Pangaltı Catholic Cemetery

Pangaltı Latin Catholic Cemetery
Pangaltı Latin Catholic Cemetery
	An angel from the cemetery during a snowstorm in 2005
Details
Established	1863
Location	Feriköy, Şişli, Istanbul
Country	Turkey
Coordinates	41°03′12″N 28°59′07″E / 41.05330°N 28.98528°E
Type	Catholic cemetery
Style	19th century European

Pangaltı Roman Catholic Cemetery (Turkish: Pangaltı Fransız Latin Katolik Mezarlığı), also known as Feriköy Latin Catholic Cemetery (Turkish: Feriköy Latin Katolik Mezarlığı), is a historic Christian cemetery in Istanbul, Turkey. It is the largest Catholic cemetery in Istanbul. The cemetery is located in the Feriköy neighborhood of the Şişli district, nearly 3 km (1.9 mi) north of Taksim Square. The main Protestant burial ground of the city; Feriköy Protestant Cemetery, Istanbul lies immediately across the Catholic cemetery. The two neighboring cemeteries are divided by the Abide-i Hürriyet Avenue.

History and description

The origins of the cemetery date back to 1853, when the Ottoman government declared that the graveyard of the Franks at Pera was no longer suitable as a burial ground. A new site was granted near the Imperial War Academy (Ottoman Turkish: Mekteb-i Harbiye-i Şâhâne) in Pangaltı as a cemetery for Istanbul's Protestant and Catholic communities. This initiative was aimed towards clearing ground for urban development in the Beyoğlu area. Four years later, the allotted space was deemed insufficient for the dead of both communities, and a second grant was issued by order of Sultan Abdülmecid I in 1857.^[1]

Between 1840 and 1910, the area of Istanbul stretching northward from Taksim to Şişli was transformed from open countryside to densely inhabited residential settlement. Early 19th century maps of Istanbul show much of the area in this direction taken up by the non-Muslim burial grounds of the Grand Champs des Morts, with the Frankish section directly in the path of the main route of expansion, including the widening of the main road running from Taksim to Pangaltı. Due to this reason, the human remains were exhumed from the old Frankish burial ground in the Grand Champs des Morts and they were transferred, along with their grave markers, to its current location in 1863–1864 in Feriköy for re-interment.^[1]

The burial ground is separated by six squares and alleys with names of saints, extending from east to west. The ornate mausoleums of the great Levantine families are located in the west (Corpi, Botter, Tubini, Glavany).^[2] Several monuments have been erected in honour of the French and Italian soldiers died during the Crimean War (1853–1856).

The ossuary is made from reclaimed gravestones in old cemeteries of the Petits-Champs and Grand Champs at Pera in the 1850s.

The cemetery is used by various Catholic communities. The tombstones of the Levantines are the most numerous, but there are also monuments of Greek Catholics, Armenian Catholics, Syrian, Chaldean and Melkite communities. There are other Catholic cemeteries in Istanbul, especially in the city districts of Kadıköy, Prinkipos and Büyükdere [tr].^[2]