|
 While
I started to write an article on Tunisia for this month and made a
considerable progress, the trip organized by the Travelers’ Club, of
which I am a member, on December 11th, 2004 caused me to change
the subject of my article!
We have trips devoted to the members and leaded by Mr. Orhan Kural, the
chairman of the association, both inside and outside Istanbul, beside the
meetings held in Armada Hotel in Sultanahmet first Wednesday evening every
month. I make efforts to attend if I am not on a travel because they are
usually interesting events not to be missed...
For instance, we paid a memorable visit to Fener Greek Patriarchate – the
focus of discussions nowadays – as the personal invitee of Mr. Patriarch
Bartholomeos; last year when we were welcomed at the Throne Hall and hosted
in a reception and accompanied by a Greek young man who hosted and guided us
by his detailed explanations – by showing the top secret sections even – and
by answering our questions with an overwhelming patience. We also paid a
visit to Sabancı Museum and one to the Zoo in Darica – the only member in
Turkey of European Zoos and Aquaria. Such events are carried out private to
the members with privileged attention and explanations and also include
treats such as tea, coffee, beverages and salty – sweet food. Moreover,
every member has the right to bring along a guest...
Last year in Ramadan, we visited Rahmi Koc Museum in Sutluce…
A few years ago, an interview was published about the Greek Highschool in
Fener in Aktuel – or in Tempo – and I was very much interested. I had been
eagerly wishing to see that school since, but I was postponing my wish as I
was aware that such places could not be just visited without any prior
proceedings.
I was delighted when I saw the expression, ‘Saturday, December 11th,
Visit to the Red School in Fener’ on the activities schedule of the
club! That was a chance not to miss...
We started to gather in the historical tripe restaurant in Balat from 10
a.m. Through having conversation accompanied by cups of tea and coffee, it
was verified that 25 – 30 members would attend and the group took of for a
walk – climb, in deed! – Towards the school.
 As
you may have read in newspapers, a monumental restoration will be performed
in Balat, one of the ancient and historical textures of Istanbul. Actually,
as we walked into the cross streets and climbed towards the school, we were
seeing very precious but extremely squalid and abandoned historical houses
and buildings.
The road became such a steep slope as we get closer to the school that I had
to give the umbrella I had taken with me in case of rain to a fellow member
of ours to use as walking stick. On the other hand, I couldn’t help
thinking; “How does those children go to school under bad weather conditions
such as snow?”
I did not count the number of the steps but it was after a long stairs
climbing when we finally reached to the school yard! As it is expressed
within the quotation, ‘Every boon has a price’, we already had gotten
exhausted even before we started to visit this place, which I was positive
about the beauty and mystery of; but the panorama we were looking at was
absolutely worth it...
We walked through the main gate into a quite spacious environment with high
ceiling. The officials, primarily Mr. Niko Mavrakis, the principal, welcomed
us warmly and sincerely.
It wrote from 1454 to 2004 under the schools picture in the opposite
direction, on the right upper corner. It was incredible that we were face to
face with a school that had been in practice for 550 years!
On the left upper part was another placard which had the words that are
written in ‘Ancient Greek’ alphabet on the flooring from the entrance and
that are continued on other floors, and which stand as a nice advice for
students;
‘Obey the Rules, Ask for Knowledge!
Come as Ignorant! And Be a Wise Man in This House of Education!
Be Aware of the Value of Time!
Love the Man, Acknowledge Yourself! Be Virtuous!
Ask for Peace, Be Gracious!’
We gathered around Mr. Niko, the Principal, and started to listen to the
history of the school...
The foundation of the current school building, which is located in Tevkii –
Cafer neighborhood, sub-district of Fener, district of Fatih, Istanbul, was
laid in 1881 and the building was started to be used in 1883. It maintained
its educational activities under the name ‘Fener Greek Academy’
before it settled in its current building. This academy is the oldest school
the Greeks opened in Istanbul. It was in practice under the name ‘The
Patriarchate Academy’ and under the protection of the Patriarchate
before the conquest...
 Although
the educational activities were interrupted for a while in the years of the
conquest; Gennadios Sholarios, the Patriarchate of the time, discussed the
mater with Sultan Mehmed II (The Conqueror) and the school was re –
established by the special permission of the Sultan. It started its
activities under the name ‘Fener Great Greek Academy’ from the year
1454. The Patriarch assigned Mateos Komariotis, his own lecturer, as the
principal of the school.
Although the school was generally located around the Patriarchate, it
maintained its educations in the residence of a person named Aleksandros
Mavrokordatos, located in Kurucesme for a period of time. It definitely
returned to the sub – district of Fener in the academic year of 1850 – 51
and was moved to the house of person named Haci Hanannon. Activities were
maintained in a house opposite the current location of the Patriarchate
Church between 1852 and 1877, and in the house of Dionisios, the Metropolite
of Izmir, from 1877 to 1882 and, finally, it was moved to its current
building in 1883.
The construction of this building, located in Fener, the 5th hill
of Istanbul, began in 1881 with the encouragement of Patriarch Ioakim III
and contributions of charitable persons and organizations. The school
building was formed to resemble an eagle with open wings through bird’s view
by the plan drawn by K. Dimadi, the architect. The total amount expended on
the construction is 17,210 liras. 1500 liras of that amount were granted by
Yorgi Zafiris, the banker, 3700 liras were granted by the Vatopedi Monastery
in Aynaroz and 200 liras were granted by the persons named Zafiropulos and
Koronios, who were known as wealthy people.
The names that the school has used for centuries are as follows:
The Patriarchate Academy
The Great and Central Museum of the Nation
Kurucesme Educational Museum
The Great Academy
The school is named as the ‘Red School’ in the public since the
building was constructed with red brick from head to foot.
The history of education of Fener Greek Academy is divided into two periods.
During the first period from the XVth Century to the XIXth Century, the
school applied academic schedule; the school, which abandoned its former
character and adopted its current profile.
Reportedly, many graduates of this school, the roots of which rely on the
pre – conquest period of Istanbul, had gone to Italy and initiated the
process of Renaissance. It is also reported that the school was highly
preferred by students from the entire Ottoman Empire and even from Europe.
Because the graduates of this school held in act major positions in the
Ottoman administrative structure from being solemn Imperial Interpreter to
the governorship of Eflak and Bogdan (Romania and its neighborhood)...
The school leaded the works for the issuance of a Greek lexicon in the early
XIXth Century...
 The
amount of 2500 liras, which was expended on the construction of a physical
education building in the school yard in 1904, was provided by Evyenidis, a
charitable banker; the amount of 1500 liras, which was required for repair,
was covered by the granting of the Zarifis Family.
Language – Grammar and Philosophy were tutored at the school in the early
times. The pedagogy class was added to the scheduled in the early 1900s and
the graduates were started to be provided with a diploma by which they can
teach in the Greek schools within the entire Ottoman Empire.
A music academy with a four – year educational schedule was opened at the
school between the years 1907 – 1924 and chant singers were taught for
churches.
In the present time, the school is in practice with 6 grades from the 7th
grade to the 12th grade, being dependent to the Ministry of
National Education under the statute of ‘Schools of Minorities’ of the
Lausanne Treaty. The Greek language class is tutored in addition to the
subjects anticipated by the curriculum of the Ministry of National
Education. The subjects except for the subjects of Literature, History,
Geography and Sociology tutored in Turkish, are tutored in Greek.
Mr. Mavrakis’ expressions in Turkish are so proper and so accent – free that
you cannot help being surprised! Since I personally like the sweet Greek
accent and can instantaneously collect materials for my imitation talent, I
feel sorry that I could get nothing from Mr. Principal. Afterwards, we
learnt that Mr. Niko was graduated from the Faculty of Science of Istanbul
University as a Biologist and has been holding the office of principal since
1992.
We became extremely impatient as the curiosity due to the explanations of
Principal Mr. Niko was added to the excitement we felt for visiting an
education institution that is older than 550 years.
 Anyways;
we begin our stroll, after Mr. Principal, from the accounting division
opposite the wide hall in the entrance. The accounting division is on the
right of the wide hall, and there is a long, rectangular table with chairs
located around, which we think is the meeting hall. Mr. Principal corrects
us as saying that it was the waiting room for visitors. As we would be aware
of afterwards, nothing is ordinary and usual here. The tables, the desks,
the chairs, the closets all reflect an exceptionally ancient and refined
taste.
We left the hall and direct to the stairs on the left. The classroom we
entered almost resembled university amphitheatres. The wooden ground
consists of levels on which students desks with double seats are settled.
The ground’s leveled structure removes both the problem of seeing the
blackboard and the chance of lazy students to spoil the lessons in the back
seats!
Since the Greek population currently remained in Istanbul is only 2000, the
total number of the present of the school is 49! Almost all of the 10
graduates of the previous year were awarded with considerably fine
departments for university education...
Climbing one higher floor, Principal Mr. Niko took us to the devastating
hall where events such as meetings, conferences and concerts are held. On
the walls on the stage side were various portraits and pictures from that
Patriarch Genaidos to those of other lecturers. On the ceiling was
illustrated a candle with an elliptical halo of light, which is to
symbolizes the importance of education and how education enlightens the
people.
On the audience side, the walls were covered with the names or the pictures
of the charitable persons, who have made considerable grating to the school.
We walked up on the stage and had a souvenir photo taken together with Mr.
Mavrakis...
In the mean time, he told us the good news that two musicians from Salonika
would give a free concert after the kermes to be held on December 18th.
Then we cheerfully decided to come back the following week for that
performance.
The amphitheatre – formed wooden hall we, then, entered was the physics
laboratory of the school. We all had photos taken here while we listened to
Mr. Principal mentioning the problems with both allocations and appointments
about teachers. Mr. Principal, in the mean time, stated that the students
were transported by shuttle services and through the other gate.
As far as we could see, the cleaning and the maintenance affairs of the
building would require enormous amounts of cleaning products and huge number
of janitors.
Our stroll continued with biology and language laboratories, the library and
the computer division. Every part of the school needs to be maintained! We
were even informed that the library had to be moved to another place since
the roof of the original library hall was damaged, caused leakage of rain
waters and harmed books.
 We
were told that beside that maintenance and repair required great deals of
expenditures; no actions could be taken without the authorization of the
Council of Monuments and no authorization was given if the repair is not in
conformity with the original!
It felt like we were in the plateau of the movie picture Harry Potter. The
schools made us feel as if we could instantaneously come up to someone in
historical clothes any time...
The stairs which had been wide so far, then, became narrow and infinite.
Finally we reached to the telescope division. The telescope unfortunately
does not work! Apparently, it needed to be repaired or replaced...
The school consists of 5 floors, the ceiling height of each of which is 5
meters; but the total height of the building is 40 meters, adding the
heights of the towers. Since the school is also located on a hill, we all
watched the panoramic view of Halic (The Golden Horn) through the windows.
We were told that the tower with the telescope was the way to go up to the
terrace, but Mr. Mavrakis informs us that we may not walk up to the terrace
since it was recently coated with zinc and tar and walking would damage the
coating...
We walked down on the narrow stairs and entered into the large hall which
was being prepared for the kermes. Fairly chic New Year baskets and
miscellaneous gift materials, which were obviously prepared by the talented
Greek ladies, were expecting the ‘Kermes’ day...
As we came back down to the entrance floor, we looked through the awards,
which were mostly won in inter – school theatre contests, and the “List of
Honor”, where the photos of the students that were successful at the
university examination.
Finally, we were welcomed to a hall on the left of the entrance where there
were various seating arrangements. We had been there for more than three
hours and were really tired. While we were consuming the treats and
beverages prepared for us on a long table and were having conversation with
each other, a fellow member of our group said; “You could sing in Greek, why
don’t you sing some for us now that we are here?” Here we go! I apologize in
advance to the Mr. Principal in case I may make any pronunciation mistakes
and sang Ola Se Thimizoun and Telli Telli by Harris Alexiu. That was how our
visit ended as we taught the art to the master!
 Mr.
Principal gives us leaflets, documents about the school and mouse pads with
the school’s pictures on as presents. Every one of us, either using or not
using computer, appreciate those presents. In the mean time, I took his
business card, which bears the title, ‘Principal of Private Greek High
school for Boys’. The school has been an academy for boys for centuries; and
although it is currently a mixed school, it unfortunately can hardly
maintain it existence with its 49 students...
We left the school after thanking over and over again to Mr. Niko A.
Mavrakis, the Principal, through the other gate. We, then, also visit
the Virgin Mary’s Church, which was specially opened for us upon the
kindly request of Mr. Orhan Kural, our Chairman, on our way out
On the wall are the two framed firmans (imperial edicts) that direct this
church not to be intervened after many churches – Hagia Sophia, primarily –
were turned into mosques.
The lady who opened the church, therefore, said; “This is the only church
preserved in its original form.”
I wonder how many of us carefully looked on the right side on our way to
Unkapani and noticed this splendid building made of red bricks; or how many
of us are aware of the metal Bulgarian Orthodox Church, located on the left
on the way to Eyup, which was built by joining plates via bolts...
We live in such a city and a country where God granted every wealth and
beauty generously that it is a shame that most of us either are not aware of
or prefer to ignore many of those values...
Many of those beauties, wealth are abandoned to their destiny; are expecting
to be found, cleaned, polished and to be put back to their places in
showcases like jewelry that were mistakenly thrown out to dustbins...
I, in person, feel very happy and lucky that I attended to that trip and
have the opportunity to share my experience with you through derKI...
| 
