The Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre (, also called simply ''Açıkhava Tiyatrosu'') is a contemporary amphitheatre located at Harbiye neighborhood of

Şişli Şişli () is one of the 39 districts of Istanbul, Turkey. Located on the European side of the city, it is bordered by Beşiktaş to the east, Sarıyer to the north, Eyüp and Kağıthane to the west, and Beyoğlu to the south. In 2009, Şi ...

district in

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. It is situated across from the

Istanbul Lütfi Kırdar Convention and Exhibition Center ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_in ...

, and behind the

Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus The Hilton Istanbul Bosphorus ( tr, Hilton İstanbul Bosphorus) is a five star hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it opened in 1955 as the Istanbul Hilton and is the longest operating Hilton Hotel outside the Unit ...

on the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an side of the city. As the city's most popular summertime outdoor venue, the theatre primarily hosts music concerts in various genres of local and international performers. It also hosts cultural activities for several festivals held in Istanbul in the summer.

History

The construction of the open-air theatre was proposed by French

urban planner An urban planner (also known as town planner) is a professional who practices in the field of town planning, urban planning or city planning. An urban planner may focus on a specific area of practice and have a title such as city planner, town ...

Henri Prost Henri Prost (February 25, 1874 – July 16, 1959) was a French architect and urban planner. He was noted in particularly for his work in Morocco and Turkey, where he created a number of comprehensive city plans for Casablanca, Fes, Marrakesh ...

(1874–1959), who developed a project for Istanbul in the 1930s. Designed by Turkish architects Nihad Yücel and Nahid Uysal, the groundbreaking took place in July 1946, in the office time of

Lütfi Kırdar Mehmet Lütfi Kırdar (March 15, 1887 – February 17, 1961) was a Turkish physician, civil servant, politician and Minister of Health and Social Security. He is best remembered for his long-term position as the Governor and Mayor of Istanbul. ...

(1887–1961), governor and mayor of Istanbul. The amphitheatre was opened on August 9, 1947 with a ceremony. However, it took its final form after German

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Carl Ebert Carl Anton Charles Ebert (20 February 1887 – 14 May 1980), was an actor, stage director and arts administrator. Ebert's early career was as an actor, training under Max Reinhardt and becoming one of the leading actors in his native Germany duri ...

(1887–1980), then head of

Ankara State Conservatory The Hacettepe University Ankara State Conservatory ( tr, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Ankara Devlet Konservatuvarı), the first conservatory to be founded in the Republic of Turkey, was established in 1936 by a directive of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. ...

, made modifications in the architectural design of the stage area. Remedy of all the deficiencies completed in the 1950s only. The construction cost 900,000 at the end. The theatre was inaugurated with a play of

Sophocles Sophocles (; grc, Σοφοκλῆς, , Sophoklễs; 497/6 – winter 406/5 BC)Sommerstein (2002), p. 41. is one of three ancient Greek tragedians, at least one of whose plays has survived in full. His first plays were written later than, or co ...

, the

Athenian Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

tragedy Tragedy (from the grc-gre, τραγῳδία, ''tragōidia'', ''tragōidia'') is a genre of drama based on human suffering and, mainly, the terrible or sorrowful events that befall a main character. Traditionally, the intention of tragedy ...

''Oedipus the King'', performed by actors of the Ankara State Theatre. In 1958, the venue was named after

Cemil Topuzlu Professor Cemil Topuzlu (18 March 1866 – 25 January 1958), also known as Cemil Pasha, was a Turkish social democratic politician who served two terms as mayor of Istanbul. During his time in office he oversaw major developments in the city, in ...

(1866–1958), mayor of Istanbul in the era of Ottoman Second Constitutional Monarchy.

Architecture

The facade is faced with

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

and

Uzunköprü Uzunköprü is a town in Edirne Province in Turkey. It is named after a historical stone bridge, claimed to be the world's longest, on the Ergene River. It is a strategically important border town, located on the routes connecting Turkey to the B ...

stone interchangeably to achieve a tone of color. The tier seating is of Uzunköprü stone also. The outdoor theatre is designed in the form of ancient amphitheatres with tiered seating for spectators, semicircular in shape, around a flat performance space. The theatre's seating capacity is 3,972, and there are additional 30 " loge" seats for VIP. The section for the orchestra can hold 80 musicians. A

movie projector A movie projector is an optics, opto-mechanics, mechanical device for displaying Film, motion picture film by projecting it onto a movie screen, screen. Most of the optical and mechanical elements, except for the illumination and sound devices ...

is situated in the middle of the auditorium for movie or slide show purposes. The stage is large enough to enable 200-300

background actor A background actor or extra is a performer in a film, television show, stage, musical, opera, or ballet production who appears in a nonspeaking or nonsinging (silent) capacity, usually in the background (for example, in an audience or busy street ...

s freely move. The passages and the gates are dimensioned for instantaneous evacuation of the stage.

References

{{Şişli Music venues in Istanbul Theatres completed in 1947 Şişli 1947 establishments in Turkey Amphitheaters

History

Architecture

See also

References