Prinkipo Greek Orphanage

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In the foreground a side elevation with oriels , in the background the central elevation

The Greek Orphanage Prinkipo ( Turkish Prinkipo Rum Yetimhanesi ; also Prinkipo Palace or Greek Orphanage Büyükada ) is a historic building on the Turkish island of Büyükada . With 20,000 square meters of floor space, it is the largest wooden building in Europe and the second largest in the world. From 1903 to 1964 it was an orphanage . Over 5,800 orphans lived in the home.

location

The building is located on a hill in a pine forest on the Turkish island of Büyükada, which is one of the Princes' Islands in the Marmara Sea off Istanbul .

history

Side view
The building is in a poor condition

The building was built between 1898 and 1903 by the French-Ottoman architect Alexandre Vallaury as a luxury hotel and casino. The Prinkipo Palace was built for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits , which operated the Orient Express . However, the company was not granted a license, as Sultan Abdülhamid II viewed gambling as immoral. In 1903 the building was sold to a Greek banking family who donated it to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , which used it as an orphanage. On April 21, 1964, during the first Cyprus crisis, the state foundation administration (Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü) closed the orphanage for "hygiene reasons". In 1997 the property was confiscated by the Republic of Turkey.

After it was closed, the building stood empty and was increasingly falling into disrepair. In 1980 the house was also badly damaged in a fire. The Greek community in Turkey requested the return of the former orphanage early on, which the Turkish government refused. In 2003 the Patriarchate of Constantinople submitted all the necessary documents to the Supreme Administrative Court of Turkey and sued for the property to be surrendered. The administrative court rejected the lawsuit, arguing that the house was no longer being used as an orphanage and that the confiscation was therefore lawful. Turkish law allows the state to confiscate a foundation if it has not been used for more than ten years. The state foundation administration could then confiscate the property. In 2004 the progress report on Turkey's EU accession mentioned the case.

In 2005 the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate went to the European Court of Human Rights. Three years later, the court issued a unanimous judgment condemning the seizure as unlawful. In 2010 another court sentenced Turkey to return it and to pay a compensation of 26,000 euros.

In 2012, the Turkish state returned the former orphanage to the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This complained about the condition and made it clear that it could not do a renovation. Reports had confirmed that the installation would cost 65 million euros.

In 2018, the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew I asked the Turkish state to help save the building.

architecture

The building with style elements of the Belle Époque and late Ottoman architecture is the largest wooden structure in Europe and the second largest in the world after the Buddhist Tōdai-ji temple. It is more than 100 meters long and six stories high, and extends from northeast to southwest. The elongated wing of the building is strictly symmetrical and has, in addition to a central projectile, two side projections. The orphanage housed 206 rooms, a kitchen, a library, a primary school and training workshops on 20,000 square meters. Up to 1000 orphan boys lived here at the same time.

Danger

In 2012, the structure was classified as endangered by the World Monuments Fund . In April of the same year the patriarchate announced that the house would be restored in the coming years and then be made available to an environmental organization.

In 2018, the European monument protection association Europa Nostra and the European Investment Bank put the building on the list of Europe's most endangered cultural monuments.

Web links

Commons : Orphanage Prinkipo  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Yiota Preka: Turkey clean States Legal Title of Prinkipo Orphanage , Greek Reporter Europe 10 October 2010 at
  2. ↑ a b c The Greek Orphanage in Prinkipo: A case against Turkey in Europe , Hürriyet , November 26, 2007
  3. ↑ a b Greek Orthodox orphanage, Europe's largest wooden building, awaits salvation off Istanbul , Hürriyet , May 28, 2018
  4. ↑ a b Is there still enough time for Europe's largest wooden house? , 20 minutes , May 31, 2018
  5. ↑ a b c d Orthodox Patriarchate in Turkey Wins One Battle, Still Faces Struggle for Survival , Eurasia.net, July 14, 2010
  6. ↑ 2004 Regular Report on Turkey's progress towards accession , European Union, October 6, 2004
  7. ↑ Population decline leaves Rums with Pyrrhic Victory , Hürriyet, May 25, 2012
  8. ↑ Ilyas Koc: Greek orphanage to serve as foundation for environment ( Memento of 9 April 2012 at the Internet Archive ), Zaman , April 9, 2012
  9. ^ Rum Orphanage , World Monuments Fund , accessed April 1, 2019
  10. ↑ Historic Greek Orphanage to Become Environmental Center Under Patriarch Bartholomew I , Greek Reporter Europe, April 9, 2012
  11. ↑ Büyükada Greek Orthodox Orphanage on most endangered shortlist , Hürriyet , January 29, 2018

Coordinates: 40 ° 51 ′ 39 ″  N , 29 ° 7 ′ 24 ″  E