Okmeydanı
Okmeydanı (Turkish: Okmeydanı, literally "arrow field") is a neighbourhood connected to Kağıthane and Şişli boroughs of Istanbul, Turkey. It was named after the archery area and archery lodge built by Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire. Streets nearby have targeting stones to define the distances of the arrows. During the plague outbreak of 1597, people met in Okmeydanı for three weeks of communal prayers for deliverance from the disease by order of Sultan Mehmed III.[1]
The most land titles of this neighbourhood are mostly owned by Fatih Sultan Mehmet Foundation, thus the buildings in the area were subject to deconstruction now and then. Currently, it consists of many important commercial and state buildings and is an important crossroad for the local transportation system.
References
- Varlık, Nükhet (2015). Plague and Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean World: the Ottoman Experience, 1347-1600. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 202. ISBN 9781107013384.
- Taylor, Jane (2007). Imperial Istanbul. I.B. Tauris. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-84511-334-6. Retrieved 2009-08-10.
- Ekrem, Selma (1947). Turkey, Old and New. Charles Scribner's Sons. p. 122. Retrieved 2009-08-10.