Church Monuments Society

The Feriköy Protestant Cemetery and Heritage of Monument Row

Located in the center of European Istanbul, the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery has served as the city’s main burial place for Protestants and others since its opening in 1859. It has tremendous historical value, with heritage from much earlier than the nineteenth century. Some of its monuments date as far back as the 1600s, having been moved to Feriköy from a former cemetery in Istanbul’s famed Grand Champs des Morts, which had served the Protestant community for almost three hundred years before 1859.

This lecture, written to celebrate ASCE’s 2023 Week of Discovering European Cemeteries, will summarize the origins and history of the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery and discuss in detail some of the oldest memorials in “Monument Row,” the cemetery’s most iconic spot. It will also describe the efforts under way to document this rich legacy and preserve the cemetery both as a heritage site and active burial ground.

Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal (Phd, University of Cambridge, 2015) is a historian of Istanbul in the early twentieth century. Since 2019, he has been assistant director of the British Institute At Ankara (BIAA), which he represents on the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative.

Brian Johnson (PhD, University of Washington, 1999) is the librarian of the Istanbul branch of the American Research Institute in Turkey (ARIT) and a member of the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative. He has lived in Istanbul since 1993 and been involved with projects and research at the cemetery since 2001.

This lecture is part of our All Hallows 2023 autumn series of lectures. For details of the rest of the series, and our other events, go to https://churchmonumentssociety.org/events .

Event Information

This online talk is FREE to all and will take place on Zoom. Places must be booked via Eventbrite at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-ferikoy-protestant-cemetery-turkey-and-the-heritage-of-monument-row-registration-712473707037?aff=oddtdtcreator. This is one of a series of online talks delivered by the Church Monuments Society for Autumn 2023.

JOINING INSTRUCTIONS: You should receive a link from Eventbrite two days before the event, two hours before the event, and just as the event begins. If you have not received the link, contact us via Eventbrite so we can try to resolve this.

Guidelines and handy Zoom hints

Before the event:

• Please ensure you have already downloaded and installed Zoom to the device you wish to use. Read their guide if you are unsure about how to do this (https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/115004954946-Joining-and-participating-in-a-webinar-attendee- )

• Make sure you have registered via Eventbrite using your correct email address (or you will not receive the joining instructions).

• We will email the access link to you via Eventbrite shortly before the event begins.

• Please ensure that Eventbrite is on your safe-senders list and check your Spam/Junk inbox for our communications if you cannot see them.

During the webinar:

• Please remain muted throughout.

• The talk will last approximately 45 minutes and will be followed by questions.

• You are welcome to use the Chat box to contact panellists.

• Send formal questions for the speaker using the Q&A function so that they are easily identifiable. These can then be put to the speaker by one of our event coordinators.

• The session may be recorded by the Church Monuments Society. Screenshots and/or recording by participants is not permitted for copyright reasons.

• The host can remove attendees from the webinar.

• If you experience technical difficulties, contact panellists using the chat function. We will do our best to help.

• Enjoy the talk!

Image: Feriköy Protestant Cemetery, courtesy of B Johnson.