Cemeteries in Istanbul

Death is part of life. It is better to accept this concept rather than think of it as a scary taboo and try to make our life as pleasant as possible. We humans leave a whole life behind us and say goodbye to this mortal world after a while. The most prominent things that remind us of this fact of life in our daily lives are cemeteries. As a big metropolis, Istanbul has many cemeteries. Some of these cemeteries have historical value, while some have been established more recently. In these new cemeteries, in almost every city and big town, the inside of the tombs was built with concrete walls and covered with concrete covers; thus, multiple burials were made in these tombs, which can sometimes have several floors. In this article, we talked about the cemeteries in Istanbul.

Zincirlikuyu Cemetery

 This modern cemetery located on the European side of Istanbul has 380,847 square meters of land in Zincirlikuyu. The official opening was made by Atatürk on April 12, 1937, when the poet Abdülhak Hâmid Tarhan was buried there. This cemetery, known as Modern Cemetery until 1959, was named Zincirlikuyu Cemetery after this date due to its well-known location. It was considered a place where Turkish artists, intellectuals, and people who found fame in various fields would be buried, but today Zincirlikuyu has become one of the city's usual cemeteries.

Karacaahmet Cemetery

Karacaahmet Cemetery is the largest Muslim cemetery in Istanbul and Turkey; it is one of the largest cemeteries in the world. According to historical sources, Karacaahmet Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in Istanbul. According to the rumors, the soldiers martyred during the siege of Istanbul by the Arabs were buried where the Karacaahmet Cemetery is located today. Covering an area of ​​approximately 750 decares, Karacaahmet Cemetery has seven gates. Since the cemetery has a long history, it is difficult to give an exact number of burials. But this number can be expressed in millions. Since Karacaahmet is a historical cemetery, it is possible to see many tombstones that reflect the Ottoman style here.

Aşiyan Cemetery

Aşiyan Cemetery, located between Bebek and Rumelihisarı, under the Rumeli Fortress, was formed after the burial of the workers and soldiers martyred during the construction of the fortress. However, the oldest of the existing stones is dated 1728-1729. Today, tombstones belonging to the Ottoman period have decreased. This scenic cemetery, located next to the Bosphorus, is very popular today.