Balyan
Balyan (often also Balian , Armenian Պալեաններ Palianner ) is the family name of several important Ottoman builders and architects of Armenian descent.
The family came from Karaman and was based in Constantinople , now Istanbul. In the 18th and 19th centuries, they designed and built many important buildings, including schools, churches, mosques, apartment buildings and palaces for the respective sultan, his family and other wealthy people. Five generations of this family shaped the image of today's Istanbul, in particular nine members of the family, as architects, played a key role in shaping the European appearance of Istanbul.
The architects of the Balyan family preferred western architecture and design. But they also took on Ottoman-Turkish designs. Its most famous and largest building is the Dolmabahçe Palace , one of the world's most beautiful palaces of the 19th century.
The builders
Merametçi Bali Kalfa (from the village of Balen near Karaman ; † 1800) was the first architect of the famous dynasty. He succeeded an Armenian palace architect, whose son-in-law he was. When he died his son Magar took his place.
Krikor Amira Balyan (1764–1831) is the first really famous member of the family. It was originally named after his grandfather, Bali, and later was the first to take the name Balyan. He was the son-in-law of Mason Minas and father-in-law of Ohannes Amira Severyan, both also builders. Krikor had good relations with two sultans and built palaces, mosques, bridges. In 1820 he had to go into exile in Kayseri because of a religious dispute , but was soon able to return to Constantinople through the mediation of his Armenian friends. He died in 1831 after building for four sultans in a row.
Senekerim Amira Balyan (1768–1833) is the younger brother of Krikor Balyan. He built together with his brother, but also independently. An Armenian church in Ortaköy in Istanbul bears witness to this. He also built the fire tower in the Beyazıt district (Serasker Kulesi).
Garabed Amira Balyan (also Karabet; * 1800 in Istanbul, † November 15, 1866 in Istanbul) is a son of Krikor Balyan. He and his son Nigoğayos builtthe Dolmabahçe Sarayı in Istanbulfor Sultan Abdülmecid I. He also built many other buildings in Istanbul, taking turns with his brothers. He built the Beylerbeyi Sarayı with his son Sarkis.
Nigoğayos Bey Balyan (also Nikogos and Nigogos; born November 19, 1826, † February 27, 1858) also worked as an architect on the construction of Dolmabahçe Sarayı together with his father Garabed. He studied architecture with his brother Sarkis in Paris and opened an architecture school in Istanbul to spread Western architecture. With his father he built the baroque Ortaköy Mosque on the Bosporus. He was only 32 years old.
Sarkis Bey Balyan (1835–1899) is also a son of Garabed Balyan. He designed countless representative sacred and secular buildings and is the architect of Çırağan Sarayı and Beylerbeyi Sarayı (both together with his father Garabed) and the Hamidiye Mosque . Because of the life-threatening persecution to which the entire Armenian people were exposed and which were already taking on genocidal forms, he had to flee to Europe and was only able to return 15 years later. Sarkis supported Armenian writers, musicians and actors throughout his life.
Garabed's sons were Agop (Jakob) Bey Balyan (1837–1875) and Simon Bey Balyan (1846–1894). Like Nigoğayos and Sarkis, they were both “royal architects” and decisively shaped the face of what was then Istanbul. All four of them studied at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. Many of their buildings are still standing today.
Levon Bey Balyan (1855–1925): He was the last offspring of the great Armenian architectural dynasty of the Balyan in the Ottoman Empire.
literature
- Pars Tuğlacı : The Role of The Balian Family in Ottoman Architecture . Yeni Cigir Bookstore, Istanbul 1990, ISBN 975-95552-1-2 (English)
