istanbul - C2C

68
At present two districts of İstanbul, Balat
and Fener, are closely associated with the
Golden Horn. Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror
granted privileges to the Christian and Jewish
communities living in the city to perform their
rituals free of intervention. Those privileges are
considered to be fine examples of Ottoman
tolerance, and helped to keep the Christian
community in the city. The Sephardic Jews who
were expelled from Spain were accepted with
open arms by the Ottomans and settled in the
same part of the city. So Balat and Fener became
a centre for the religious minorities of İstanbul.
There, mosques, churches and synagogues can
be seen side by side as if a living proof of the
fraternity of religions.
The Synagogues of Balat: Balat, the district
mostly populated by Jewish in the Ottoman
Period was the scene of many important Jewish
buildings, and some of them are still fulfilling
their religious functions. The synagogues of the
Sephardic Jewish community survived intact
until 1940s when a great part of the community