Çukurcuma

Çukurcuma (pronounced chu-KUR-ju-ma;[1] meaning "Friday Valley" in Turkish) is a district of Beyoğlu (in Istanbul, Turkey), made up of the Kuloğlu and Firuzağa neighbourhoods.

During the Conquest of Constantinople (1453), Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror is said to have initiated Friday prayer in the valley, giving rise to its name.

Originally built between 1541 and 1547 to a design of the Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan, it was commissioned for the Shaikh al-Islam Çivizade Hacı Mehmed Efendi.

In addition to ethnic Turks, Armenians, Greeks and Western Europeans lived here and established schools, hospitals and diplomatic missions.

The 1955 Istanbul pogrom hit Çukurcuma hard, and almost all the remaining Turkish Greeks and Armenians subsequently emigrated.

Çukurcuma Caddesi with the Galata Tower
Front of "The Museum of Innocence" in Çukurcuma