Glass, Leather and Woodland in Beykoz

Start the day at the museum: it opens in the morning and tells the story of the glass tradition that made Beykoz famous from the beginning. It takes its name from the imperial glass and crystal factory founded in this district in the Ottoman period and regarded as the most important of its day. The story of Beykoz glass goes back to the late 18th century: according to Wikipedia, Selim III sent a Mevlevi dervish, Mehmed Dede, to Venice to learn glassmaking techniques, and on his return he opened a workshop in Beykoz; production was later expanded by Fethi Ahmed Paşa, commander of the Tophane arsenal. The best-known examples of the tradition are the çeşm-i bülbül pieces, whose name means nightingale's eye, decorated with white spiral bands and floral motifs.

The building is part of the story too. Abraham Paşa, steward to Khedive İsmail Paşa of Egypt and raised to the rank of vizier by Sultan Abdülaziz, built mansions, aviaries, pools, a theatre and stables on his Beykoz estate in the 19th century. The U-shaped stone stable that survives was restored by the National Palaces administration and opened as a museum on 9 April 2021.

Inside, about 1,480 pieces are shown in 12 thematic sections; alongside Turkish glass there are pieces made in Europe for the Ottoman palaces. As you move between the cases, look at how a single form, such as a jug or a bowl, changes between workshops and periods; that comparison is where the collection is richest.

The museum is closed on Mondays; check hours and tickets on the National Palaces website. Its garden is part of an estate of about 360 dönüm and holds 117 tree species; take a short walk on your way out to see some of the rare trees brought here in Abraham Paşa's time.

Source: Milli Saraylar; EBA Okul Dışı Öğrenme; Wikipedia.

After the museum, continue your walk among the trees in Beykoz Grove. Also known as Abraham Paşa Grove, it spreads over the Bosphorus hills between the Beykoz Merkez and Paşabahçe quarters and covers 27.9 hectares. It takes its name from Abraham Paşa, who lived from 1833 to 1918. Sources pass on, as a story rather than fact, that the pasha befriended Sultan Abdülaziz and won this large estate from him in a game of backgammon.

In Abraham Paşa's time the land was laid out by French garden specialists, and exotic plants and trees that did not grow naturally in the Ottoman lands were brought in and planted. Look for traces of that landscape: sources list two large artificial grottoes, five pools, one with a small artificial island, and three artificial cascades built of rocks. The mansions and a small theatre disappeared over time; the theatre was lost in a fire in 1937. A part bought by Abdülhamid II was once opened to the public as the Hürriyet Bahçesi, the Freedom Garden.

Today the grove is run as a recreation area by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and is open to the public. There are walking paths, playgrounds, picnic tables and a municipal facility, and on the eastern side the grove merges into natural forest. It can be crowded with picnickers at weekends, so choose a weekday for a quiet walk. Some paths slope, so wear shoes with good grip.

Leave the grove and head down towards the shore. The centre of Beykoz is about a kilometre away, and when you reach the pier square the third stop, the İshak Ağa Fountain, is right in front of you.

Source: Beykoz Kaymakamlığı; Wikipedia.

Opposite the Beykoz pier square stands this open-sided fountain, known locally as Onçeşmeler, the Ten Fountains, and one of the landmarks of the district. An earlier fountain built by Behruz Ağa stood on the site; İshak Ağa, commissioner of customs, had it rebuilt in 1159 of the Hijri calendar, that is 1746. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, İshak Ağa built five fountains in Istanbul, four of them in Beykoz. The same encyclopedia records that he was also the building superintendent of the Ayazma Mosque in Üsküdar.

Walk around the structure. The covered area is about 6 metres wide, 8 metres long and 4 metres high, and its wide-eaved hipped roof rests on eight slender marble columns and twelve pointed arches. Behind it is a walled cistern. Water runs without pause from ten bronze spouts on the front into a marble basin, and it is these ten spouts that give the fountain its name. The two in the middle are larger than those at the sides. The water comes from a rocky slope known as Şahinkaya.

Look at the inscription: a single line of monumental thuluth script in gold leaf on a green ground, by the calligrapher Edirneli Emin Efendi. The arches and roof were renewed in reinforced concrete during later repairs, and the fountain was restored in 1948-1950, 1986, 2005-2006 and 2016-2017. It belongs to the General Directorate of Foundations and has been registered as a historic monument since 1972.

Sit on the square for a few minutes and watch everyday life between the pier and the fountain. Then walk along the shore towards Yalıköy; the Mecidiye Pavilion is about a kilometre away as the crow flies.

Source: TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi; Wikipedia.

At Yalıköy, on the shore historically known as Hünkar İskelesi, the Beykoz Mecidiye Pavilion stands at the top of a garden that rises from the water in a series of terraces. Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Paşa, governor of Egypt, began building it in 1845 as a gift for Sultan Abdülmecid; after the pasha's death his son Said Paşa completed it in 1854 and presented it to the sultan. In its early years it served as a riding lodge for short excursions, and later it was used to receive foreign statesmen and ambassadors.

The two-storey, partly masonry building is symmetrical, with a neoclassical facade faced in stone imported from Italy together with local white marble. Inside you will see decoration in coloured porphyry, and period documents mention gilded furniture, Hereke fabrics and crystal candlesticks. In the garden, look for the small rest pavilion known as the mountain bath, its inner walls decorated with oyster shells. Most of the service buildings, such as the kitchen, bath and orangery, have not survived.

The pavilion's 20th century had nothing to do with the palace. It served as an orphanage, was used to treat trachoma patients in the 1920s, became a sanatorium in 1953 and a children's hospital for chest diseases in 1963. It was transferred to the National Palaces administration in 1997 and, after restoration between 2010 and 2016, opened as a museum on 11 April 2017.

The pavilion is closed on Mondays. The National Palaces administration also sells a separate garden ticket, and even if you skip the interior, the view of the Bosphorus from the terraced garden is worth it. Check current hours and prices on the official website. From here a walk of a few hundred metres along the shore brings you to the last stop.

Source: Milli Saraylar; Wikipedia.

The last stop, Beykoz Kundura, is one of the oldest factories in Istanbul. Its story begins in 1810 with a tannery bought on the orders of Mahmud II to produce leather for the army; over time it grew into a leather and shoe factory. In 1933 it was handed over to the newly founded Sümerbank and renamed the Sümerbank Leather and Shoe Industry Establishment. Output reached 2 million pairs a year in 1968 and 2.5 million in 1975, and at its busiest about 3,000 people worked here. The factory was closed by a cabinet decision in 1999 and sold in 2003.

Today its stone and brick buildings live on as a venue for culture, the arts and film. Since 2005 it has served as a set for cinema and television productions. The Kundura Memory project, begun in 2015, gathers the factory's archive and the recollections of its workers, and in 2018 the old boiler house was renovated as Kundura Cinema and Kundura Stage.

The most important thing to know is that Beykoz Kundura is not a place you can wander through during the day. According to its website, visitors come to attend scheduled events and exhibitions are visited by appointment. When planning the route, check the programme of screenings, concerts and exhibitions on the website. If you find an evening screening or performance, you will end the day in the factory's old boiler house.

If there is no event, see the stone and brick factory buildings from the shore road. Walk back to the centre of Beykoz, where buses leave for Üsküdar and Kadıköy.

Source: Beykoz Kundura resmi sitesi; Wikipedia.