Last updated on .
Flower Passage (Çiçek Pasajı) is one of the most iconic arcades in the Beyoğlu district of Istanbul. It’s located on Istiklal Street, connecting it with the Beyoğlu Fish Market on Sahne Street.
Before Flower Passage
Flower Passage was built on the site once occupied by the Naum Theatre, which was built in 1844 and destroyed by fire in 1870. The theatre was frequented by Sultans Abdülaziz and Abdülhamid II. It hosted Il Trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi long before the opera houses of Paris, and featured operas composed mostly by Gaetano Donizetti, Gioachino Rossini, and Vincenzo Bellini.
Flower Passage
Ottoman Greek banker Christakis Zografos (1820-1898) purchased the charred building after the fire. Along with architect Kleanthis Zannos, he constructed the current building, which opened in 1876.
The building contained 24 shops designed in a Parisian style as well as 18 luxury apartments. The arcade containing the shops was called Hristaki Passage (Hristaki Pasajı) while the apartments above were called Cité de Péra.
In 1908, Ottoman Grand Vizier Mehmet Said Pasha (1838-1914) purchased the building and renamed it Said Pasha Passage (Sait Paşa Pasajı). After the Russian Revolution in 1917, noble Russian women fleeing their country began to sell flowers in the building, giving it its present name.
By the 1940s, Flower Passage was occupied mostly by pubs. It was renovated in 1988 and again in 2005, and today is full of pubs and restaurants.
