Balat has a history as old as Istanbul's. It has been chosen by Jewish families since the Byzantine era. Especially with Jews migrating from Spain to the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century to Balat by the empire, the population in the district increased. Sultan Bayezid II stated his great happiness for inviting Jews in his letter to Ferdinand II The King Spain, mentioning his belief in the richness, they could add to the cultural texture of the Ottoman Empire.
Today, Balat is a working-class district on the shores of the Golden Horn and, with its neighbor district of Fener, is on the World Heritage List of UNESCO. With its fishermen, ironmongers, bakers, cobblers and drapers, as well as its market shopkeepers, it is about to recover its former vitality following a series of restorations.
(Location: Istanbul)

Uploaded by slavica on 5/9/2007, viewed 6559 times.