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Kuleli is a small village on the Asian side of the Bosporus in Istanbul. It’s located in the Üsküdar district between Çengelköy and Vaniköy.
Introduction to Kuleli
Kuleli is dominated by the massive former military high school building along the shore. Behind the building and up into the hills you’ll find a residential area. From the shore, there are great views of the Bosporus Bridge.
Getting to Kuleli
To be honest, there’s really no reason to walk through Kuleli unless you’d like to visit the mosque or get a closer look at the school. The neighborhood is best seen from the Bosporus.
If you do decide to visit, the easiest way to get there is through Üsküdar. Take a ferry to Üsküdar and walk to the Üsküdar Cami Önü stop (in front of the mosque across the street from the ferry terminal). Hop on pretty much any bus with a number 15 until you reach the Kuleli stop. You can also take a dolmuş going to Beykoz and ask the driver to let you out at Kuleli – it’s much faster than the bus.
If you prefer to take a ferry, the nearest ferry terminal is at Çengelköy. You can get there on the Istanbul City Ferry Lines (İstanbul Şehir Hatları) from either Arnavutköy or Bebek every few hours throughout the day.
Kuleli Military High School
The most important landmark is the Kuleli Military High School (Kuleli Askeri Lisesi), which dominates the entire village. The building’s iconic conical towers are one of the symbols of Istanbul.
The building occupies the site of a Byzantine monastery. During the reign of Selim I, the monastery was given to the Janissaries to use as a barracks. Süleyman the Magnificent later built a small palace there, and the last Byzantine remnant was demolished in the 18th century during the reign of Ahmed III. Mahmud II built a barracks on the site in the 19th century. It burned down and was replaced by Abdülmecid I with the current building, which was completed in 1843.
The building was designed by Ottoman Armenian architect Garabet Balyan (1800-1866) and originally served as a cavalry barracks. It was called the “Kuleli Barracks” after the two towers (kule). The military high school moved into the building in 1872.
During the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78) and the Balkan Wars (1912-13), the building was used as a military hospital. It then became an orphanage for Armenian children after World War I and was used as a barracks by British troops from 1920 to 1923. It was converted into a public high school in 1924 and the military high school returned the following year. From May 1941 through the end of World War II, the building was used as a 1,000-bed military hospital.
History of the Military High School
The military high school was founded on September 21, 1845, by Abdülmecid I as Mekteb-i Fünun-ı İdadiye. It was the first of its kind in the Ottoman Empire. Classes began at the Tiled Kiosk at Topkapi Palace and moved to the Maçka Barracks on October 10, 1846.
In 1868, all military high schools were combined under the name Umum Mekteb-i İdadî Şahane and moved to the Galatasaray Barracks. The combination of the schools was a failure, and in 1872, the original Mekteb-i Fünun-ı İdadiye and the Naval High School (Deniz İdadîsi) moved to the Kuleli to become the Kuleli İdadîsi.
During the Russo-Turkish War, the school spent two years in Pangaltı and returned to Kuleli in 1879 along with the Military Medical High School (Askeri Tıbbiye İdadisi). The Military Medical High School was transferred to Haydarpaşa in 1910. The students and staff were scattered to buildings at Beylerbeyi Palace and the Adile Sultan Palace during the Balkan Wars and moved back to the building in 1913.
After World War I broke out, the school was temporarily transferred to the Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage on Büyükada. It later moved to a military tent camp in Kağıthane followed by the Maçka Police Station, and finally the Gendarmerie School in Beylerbeyi on December 26, 1920, before returning to the building in 1925.
In May 1941, the school was once again relocated, this time to Konya. It moved back to Istanbul on August 18, 1947, and functioned until July 31, 2016, when the Turkish government closed all military high schools in response to the alleged 2016 coup attempt.
Kaymak Mustafa Pasha Mosque
On the south end of Kuleli is the Kaymak Mustafa Pasha Mosque (Kaymak Mustafa Paşa Camii). It was built in 1720 by Kaymak Mustafa Pasha (d. 1730), who was a Grand Admiral of the Ottoman Navy. A Sultan’s loge was added in 1837. It was repaired in the 1990s and again in 2018.
