Rum Orphanage Instanbul Turkey

The orphanage was designed and built in 1898 by Alexandre Vallaury located on the island of Büyükada, near Istanbul, Turkey. Alexandre Vallaury was a famous French-Ottoman architect who designed a number of notable buildings in Istanbul including the Istanbul Archaeology Museum, Pera Palace Hotel, Hidayet Mosque, and the Ottoman Bank. The building was originally designed to be a luxury hotel and casino for Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits. Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits was a passenger train company that ran The Orient Express. According to the World Monuments Fund, the company was unable to obtain a permit to operate from Sultan Abdul Hamid II, and the building was sold in 1903.

The building was bought and donated to the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, which turned it into an orphanage. According to Amusing Planet, the building was bought by Eleni Zarifi, the wife of a Greek banker, who donated it to the Greek church.

The orphanage operated for over 60 years, between 1903 and 1964. According to the World Monuments Fund, the orphanage housed around 1,000 boys at a time at its height. The orphanage was home to almost 6,000 Greek children during its lifetime, according to Atlas Obscura. The orphanage had around 220 rooms in total, including the large ballroom

At about 215,000 square feet, the orphanage is believed to be the largest wooden building in Europe, according to the World Monuments Fund. A restoration effort to turn the building into an environmental institute was announced in 2012. An orphanage that once housed thousands of boys near Istanbul now looks like something from a horror movie.

Rum Orphanage, also known as the Prinkipo Greek Orphanage, was a Greek Orthodox orphanage. Located on the island of Büyükada near Istanbul, it housed children between 1903 and 1964. Büyükada is the largest of the nine Princes' Islands.

The Cyprus issue, a conflict between Greek and Turkish Cypriots, led to rising tensions between the Greeks and Turks in 1963 and onwards. The children were forced to leave in the middle of the night.

Nikos Ouzounoglou, president of the Federation of Istanbul Citizens, told Espresso News, "In one night they took out all the orphans and drove them out in the middle of the night. Teachers and children took refuge in the first phase at the nearest point, in the Monastery of Christ, to find shelter."

The orphanage was then abandoned, and it was left to crumble for more than half a century. The gigantic wood structure was left to rot. In 1980, a fire badly damaged the building, further contributing to its state of disrepair.

The former orphanage was seized by the Turkish government in 1997, according to Atlas Obscura.

However, just over a decade later, in 2010, the European Court of Human Rights ordered that the property be returned to the Greek community.

In 2012, the Greek community announced that it would turn the orphanage into an environmental institute.

According to a report by a European heritage organization, Europa Nostra, the community wants to convert the site into "an International Centre for Environmental Protection" and wants to use it to host "continuous Interreligious Dialogue activities."

Since it closed more than half a century ago, the orphanage has fallen into a state of disrepair. Both the exterior and interior of the massive building have begun to crumble after years of weathering.

At about 215,000 square feet, the orphanage is believed to be the largest wooden building in Europe, according to the World Monuments Fund. A restoration effort to turn the building into an environmental institute was announced in 2012.

A report by Europa Nostra stated, "At present, it is extremely difficult to have a precise figure about the investment costs necessary to complete the project. There are many caveats and uncertainties making impossible to provide a reasonable and fair estimate of the full project costs. However, on the basis on the opinions expressed by of several external experts, it is reasonable to expect the project to require a total investment of at least €40 million."

In 2018, Europa Nostra placed the property on its Seven Most Endangered cultural heritage sites list.

However, according to Amusing Planet, a "lack of funds and the continued political tensions between Greece and Turkey over a variety of issues, including the protection of Byzantine and Greek heritage in Istanbul, has delayed preservation attempts."

Theodoros Tsamouris, who lived at the orphanage for six years between 1946 and 1952, told Espresso News, "The most important thing is that even today those of us who went through the orphanage have very strong friendships. In there we found what we were missing: the family."