Non-Muslim Cemeteries as Multicultural Urban Heritage in Istanbul: The Case of the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery

Abstract

This review examines non-Muslim cemeteries in Istanbul as multicultural urban heritage landscapes, using the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery as its principal case. Rather than treating cemeteries solely as religious or funerary spaces, it conceptualizes them as material archives of urban memory, minority presence, spatial displacement, and heritage governance. Drawing on a literature review, historical documentation, spatial mapping, and field observation, the article first traces the transformation of non-Muslim cemeteries from the Ottoman period to the Republican period, with particular attention to their relocation, disappearance, and reuse within processes of urban modernization. It then analyses the Feriköy Protestant Cemetery in terms of its establishment, multinational governance structure, architectural and funerary features, transferred memorial elements, digitisation practices, and conservation initiatives. The case illustrates the layered relationships among urban development, multicultural identity, and sustainable conservation. The article argues that Istanbul’s surviving non-Muslim cemeteries should be understood as living spaces of memory and cultural landscapes whose protection requires documentation, public awareness, and multi-actor heritage governance.