Selimiye Barracks (), also known as Scutari Barracks, is a

Turkish Army The Turkish Land Forces () is the main branch of the Turkish Armed Forces responsible for Army, land-based military operations. The army was formed on November 8, 1920, after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Significant campaigns since the ...

barracks Barracks are buildings used to accommodate military personnel and quasi-military personnel such as police. The English word originates from the 17th century via French and Italian from an old Spanish word 'soldier's tent', but today barracks ar ...

located in Selimiye in the Üsküdar district on the

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

n side of

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. It was originally built in 1800 by Sultan Selim III for the soldiers of the newly established '' Nizam-ı Cedid'' (literally "New Order") within the framework of the Ottoman military reform efforts. Today, it serves as the headquarters of the First Army of Turkish Land Forces. The Barracks is situated in the

Harem A harem is a domestic space that is reserved for the women of the house in a Muslim family. A harem may house a man's wife or wives, their pre-pubescent male children, unmarried daughters, female domestic Domestic worker, servants, and other un ...

neighbourhood between Üsküdar and Kadıköy, close to the

Sea of Marmara The Sea of Marmara, also known as the Sea of Marmora or the Marmara Sea, is a small inland sea entirely within the borders of Turkey. It links the Black Sea and the Aegean Sea via the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits, separating Turkey's E ...

. The highway connecting the ferry terminal and the overland bus terminal to the motorway O.2 Istanbul-Ankara runs right past the barracks.

Construction

The original wooden barracks was designed by Krikor Balyan but was burnt down in 1806 by rebel Janissaries, who were resisting the sultan's reforms. Sultan

Mahmud II Mahmud II (, ; 20 July 1785 – 1 July 1839) was the sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1808 until his death in 1839. Often described as the "Peter the Great of Turkey", Mahmud instituted extensive administrative, military, and fiscal reforms ...

commissioned the rebuilding of the barracks in stone in 1825 and the work was completed on 6 February 1828. During the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid I, the barracks were renovated twice, first in 1842–43 and again in 1849–50. During this process, a tower seven stories in height was added to each of the four corners, giving the barracks its current appearance. The barracks is a vast rectangular building measuring with a large parade ground in the centre. Three of the wings have three floors but the eastern wing only has two floors due to the sloping terrain.

Crimean War

:''See also Renkioi Hospital'' During the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

(1854–56), the barracks were allocated to the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

, which was on its way from Britain to the

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. After the troops of its 33rd and 41st foot regiments left for the front, the barracks was converted into a temporary military hospital. On 4 November 1854,

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...

arrived in Scutari with 37 volunteer nurses. They cared for thousands of wounded and infected soldiers until she returned home in 1857 as a heroine. During the war around 6,000 soldiers died in the Selimiye Barracks, mostly as the result of a

cholera Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...

epidemic. The dead were buried at a plot near the barracks, which later became the Haydarpaşa Cemetery. Today, the northernmost tower of the barracks houses a small museum partly in memory of Nightingale. File:93rd officers in the Crimea - photo.jpg, An early photo, taken at Scutari, of officers and men of the 93rd Highland Regiment, shortly before their engagement in the Crimean War, 1854. File:Vittorio Amedeo - The British army at Scutari, 1854 (cropped).jpg, The British Army at Scutari, 1854, by Amedeo Preziosi File:'One of the wards in the hospital at Scutari'. Wellcome M0007724 - restoration, cropped.jpg, An 1856 lithograph of the Selimiye barracks as a hospital during the Crimean War. File:Charles Dickens by Herbert Watkins 29 April 1858 (alternate).jpg,

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

was one of the more famous donors to the hospital.

References

{{Üsküdar Üsküdar Military installations established in 1800 Krikor Amira Balyan buildings Buildings and structures of the Ottoman Empire Crimean War Florence Nightingale Buildings and structures in Istanbul Barracks in Turkey Military history of the Ottoman Empire Military in Istanbul Military history of Istanbul 19th-century architecture in Turkey