Taksim Square

Taksim Square serves as the main square of the new, European part of Istanbul and as the reference point for the district of Beyoglu. The name comes from an eighteenth-century stone distribution reservoir: the word taksim means division, and it was here that the water arriving from the Belgrade Forest was distributed among the quarters. The reservoir building of 1732 has survived at the edge of the square. At the centre stands the Republic Monument by the Italian sculptor Pietro Canonica, unveiled in 1928; on one side Ataturk is shown in military uniform, on the other in civilian dress, among the founders of the state. The northern side is occupied by the Ataturk Cultural Centre, the eastern by the Taksim Mosque, completed in 2021, and to the south-west runs the pedestrian Istiklal with its historic red tram. The square has historically served as a place for rallies and civic celebrations, and its layout has changed more than once: in the 2000s the traffic was put underground and the surface made continuous. Towards evening strollers gather here, street vendors set up, and the sunset lights the silhouettes of minarets and hotel towers.

On the map