Galata's Memory to Become a Conservatory

Saint Pierre Han, built by the Genoese and rebuilt as the French Embassy in the 1700s after the great Istanbul fire, is becoming the home of the Bahçeşehir University Conservatory. Wall paintings and mosaics from different periods are emerging during the restoration, which has been under way for about 10 years. The Bandırma Ferry, uncovered as the building's walls were scraped, is one of the wall paintings worth seeing. We spoke about the building's history and the conservatory with Bahçeşehir Schools Conservatory Director Bülent Sezgin, External Relations Coordinator Ömer Vatanartıran and Efe Can Karakaya, one of the conservatory's first students.

How did St. Pierre Han come to be turned into a conservatory?

Ömer Vatanartıran (External Relations Project Coordinator – Diction Instructor): Saint Pierre Han is a building constructed by the Genoese. It leans against thousand-year-old walls left by the Venetians. The building was destroyed in one of the fires in Istanbul, and in the 1700s the French rebuilt it from scratch as the French Embassy. It changed hands many times over the years. For many years a center for French merchants and their banking business, Saint Pierre Han became the founding place of the Ottoman Bank in 1863. For this reason, some changes were made to the façade and interior of the building. A third floor was added to the originally two-story building during this period. After the Ottoman Bank left the han, its spaces were used as offices. According to trade yearbooks, the Istanbul Bar Association and the Italian Chamber of Commerce were also in this building in the 19th century. Having long hosted workshops and manufacturing spaces entirely at odds with its historical value, Saint Pierre Han is now being restored by Bahçeşehir Schools. This building, which we see as cultural heritage, is capable of hosting many artistic and cultural activities. That is why we are now turning it into a conservatory.

So what awaits us after the restoration?

Ömer Vatanartıran: From the outside it looks like a ruined, derelict building. The restoration is being carried out by Architect Seda Özen and her team. As they scrape this building, history pours out. They scrape once and go back 100 years. Then they scrape a little more and go back another 100 years. The first findings from various periods of Istanbul, for example the first wall paintings from the Baroque period, were found here. That is why the work is being carried out very meticulously. We are moving slowly and carefully because we want to record the entire inventory there. Once finished, it will be a home for the arts faithful to the original. Moreover, we will not use it only as a conservatory. There will also be biennials, galleries, exhibitions, museum and art departments, and workshops. In other words, it will not be just an educational building but a living place. We plan to bring together the cultural heritage of Anatolia under this roof. We will invite artists from all over the world, bring them together with the students we train, and share the riches of Anatolian cultural heritage with the public through a narrative culture that uses every field, from theater to dance and from exhibitions to museums.

There are also wall paintings revealed as the walls are scraped. Why were these paintings covered?

Ömer Vatanartıran: This building was previously rented to various TV series, documentary and film crews. There are very valuable paintings, mosaics and patterns on the walls, but unfortunately they were covered with plaster. All of this happened in different periods. There is a room on the ground floor of the han with a magnificent wall painting. That painting depicts the Bandırma Ferry. We do not know which period it dates from. What is painful is that a crew that came in, one working in the culture industry no less, plastered the wall according to their own taste. That is how the wall paintings were lost. We are now trying to bring them back to light.

So what awaits us at the conservatory?

Bülent Sezgin (Director of the Bahçeşehir University Conservatory): It is exciting that our university's conservatory is a historic han. We started from the question "What should it not be?" and decided to establish "a conservatory that is not closed to the outside". We are building an educational home that is open to the outside and communicates with different segments of society, and we aim to foster interdisciplinary collaboration. In other words, we are establishing a non-conservative conservatory. We will also offer education in fields such as music technologies, sound technologies, performing arts and musical theater, and acting for the camera. This is our first year and we currently have 58 students. Because the restoration is ongoing, we cannot continue our education at Saint Pierre Han at the moment, but after the restoration we will continue our education in the han, and the heart of culture will beat at Saint Pierre. In addition, one of Türkiye's important problems is employment. There are many graduates, but many artists cannot find jobs. We also plan to open doors for the artists we train to areas of work where they can be active in our schools, from primary school to university level. We will also give them the right to work as instructors.

You are one of the first students of the Bahçeşehir University Conservatory. How does it feel to be studying in such a historic building?

Efe Can Karakaya (Student): I am one of the first students of the Bahçeşehir University Conservatory. The first thing they asked me at this school was what I wanted to do. I told them, "I want to do theater, but not only theater! I also want to write." And the moment I walked into the historic Saint Pierre Han, I said, "Yes, this place will make me write as many scripts as I want." Because history is the most important field that can nourish a student and an aspiring artist.