Selimiye is neighbourhood in the municipality and district of

Üsküdar Üsküdar () is a municipality and district of Istanbul Province, Turkey. Its area is 35 km2, and its population is 524,452 (2022). It is a large and densely populated district on the Anatolian (Asian) shore of the Bosphorus. It is border ...

Istanbul Province Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its population is 8,499 (2022). It is on the Asian side of the

Bosphorus The Bosporus or Bosphorus Strait ( ; , colloquially ) is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul, Turkey. The Bosporus connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara and forms one of the continental bo ...

. It takes its name from Sultan Selim III who commissioned a barracks here that led to the creation of a new neighbourhood in its vicinity.

History

The Selimiye Barracks was established in 1800 by the Ottoman Sultan

Selim III Selim III (; ; was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1789 to 1807. Regarded as an enlightened ruler, he was eventually deposed and imprisoned by the Janissaries, who placed his cousin Mustafa on the throne as Mustafa IV (). A group of a ...

for his newly reformed military forces, the Nizâm-ı Cedîd. Its establishment led to the development of the Selimiye neighbourhood as Turkey's first formally planned neighbourhood. Centrepiece is the magnificent Ottoman baroque Selimiye Mosque built in 1801 for the soldiers in the nearby barracks. Sultan Selim's barracks quickly burnt down and were recommissioned in stone by Sultan Mahmud II in 1825. The original barracks only had a single wing but during the reign of

Sultan Abdülmecid Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

the Turkish-Armenian architect Krikor Balyan added another three wings, thereby creating a central parade ground. The Selimiye Barracks served as a hospital during the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

of 1853-56 and it was here that

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

('the Lady with the Lamp') struggled to save lives by improving standards of hygiene. There is a small museum in her memory within the barracks even though they are still used by the Turkish army. In 1802 the Üsküdar printing house was founded and went on to play an important role in the history of Turkish science. Industrial facilities were soon established in this area and Selimiye became one of the most crowded neighbourhoods of Üsküdar by the middle of the 19th century. In 2022 the old

hamam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the Islamic culture, culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

that formed part of the barracks-mosque complex was restored and converted into a restaurant and library in the small Nevmekan chain.

Historical places

* Selimiye Mosque * Selimiye Barracks

References

External links

Official Website of Üskudar Municipality (in English)
Neighbourhoods of Üsküdar {{Istanbul-geo-stub