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Nişantaşı and Teşvikiye, From Target Stones to Apartment Facades
Cultural

Nişantaşı and Teşvikiye, From Target Stones to Apartment Facades

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Nişantaşı is known today for its shop windows, well-kept streets and café tables. The stones that gave it its name are details most people walk straight past.

Şişli, İstanbul
Cultural
Radar Editör
September 24, 2026

About Trip

Nişantaşı is known today for its shop windows, well-kept streets and café tables. The stones that gave it its name are details most people walk straight past. This walk starts at the central junction and the courtyard of Teşvikiye Mosque, continues past the facades of old apartment blocks and ends under the trees of Maçka Park. Set the shopping aside and two or three hours is enough to read how the quarter came to be.

Nişantaşı and Teşvikiye are two names whose history and boundaries are tangled together. Teşvikiye is an official neighbourhood of Şişli; Nişantaşı is the general name for the area around the junction of Vali Konağı Caddesi with Teşvikiye and Rumeli avenues.

A Quarter Born on a Shooting Ground

Until the late 18th century these hills were empty woodland. Selim III came here to hunt and practise shooting, and in 1790-91 he had the first target stone set up; the name Nişantaşı, "target stone", comes from these markers. Target stones began as inscribed stones recording archery records in the Ottoman period and were later raised for rifle shots as well. The ones here commemorate shooting records. Sources report that the inscription on Selim III's stone says the sultan hit a water jug about 1,260 gez, roughly 765 metres, away. The second stone in the courtyard belongs to Mahmud II and is dated 1811. Another stone from the same year now stands in the front garden of an apartment block in Topağacı, on the road from Nişantaşı to Ihlamur.

In 1794-95 a small masjid was built for the sultan and his retinue on the site of today's Teşvikiye Mosque, used for prayers on days when large shooting drills were held.

Getting There

Take the M2 metro to Osmanbey and use the Rumeli exit; a short walk along Rumeli Caddesi brings you into Nişantaşı. Buses from Beşiktaş and Eminönü also run through the quarter. At the end of the walk you can go down through Maçka Park to Dolmabahçe and on to Beşiktaş, or ride the cable car over the park to Taşkışla and walk to Taksim.

Teşvikiye Mosque and the Stones in its Courtyard

Teşvikiye Mosque on Teşvikiye Caddesi is, in its present form, the work of Sultan Abdülmecid, who had Selim III's masjid rebuilt in 1854. According to the TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, the architect of the first building is thought to have been Krikor Amira Balyan, while under Abdülmecid Garabet Balyan and his son Nikoğos worked together. The building was repaired twice under Abdülhamid II, in 1877 and in 1891-92.

From outside it looks quite unlike Istanbul's classical mosques. The entrance has a four-columned portico showing the influence of European neoclassicism. The prayer hall is a rectangle of roughly 13 by 12 metres under a wooden dome, and most of the building is in cut stone. The single minaret has a fluted shaft and one balcony. Note also the sultan's loge, placed not at the side as in many mosques but at the back, and generously sized.

In the courtyard, look for the target stones. Both are marble columns cut from a single block, and Mahmud II's rises about six metres in the middle of the courtyard. There is also a fountain dated 1854-55 and, nearby, a timekeeper's house. The mosque was closed for restoration in 2018 and reopened for worship in April 2021. Funerals of well-known figures are often held here, and on those days the courtyard is crowded.

Visit outside prayer times. Take off your shoes at the entrance, wear clothes that cover shoulders and knees, women should cover their hair, and keep quiet inside. Do not take photographs in the courtyard during a funeral.

Abdülmecid's New Quarter

It was Abdülmecid who turned the shooting ground into a neighbourhood. In 1853-54, when he had the mosque rebuilt, he recorded his wish for a new quarter here on two inscribed stones. The text reads, in today's Turkish, as "the new Teşvikiye quarter, a work of Abdülmecid's unrequited benevolence". The name Teşvikiye, "encouragement", reflects the sultan's encouragement of settlement. One stone stands in a small space beside the police station on Teşvikiye Caddesi, the other at the junction of Rumeli Caddesi and Vali Konağı Caddesi, now regarded as the centre of Nişantaşı. The quarter was officially recorded in the census of 1883.

Interest grew once Abdülmecid moved to Dolmabahçe Palace. In 1857 the circumcision festivities of his sons lasted twelve days on the Nişantaşı fields, and the next year the weddings of the princesses Cemile and Münire were held here too. From the 1860s and 1870s mansions began to rise. The court's move to Dolmabahçe and later to Yıldız drew members of the dynasty and senior officials to these hills, and closeness to Pera attracted families drawn to a Western way of life.

Walking With Your Eyes on the Facades

Nişantaşı first grew as a quarter of mansions and palaces, and apartment blocks were added from the 1910s. After the 1930s it became one of the fastest-developing apartment districts in Istanbul, though the building stayed of high quality. Many streets still hold apartment blocks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Look up from the shop windows as you walk; the real story of these facades is on the upper floors.

On Vali Konağı Caddesi there is one house to look out for: the one the architect Vedat Tek designed and built for himself in 1913-14. The familiar signs of the First National Architecture movement, with which Tek is closely identified, are all here: thick pointed-arch windows, tiled panels and projecting Seljuk-style stone roundels. If you have seen Moda Pier in Kadıköy, you will recognise the same hand.

Heading down to Maçka you pass Maçka Palas, designed by Giulio Mongeri as an apartment block in 1922 and now used as a hotel. The nearby Maçka Technical High School is also by Mongeri; designed as Italy's embassy, it was donated to Turkey when the capital moved to Ankara and was only completed and turned into a school in 1970.

The Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk lived here for many years and uses Nişantaşı as the backdrop of several novels, and he mentions Teşvikiye Mosque in his memoirs. Readers of his books will find the walk has an extra layer.

Down to Maçka Park

Walking south from Teşvikiye towards Maçka, the road drops into the Dolmabahçe valley and brings you to Maçka Democracy Park. Described in the mid-19th century as a wooded picnic valley with a stream running through it, it is now a broad green corridor between Dolmabahçe, Maçka, Nişantaşı and Harbiye, with paths shaded by linden, plane, chestnut, oak and walnut trees, a chain of pools and playgrounds. On its edges stand the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall and the Harbiye Cemil Topuzlu Open-Air Theatre; if you have tickets for an evening concert, this is a good place to end.

The cable car above the park is the Maçka-Taşkışla line, opened on 11 April 1993. It covers the 300 metres between its two stations in a few minutes and is the easiest way to see the valley from above. The İTÜ Maçka campus on the park's edge is the former Maçka Barracks, designed by architects of the Balyan family.

Suggested Walk

From Osmanbey metro, walk along Rumeli Caddesi to the Nişantaşı junction and find Abdülmecid's Teşvikiye stone. Make a short detour up Vali Konağı Caddesi to see Vedat Tek's house, then return and turn into Teşvikiye Caddesi to see the second stone beside the police station and Teşvikiye Mosque, pausing by the target stones in the courtyard. Then head down towards Maçka, pass Maçka Palas and walk down through the valley in the park. If you like, ride the cable car to Taşkışla and walk on to Taksim. With the mosque and a break in the park, allow two and a half to three hours.

Season and Time of Day

Nişantaşı works in any season, but weekday mornings, with empty pavements, are ideal for looking at facades. Weekend afternoons are busy. The weeks before New Year, when the streets are strung with lights, are the liveliest time. Maçka Park draws photographers with its autumn colours, at sunset and on snowy days.

Practical Notes

  • The target stones in the courtyard and the Teşvikiye stone at the junction are a few minutes apart; see both on the same walk.
  • The stone in Topağacı stands in a private front garden; look from the pavement.
  • Traffic is heavy on Rumeli and Teşvikiye avenues; cross only at pedestrian crossings.
  • The cable car's hours vary with the season; check with Metro İstanbul.

Sources

Location - Nişantaşı and Teşvikiye, From Target Stones to Apartment Facades

Trip Info
CityŞişli, İstanbul
TypeCultural
DateSeptember 24, 2026
SourceRadar Editör
Radar TürkiyeAuthorRadar TürkiyeVisit SourceGet Directions