page_title: Beyoğlu
section_title: 20th-21st centuries
hierarchical_section_title: Beyoğlu / History / 20th-21st centuries
caption_attribution_description: Taksimplein. Plein waar het gebeurt, het Malieveld, het Museumplein van Istanbul. Het plein strekt zich overigens nog aan alle kanten uit. In het midden van het plein staat het Cumhuriyet Aniti-standbeeld. Dit 11 meter grote standbeeld, gemaakt door de Italiaan Pietro Canonica, staat symbool voor de republiek Turkije.
context_page_description: Beyoğlu is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera surrounding the ancient coastal town Galata which faced Constantinople across the Horn. Beyoğlu continued to be named Pera during the Middle Ages and, in western languages, into the early 20th century.
  According to the prevailing theory, the Turkish name of Pera, Beyoğlu, is a modification by folk etymology of the Venetian ambassadorial title of Bailo, whose palazzo was the most grandiose structure in this quarter. The informal Turkish-language title Bey Oğlu was originally used by the Ottoman Turks to describe Lodovico Gritti, Istanbul-born son of Andrea Gritti, who was the Venetian Bailo in Istanbul during the reign of Sultan Bayezid II and was later elected Doge of Venice in 1523. Bey Oğlu thus referred to Lodovico Gritti, who established close relations with the Sublime Porte, and whose mansion was near the present-day Taksim Square. Located further south in Beyoğlu and originally built in the early 16th century, the "Venetian Palace" was the seat of the Bailo.
context_section_description: When the Ottoman Empire collapsed and the Turkish Republic was founded (during and after the First World War) Beyoğlu went into gradual decline. The decline accelerated with the departure of the large Greek population of Pera and adjacent Galata as a result of Turkish pressure over the Cyprus conflict, during the 1950s and 1960s. The widespread political violence between leftist and rightist groups which troubled Turkey in the late 1970s also severely affected the lifestyle of the district, and accelerated its decline with the flight of the middle-class citizens to newer suburban areas such as Levent and Yeşilköy.
  By the late 1980s, many of the grandiose Neoclassical and Art Nouveau apartment-blocks, formerly the residences of the late Ottoman élite, became home to immigrants from the countryside. While Beyoğlu continued to enjoy a reputation for its cosmopolitan and sophisticated atmosphere until the 1940s and 1950s, by the 1980s the area had become economically and socially troubled.
  The first decades of the 21st century have witnessed the rapid gentrification of these neighborhoods. Istiklal Avenue has once again become a destination for tourists, and formerly bohemian neighborhoods like Cihangir have once again become fashionable and quite expensive. Some 19th and early 20th century buildings have been tastefully restored, while others have been converted into mammoth luxury malls of dubious aesthetic value. As newer, more international and affluent residents have begun to creep down the hills into Tophane and Tarlabasi, disagreements with more conservative elements in the neighborhoods have become common.
  The low-lying areas such as Tophane, Kasımpaşa and Karaköy, and the side-streets of the area consist of older buildings.
caption: A view of Taksim Square with the Monument of the Republic (1928)
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "ACDSee Pro (Mac)", "Image DateTime": "2012:09:12 15:00:21", "Image HostComputer": "Mac OS X 10.7.4", "Image ExifOffset": "234", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "71/10", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Aperture Priority", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:08:17 13:02:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:08:17 13:02:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "-1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "18/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF SubSecTime": "07", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "07", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "07", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1600", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1063", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "27", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}