Eminönü

Eminönü is a district of Istanbul. This is the heart of the walled city of Constantine, the focus of a history of incredible richness. Eminönü covers the point on which the Byzantine capital was built. The Galata Bridge crosses the Golden Horn into Eminönü and the mouth of the Bosphorus opens into the Marmara Sea. And up on the hill stands Topkapı Palace, the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia. Thus Eminönü is the main tourist destination in Istanbul. It was a part of Fatih district until 1928 which constitutes the old Istanbul peninsula, which was formerly the Constantinople.

History

The Golden Horn was a natural port, particularly the Eminönü/Sirkeci shore, which being on a peninsula was also eminently defensible. It was for this port that İstanbul was built, and from here that İstanbul grew, with the oldest neighbourhoods being the port districts along the Golden Horn. In time the Byzantine port was also occupied by merchants from Genoa and Pisa, who eventually acquired their own wharfs and waterfront districts.

The Golden Horn was still a thriving port in Ottoman times, occupied by importers, warehousemen, sailors and traders of every description, the centre of trade in the city, a labryinth of narrow streets wokshops and markets leading uphill to Topkapı Palace, the Ottoman capital.

The district's name, Eminönü, also reflects its' place in history. Translated from Turkish to English it roughly means 'in front of justice'. Emin meaning 'justice', önü meaning 'in front of'. The name most probably came from the Ottoman courts and customs houses on the docks.

The nature of the place did of course change in the industrial age; the Galata Bridge was built across the Golden Horn; steamships came, then electricity, then the railway and the Istanbul terminal of the Orient Express was naturally sited at Sirkeci Station. The sea walls still surrounded the city, and the sea gates of the port of Eminönü were the point of entry for goods, and for people.

Following the huge railway station, other grand stone buildings followed in the late Ottoman period, commercial buildings, the central post office among others. And in the early days of the Republic of Turkey, Eminönü was renovated extensively; the big square was opened up in front of Yeni Cami (by clearing out the tollbooths at the end of the Galata Bridge); The Spice bazaar was restored; the fish market was cleared off the shore of the Golden Horn and a road opened up to the new bridge at Unkapanı.

By the 1950s, the area was continuously clogged up with traffic, which was eased somewhat by the construction of the large coast road around the point and all the way out to Istanbul airport.

Eminönü Today

Although the government has moved to Ankara and Istanbul has expanded rapidly to becoming the enormous city we have today with the centre of the business world now in huge shiny buildings elsewhere in the city, Eminönü is still buzzing. It still has the busiest ferry crossings for the Bosphorus and for the Marmara Sea, still has the only car ferry across the Bosphorus and still has the only mainline railway terminus and people flood into the area on boats, buses, or the light metro from Aksaray.

During the daytime the area is packed with trades people and their customers, a horde of shoppers and the many tourists too. Add to this a number of key government buildings including the governor's office and the main campus of Istanbul University in Beyazit. At night it is very, very quiet. There is some housing in Eminönü but most of the buildings are offices, shops and workshops, and if you do happen to be there in the evening the contrast with the daytime is eery and somewhat menacing. In the daytime there are 2,000,000 people in Eminönü, but the district has only 30,000 residents. The people that do live in Eminönü are working class and conservative.

To Be Seen

Eminönü has many historical mosques and buildings, many of Istanbul's best-known landmarks. Recent development has improved Eminönü greatly and many of its winding streets which can at first seem imposing have been developed and improved, while Eminönü has started to repair the many mosques.

• Sultanahmet - which contains Topkapı Palace, Aya Sofia, the Blue Mosque and Aya Irini among about a thousand other incredible pieces of architecture;
• Süleymaniye - the huge mosque complex of Suleyman the Magnificent;
• Yeni Cami - the mosque that dominates the waterfront by the Galata Bridge; there is a wide open space in front where people feed the pigeons.
• The Grand Bazaar - as much to look at as to shop in.
• The Spice Bazaar - another Ottoman caravanserai, not as huge as the Grand Bazzar but right on the water, next to Yeni Camii;