Nisantasi is a quarter of Istanbul, Turkey, comprising neighbourhoods like Tesvikiye, Osmanbey, Macka and Pangalty. It includes the stores of world famous brands and has many popular cafés, pubs, restaurants and night clubs. It is a part of the Sisli district. Abdi Ipekci Street, Turkeys most expensive shopping street in terms of lease prices, stretches from the neighbourhoods of Maçka and Tesvikiye to the center of Nisantasi.
Nisantasi was settled by Sultan Abdülmecid in the middle of the 19th century. He erected two obelisks to define the beginning point and the ending point of the quarter. He ordered the construction of the Neo-Classical style Tesvikiye Police Station and the Neo-Baroque style Tesvikiye Mosque for a proper district, encouraging the citizens of Istanbul to settle here (hence the name Tesvikiye which means Encouragement in Ottoman Turkish).
The word Nisantasi literally means Aiming Stone (target stone) in Turkish. Before the land had been granted for public use, it was an area where Ottoman soldiers used to shoot at target stones for improving their aiming skills. Some of these target stones, which are shaped like small obelisks and have Ottoman Turkish inscriptions on them, are still found on the pavements of Nisantasi as monuments from the past.
Following the Balkan Wars of 1912-1913, many Turks from Thessaloniki (Selânik, which was an Ottoman metropolis until 1912) settled in the Nisantasi district of Istanbul; including the family of the famous Turkish poet Nazym Hikmet. Apart from the Turks, the district also had sizeable Greek, Jewish, Armenian and Levantine communities.
Nisantasi is famous for its many Art Nouveau apartment buildings and is home to several prominent figures of the Turkish jet-set, culture and art. Nobel laureate Turkish novelist Orhan Pamuk is one of the local residents, and the quarter formed the background in several of his novels. It is a place where you can easily see famous people walking on the street any time during a day. In Nisantasi you can have a cup of coffee at Armani Café or shop at the nearby Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Hugo Boss, Escada, Kenzo, Max Mara or any other famous boutique within walking distance. Citys Nisantasi, opened in 2008, is a Saks Fifth Avenue style shopping mall which aims at the high-end consumer group and is mostly dedicated to the famous fashion brands. People living in Nisantasi are mostly wealthy and well-educated. Also, Nisantasi has the largest community of foreign residents in Istanbul after Taksim and Cihangir.
Especially on Saturday nights Nisantasi becomes crowded with people who come to the famous pubs and cafés of this district to spend some time. On Sundays the neighbourhood becomes less crowded and is mostly left to its residents.
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