Bankalar Caddesi

Bankalar Caddesi in Galata was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire. The Ottoman Central Bank headquarters, inaugurated in 1892, is the first building at right.

File:Bankalar Caddesi in Galata Istanbul.jpg

A view from the eastern entrance of the street. The offices of the former Ottoman Stock Exchange are at the right side, while the former Ottoman Central Bank headquarters is at the left side, when seen from this angle.

Bankalar Caddesi (English: Banks Street), alternatively known as the Voyvoda Caddesi (English: Voivode Street), located in the historic Galata quarter (present-day Karaköy) within the district of Beyoğlu (historic Pera) in Istanbul, Turkey, was the financial center of the Ottoman Empire. It was the street where the prominent banks, financial institutions and insurance companies had their headquarters during the Ottoman period, including the Ottoman Central Bank (originally established as the Bank-ı Osmanî in 1856, and later reorganized as the Bank-ı Osmanî-i Şahane in 1863) and the Ottoman Stock Exchange (Dersaadet Tahvilat Borsası, established in 1866.) These buildings are still used as headquarters or branch offices by banks and other financial institutions.

The southern stop of Tünel (1875), the world's second oldest subterranean railway line after London's Underground (1863), is located near the eastern entrance of the Bankalar Caddesi.

The Camondo Steps, a famous pedestrian stairway designed with a unique mix of the Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles, and built in 1860 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish banker Abraham Salomon Camondo, is also located on Bankalar Caddesi. The steps lead upstairs to the parallel side street where the ruins of the Genoese Palazzo del Comune (1316), built by Montano de Marinis, the Podestà of Galata, is located a few meters to the left (west) of the stairway, behind the façade of the 1880s Bereket Han office building on Bankalar Caddesi.

• Façade detail of a bank on Bankalar Caddesi
  Façade detail of a bank on Bankalar Caddesi
• Assicurazioni Generali on Bankalar Caddesi
  Assicurazioni Generali on Bankalar Caddesi
• Camondo Stairs on Bankalar Caddesi
  Camondo Stairs on Bankalar Caddesi
• Camondo Stairs on Bankalar Caddesi
  Camondo Stairs on Bankalar Caddesi

External links

• Ottoman Bank Museum: Database of the buildings on Bankalar Caddesi. Click on a building's image for detailed information.
• Ottoman Bank Museum: Panoramic view of the buildings on Bankalar Caddesi.
• Ottoman Bank Museum: History of the Ottoman Bank.
• Istanbul Stock Exchange: History of the Istanbul Stock Exchange.