Şişli Greek Orthodox Cemetery
Şişli Greek Orthodox Cemetery (Turkish: Şişli Rum Ortodoks Mezarlığı), also known as Şişli Eastern Orthodox Cemetery, is a Christian cemetery in Istanbul, Turkey. The burial ground is the final resting place of people professing the Orthodox faith in Istanbul. The cemetery is located in Şişli district of Istanbul just across the Cevahir Mall.
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| Details | |
|---|---|
| Established | 1859 |
| Location | |
| Country | Turkey |
| Coordinates | 41.06214°N 28.99043°E |
| Type | Christian Orthodox Cemetery |
History and description
The cemetery was founded in 1859, and consists mostly of Greek graves as well as other Orthodox nationalities and ethnoreligious groups such as Russians, Serbians, Bulgarians, Arab and Turkish/Turkic Christians. The burial ground occupies 52 acres (21 ha), and since its opening,a total of roughly 85,000 individuals have been interred at the site with 3-4 burials taking place weekly. In September 1955, during the anti-Greek Istanbul Pogrom, the cemetery was vandalized and desecrated by fanatical mobs. Crosses and statues were knocked down, sepulchers and vaults opened and the remains of the dead removed and dispersed.[1]
Cemetery chapel
The funerary church is referred to as Metamorphosis ("Our Lord Saviour´s Transfiguration"). The inscription says that the church was erected in 1888 at the expense of Schilizzi Stephanovik´s sons "in eternal memory of their parents".[2]
Selected notable burials
A few of the notables buried here are:
- Anastasia Georgiadou (1891–1936), singer known as "Deniz Kızı Eftalya"
- Demetrius Stefanovich Schilizzi (1839–1893)
- Georgios Zariphis (1810–1884), prominent Greek Ottoman banker and financier