Polonezköy or Adampol is a village, administratively a neighborhood, on the Asian side of Istanbul, about from the historic city centre, within the boundaries of the Beykoz district. It was inspired and funded by Prince Adam Jerzy Czartoryski and settled in 1842 by a small group of Polish emigrės, after the failed

November Uprising The November Uprising (1830–31), also known as the Polish–Russian War 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in W ...

. There is still a Polish community there with its own church and cemetery.

History of Polonezköy

Polonezköy (from French ''polonaise'' "Polish" and Turkish ''köy'' "village"), known in Polish as 'Adampol', was founded in 1842, from an idea of Adam Czartoryski. At the time he was Chairman of the Polish National Uprising Government and the leader of a political émigré party. The settlement was first named ''Adampol'' (that is, a Polish transcription of the Turkish ''Adamköy'') in his honour. Prince Czartoryski wanted to create a second emigration centre in Turkey after the first in Paris. He sent his representative, Michał Czajkowski, there and purchased the forest area which encompasses present-day Adampol from the missionary order of Lazarists. Plans were made to establish a future settlement on this spot. At the beginning, the village was inhabited by just 12 people; there were never more than 220 Poles even at the peak of its population. Over time, Adampol developed and was expanded by emigrants from the

1848 revolutions The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europe ...

, the Crimean War in 1853, and by runaways from Siberia and from captivity in Circassia. The first inhabitants busied themselves with agriculture, cattle raising and forestry. Michał Czajkowski converted to

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

in 1850 and became known as Mehmed Sadyk Pasza (Mehmet Sadık Paşa). After Polish independence in 1918, many returned to Poland and the remaining inhabitants took Turkish citizenship in 1938. Already before World War II, the first tourists started arriving in the village. Adampol's village chronicles record the visits of famous people such as

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

(1847), French writer, Gustave Flaubert (1850), Czech writer, Karel Droz (1904), the first President of the Turkish Republic

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, or Mustafa Kemal Pasha until 1921, and Ghazi Mustafa Kemal from 1921 Surname Law (Turkey), until 1934 ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish Mareşal (Turkey), field marshal, Turkish National Movement, re ...

(1937), Pope Nuncio Angelo Roncalli - the future Pope John XXIII. During his visit in 1941 he gave

religious confirmation In Christian denominations that practice infant baptism, confirmation is seen as the sealing of the covenant (religion), covenant created in baptism. Those being confirmed are known as confirmands. For adults, it is an wikt:affirmation, affirma ...

to local children. The first Polish politician to visit after the Second World War was

Adam Rapacki Adam Rapacki (24 December 1909 – 10 October 1970) was a leading Polish Communist politician and diplomat from 1947 to 1968. He started in the socialist movement but in 1948 joined the Central Committee of the new Polish United Workers' Par ...

, then the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Polish Republic, accompanied by Turkish dignitaries (1961). In 1985 the village was visited by

Kenan Evren Ahmet Kenan Evren (; 17 July 1917 – 9 May 2015) was a Turkish politician and military officer, who served as the seventh President of Turkey from 1980 to 1989. He assumed the post by leading the 1980 military coup. On 18 June 2014, a Turkish ...

, the head of the temporary military dictatorship during that period in Turkey, and in 1994 by Lech Wałęsa. The next President of Poland, Aleksander Kwaśniewski, came twice to Adampol in 1996 and 2000, when he visited the Memorial House of Zofia Ryży. In 2002 Adampol celebrated the 160th anniversary of its founding. Polish descendants of the founders of Adampol often visit the settlement of their forebears. Today, there are about 1,000 people in Adampol of whom around 40 speak fluent Polish. There is an annual summer festival in Adampol/Polonezköy which invites folk bands from Poland to play and help maintain the cultural ties between it and Poland. Famous Turks with Polish ancestry include the poet and playwright

Nazım Hikmet A nazim is the coordinator of a city or town in Pakistan. Nazim or variant spellings may also refer to: *Nazim (given name), including a list of people with the given name *Nazim (surname), including a list of people with the surname See also *N ...

and the soprano opera singer Leyla Gencer.

Monuments and places of interest

* Memorial House of 'Zofia Rizi', housing souvenirs, photographs, books and documents, and historic interior decoration. * Our Lady of Częstochowa Church. * The Polish Cemetery, with graves of interest, especially that of Ludwika Śniadecka, a lover of the poet Juliusz Słowacki. There are 92 other graves, which have been renovated by the 'Fight and Martyrdom Memory Protection Council'.

International relations

Twin towns – Sister cities

Polonezköy is twinned with: * Tomaszów Mazowiecki, Poland * Zakopane, Poland

References

External links

* http://www.polonezkoy.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20070116233615/http://www.polonezkoy.com/index_eng.asp (English) * https://web.archive.org/web/20091112170517/http://www.polonezkoy.com/zofiarizi-eng.html (The House of the Memory of Zofia Ryży) * https://web.archive.org/web/20091112170513/http://www.polonezkoy.com/cemetery.html (Polish Catholic Cemetery) * https://web.archive.org/web/20051227052925/http://www.istanbul.gov.tr/Default.aspx?pid=379 * https://web.archive.org/web/20170914230349/http://adampol-polonezkoy.pl/ Memorial House of Zofia Ryży
Towns
* http://www.elacp.com/locations/turkey/ (English summer school and camp, Adampol Hotel, Polonezkoy, Istanbul)
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