Ä°stiklal Avenue

The İstiklal Caddesi ( " Independence Street ", formerly Cadde -i Kebir or Grande Rue de Pera ) is one of the most famous streets in the Turkish city of Istanbul. It is located in Beyoğlu district, and leads from Tünel Square, across the Galatasaray Square to Taksim Square; their total length is approximately three kilometers. At Galatasaray Square is a former imperial school, the Galatasaray High School ( Galatasaray Lisesi ). The name of the street Istiklal received after the proclamation of the Republic in 1923.

The road, which is only since the early 1990s, a pedestrian zone, daytime shopping street and at night one of the centers of Istanbul's night life. At her belt at the time of the Ottoman Empire, a number of European embassies, consulates today. She was also the center of cosmopolitan and Westernized Istanbul with many shops, especially of the Greek minority and therefore one of the main venues of the pogrom in Istanbul in 1955. Even today there are still Art Nouveau products in the malls and on the business fronts. Over the entire length of Istiklal Caddesi, the path of a revitalized historic tram runs. Along the road is the Basilica of St. Anthony.