Naum Theatre

[2][3] The ruined theatre building was purchased by Ottoman Greek banker Hristaki Zoğrafos Efendi, who built the present-day Çiçek Pasajı on its land plot in 1876.

[2] After Bosco left the city, ownership of the building passed to Michel and Joseph Naum, who, upon completing the renovation works, reopened it as the Théatre de Péra in 1844.

[3] The majority of the operas that were performed at the Naum Theatre were composed by Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti and Gioachino Rossini.

[2] In a letter to his mother, Gustave Flaubert wrote that he watched an opera by Donizetti at the Naum Theatre the day after his arrival in Istanbul (then Constantinople).

[2] Michel and Joseph Naum held the sole right to stage many European plays and operas in Istanbul, and brought many foreign troupes to the city.

A reception held at the Naum Theatre in honour of Giuseppe Garibaldi , who had lived and worked (as a teacher) in the Pera (Beyoğlu) district of Constantinople (Istanbul) between 1828 and 1831. [ 1 ] The Naum Theatre seen in this illustration served as the chief opera house of Constantinople, until it was destroyed by a fire 1870.