first take a ferry to Üsküdar. Then hop on a dolmuş heading to Kadıköy and ask the driver to let you out at Karacaahmet Cemetery. All the sites are within walking distance from there. Alternatively, you could hire a taxi to take you directly to the Great Selimiye Mosque to start exploring. You can also walk south along the shoreline path if you have extra time to kill, but it could take about 45 minutes.
Great Selimiye Mosque
First, on a hill overlooking the Selimiye Barracks is the Great Selimiye Mosque (Büyük Selimiye Camii). It’s not often visited by tourists, but the it’s considered one of the more beautiful mosques in Istanbul.
The Great Selimiye Mosque was built between 1801 and 1805 by Selim III. It was part of a larger complex including a primary school, fountain, hamam, and timekeeper’s house. The architect may have been Foti Kalfa, an Ottoman Greek, who designed it in the Ottoman Baroque style.
The gates open to a beautiful courtyard. I really enjoyed the shaded setting among the tall trees. Attached to the mosque is an imperial pavilion with two wings. It served as a private space for the sultan and his family. Also, if you look closely, you may be able to spot birdhouses built into the mosque.
The stunning prayer hall is on a rectangular plan measuring 15 x 20 meters. It’s topped by a single dome 14.6 meters in diameter and rising 25.7 meters above the floor. A black band with a gold inscription runs around most of the room. Look out for the sultan’s loge on the righthand side. It measures 4.6 x 5.4 meters. Click here for a virtual tour.
Selimiye Barracks
The historic Selimiye Barracks (Selimiye Kışlası) is a massive building with a large tower in each of its four corners, easily visible while riding a ferry. The barracks were originally built by Selim III in 1799 with wood, but the Janissaries burned it down in a revolt in 1808. Mahmud II had them rebuilt in 1828 out of stone. It was temporarily used as a British military hospital in 1853 during the Crimean War. The barracks now serve as the headquarters for the Turkish Land Forces (Türk Kara Kuvvetleri), the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces.
A little-known fact is that English nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) lived and worked at the barracks from 1854 to 1857. She developed the first organized military hospital and documented many modern nursing techniques in hygiene and sanitation. In the past, a room in the northernmost tower served as a museum dedicated to her contributions, while the actual room is currently being used by the Turkish military.
Marmara University
The imposing building nearby belongs to the medical faculty of Marmara University (Marmara Üniversitesi). It was originally constructed between 1894 and 1903 as the Imperial College of Medicine (Mekteb-i Tıbbiye-i Şahane), which was commissioned by Sultan Abdülhamid II as the first modern medical school in the Ottoman Empire.
The building was designed by French Ottoman architect Alexander Vallaury (1850-1921) and Italian architect Raimondo D’Aronco (1857-1932). It was then used as the Haydarpaşa High School (Haydarpaşa Lisesi) from 1933 to 1983. To me, it looks somewhat like a huge haunted mansion. My friend Selen attended law school there and said it’s just as scary on the inside as it is on the outside, but nonetheless quite remarkable.
Numune Hospital
On the road to Kadıköy just above Marmara University is the Numune Hospital (Numune Hastanesi). It opened in 1872 under Sultan Abdülhamid II to treat injured soldiers. Construction on the current building started in 1893, and the hospital only treated soldiers until 1910. The hospital is also known as the Haydarpaşa Numune Hospital (Haydarpaşa Numune Hastanesi).
Haidar Pasha Cemetery
Over 6,000 British soldiers died at the Selimiye Barracks during the Crimean War. Many of them are buried in the nearby Haidar Pasha Cemetery (Haydarpaşa İngiliz Mezarlığı), also known as Haydarpaşa Cemetery. It’s very much off the tourist trail.
The cemetery was established in 1855 during the Crimean War. The land was once owned by Süleyman the Magnificent and was donated to the British government. Another plot was added in 1867. The well-kept cemetery also includes the graves of Commonwealth soldiers who took part in both world wars as well as over 700 British civilians.
The Haidar Pasha Cemetery is somewhat hidden and can be a little hard to find. To get there, find the roundabout next to the Marmara University campus. You should be able to spot a sign pointing towards the entrance, which is down a quiet road that passes in front of a hospital.
Crimean War Section
Once through the gates, you’ll enter the oldest part of the cemetery. It contains the graves of many Crimean War soldiers who died at the nearby Selimiye Barracks, mostly due to cholera, dysentery, typhus, or typhoid. Most of the Crimean War graves are not marked, but there are a handful of other graves, including some marked in Russian and Hungarian.
Crimean War Memorial
In the Crimean War section, there’s an obelisk erected by Queen Victoria in 1857 in honor of the British war dead. The Crimean War Memorial obelisk contains a plaque dedicated to Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), the founder of modern nursing. It was added by the British community in Turkey in 1954 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Nightingale’s service in the region. The inscription reads:
To Florence Nightingale, whose work near this Cemetery a century ago relieved much human suffering and laid the foundations for the nursing profession.
There’s also a symbolic broken column dedicated to German Jäger officers who died fighting alongside the British as well as an 1855 monument moved there from the Therapia Crimean Cemetery (now in Tarabya).
Grave of Count Richárd Guyon
One of the interesting graves belongs to Count Richárd Guyon. He was a British citizen and Hungarian general who fled to the Ottoman Empire after losing the Hungarian Revolution of 1848. He then became a general in the Ottoman army, serving in Damascus and in the Crimean War. In the Ottoman Empire, he was known as Hursid Pasha.
O’Conor Chapel
The cemetery continues down a long gravel path. Halfway down the path is a chapel dedicated to Sir Nicholas O’Conor (1843-1908), the British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1898 to 1908. He died in his post following a stomach hemorrhage.
World War I Section
An open grass field behind the chapel leads to the World War I section of the Haidar Pasha Cemetery. It’s filled with the graves of 400 soldiers and military personnel who perished during World War I and the Occupation of Constantinople between 1918 to 1923. Many died as prisoners of war.
One memorial commemorates Hindu and Sikh soldiers of the Indian Army who were cremated and buried in other cemeteries. In 1961, earth containing the remains of those soldiers was scattered near the memorial. Muslim soldiers who fought alongside them were reinterred at Haidar Pasha Cemetery.
Another memorial at the back of the World War I section lists the names of over 200 soldiers and military personnel buried in south Russia and the Transcaucasian Republics. The cemeteries in which they were buried could no longer be maintained by the British government.
In addition to the World War I burials, 38 soldiers from the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force as well as one Australian pilot killed in the Mediterranean Theatre of World War II are buried at Haidar Pasha Cemetery. They died near the Turkish border.
Civilian Section
The rest of the cemetery contains the graves of over 700 civilians buried there since 1867. This is the most interesting section of the cemetery for me personally. I spent a good 40 minutes wandering around and reading the gravestones.
Victorian graves are always a good read. Some of the inscriptions at Haidar Pasha include the life story of the person buried in the grave, and others tell the cause of death in vivid detail. Other gravestones contain dedications from loved ones and friends.
A handful of the graves are quite sad. Some belong to infants and small children while others chronicle the devastation felt due to the early death of a spouse.
One notable burial in the civilian section is Marian Langiewicz (1827-1887). He was a Polish patriot best known as a military leader in the January Uprising of 1863. He’s buried next to his English wife, Suzanne (1837-1906).
