A Pera Tale

Who hasn't passed through Pera?
Behind the thick curtain of its centuries-old history lie so many stories, memories, and great secrets.

• Why did Vasilaki Ioannidis, the architect of the Hagia Triada Church, build the most magnificent church in Pera after the ban on domes in minority places of worship was lifted?
• What happened to Araksi Çetinyan, who was chosen as Turkey's first beauty queen while working as an usher at Melek Cinema, as she was about to be sent to America to become a film actress?
• Where in Istanbul did the stage curtains of the Imperial Opera, which was destroyed in the great Beyoğlu fire, resurface?
• What was the price of Medovitch's Nazi admiration, which led him to sell the Tokatlıyan Hotel and ultimately led to his death, even though he was once its old servant and then its new owner?
• Why did Said Naum Duhani, the founder and writer of Naum Theater, confine himself to an attic apartment for 37 years?
• Why was an apartment building intended to be built in the courtyard of Ağa Mosque, which inspired Nâzım Hikmet to write the line "My mind could not comprehend this sad state at first" and Necip Fazıl Kısakürek in his poem "Me and Beyond"?
• In the 13th century, the churches of monks who had taken a vow of poverty were demolished for the new tram line, and even the first stone of the new church was consecrated, but why did money from the Vatican not arrive for years?

And so much more...
Are you ready for a journey through Pera, full of history, mysteries, and knowledge?