Bankalar Caddesi
Bankalar Caddesi, alternatively known as Voyvoda Caddesi, located in the historic Galata quarter within the district of Beyoğlu in Istanbul, Turkey, was the financial centre of the Ottoman Empire.
The street is mentioned with the name Voyvoda Yolu in the 17th century Seyahatnâme of Evliya Çelebi. It was the street where the prominent banks, financial institutions and insurance companies had their headquarters during the Ottoman era, including the Ottoman Central Bank and the Ottoman Stock Exchange These buildings are still used as headquarters or branch offices by banks and other financial institutions.
The southern stop of Tünel, the world's second oldest subterranean railway line after London's Underground, is located near the eastern entrance of Bankalar Caddesi.
The Camondo Steps, a famous pedestrian stairway designed with a unique mix of the Neo-Baroque and early Art Nouveau styles, and built in circa 1870–1880 by the renowned Ottoman-Venetian Jewish banker Abraham Salomon Camondo, is also located on Bankalar Caddesi. The steps lead upstairs to the historic Rue Camondo and Kart Çınar Sokak where the ruins of the Genoese Palazzo del Comune, built by Montano de Marinis, the Podestà of Galata, is located a short walking distance to the left of the stairway, behind the façade of the 1880s Bereket Han office building on Bankalar Caddesi.
Bankalar Caddesi continued to be Istanbul's main financial district until the 1990s, when most Turkish banks began moving their headquarters to the modern central business districts of Levent and Maslak. In 1995, the Istanbul Stock Exchange moved to its current building in the İstinye quarter of the Sarıyer district.Gallery
