Selimiye Barracks

Selimiye Barracks was first built on the land of Kavak Palace in Üsküdar during the reign of Selim III for the newly established Nizam-ı Cedid soldiers between 1800-1803. Completed with its annexes in 1803, the barracks was a large structure for its time, occupying an area one-third of the current building, but it has an important place in terms of marking the beginning of the era of large barracks in Istanbul.

Selim III, who initiated the Nizam-ı Cedid movement, had his barracks built as the spatial equivalent of the new order in the military area. According to the construction book, it is stated that it was built in a unique way and “out of nothing” and that the mass was large. The building, whose doors on the north and south facades are meticulously crafted, has a total of two hospitals, kitchens, laundry service units, and a mosque on the east and west. After 1830, the barracks, which was called Selimiye Kışlak-ı Âlîsi and Selimiye Kışla-i Hümâyunu, differed from similar ones in that it had a janissary brigade, artillery and cavalry unit.

It was burned “completely and never to be rebuilt” by the Janissaries in the November 1808 rebellion, and in 1809, its ruins and land were put up for sale, attempting to completely erase it from history. However, after being rebuilt in stone during the reign of Mahmud II, the building was allocated to the Sekban-ı Cedîd soldiers. The architectural responsibility of the barracks, which was opened with a magnificent ceremony on January 27, 1829, was the Chief Architect of the Imperial Palace at the time, Seyyid Abdülhalim Efendi, and the building officer was the Hâcegân-ı Dîvân-ı Hümayun and former Plovdiv Minister Morevî Osman Efendi. The barracks, which have a door on each of its four facades, also had towers at their corners built during this period. Due to the difficulty of siting a large building like the Selimiye Barracks on a sloping terrain, there are elevation differences between the building's entrances. The ground floor on the north facade becomes the top floor of the south facade, surrounding the building without interruption. Seven-story towers were added to each of the four corners of the barracks, which was renovated twice during the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid.

The Selimiye Barracks was given to British soldiers during the Crimean War, and provided housing for soldiers who came with their families, and was used as a hospital during the war. Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, came to the barracks in 1854 and took part in the treatment of wounded British soldiers, and the tower reserved for the sultan was allocated for her. This place is still preserved as the Florence Nightingale Museum and is open to visitors.

The first discharge ceremony in the Ottoman army was held in this barracks on March 26, 1844. During World War I, the Selimiye Barracks was used for military transfers, and when the barracks came under Italian control during the occupation of Istanbul in 1920, the Ottomans who were captured were kept here. During the War of Independence, weapons were smuggled to Anatolia from the Selimiye Barracks, and the first infantry units that entered Istanbul after the occupation stayed in Selimiye.

In the words of İlber Ortaylı, the barracks, which is ‘a masterpiece of baroque architecture not only in Ottoman lands but all over the world’, remained vacant for a while in the early years of the Republic, and then it was decided to return its material and spiritual value, and it was used as a military secondary school in 1959.

Selimiye Barracks is currently used as the headquarters of the 1st Army Command. Since 1964, the barracks has been the administrative center of the First Army of the Turkish Armed Forces and the Headquarters of the First Army Command. Selimiye Military Middle School Museum is located in the South-East tower of the barracks, and Florence Nightingale Museum is located in the North-West tower.

Photo Source: https://kirimsavasi.com/yazi/selimiye-kislasi