WDEC 2023 at the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery

Feriköy Protestant Cemetery (Istanbul, Turkey)
The Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative has organised two interesting events that will focus on learning and promoting knowledge about the cemetery.

3 June 2023: Online lecture

The Feriköy Protestant Cemetery Initiative presents "The Feriköy Protestant Cemetery and Heritage of Monument Row". A joint online lecture by Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal and Brian Johnson, that will take place on Saturday, 3 June 2023, at 17.00 London time (19.00 İstanbul time).

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, in celebration of the Association of Significant Cemeteries of Europe’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 containing funerary monuments predating the cemetery itself. 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.

You can find a short presentation of the lecturers HERE.

ZOOM LINK: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88935689486?pwd=cGRkU00wMWpYdHpQMitkNkdrUDl3QT09

4 June 2023: Open day

On 4 June, a special "Open Day" will take place at the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery, which will include tours, presentations, and refreshment for a large but select group, including our diplomats, academicians and cultural affairs people, and individuals from the expat community who have expressed an interest in becoming involved with a potential cemetery "friends" organization. We intend to tie the event with the theme of the WDEC 2023.