Along the Golden Horn - Strolling Through Istanbul: The Classic Guide to the City - page 312

MEGALİ SCHOLİO
As we leave the church we see of to our right the huge structure
which dominates the skyline of this part of the city; it houses a very
old and illustrious institution, the Greek Lycee of the Fener, known
in Greek as the Megali Scholio, or the Great School. The present red
brick building was built in 1881. But the original Megali Scholio, by
tradition, was founded before the Turkish Conquest and remained
the principal Greek institution of secular education throughout the
course of Ottoman history. Here were educated many of the Greek
voivodes (governors) and hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia,
and many of the chief interpreters who often wielded such great
influence at the Sublime Porte - men with the resounding names
of the Byzantine aristocracy, Palaeologus, Cantacuzenus, Cantemir,
Mavrocordato and Ypsilanti.
FROM FENER TO BALAT
We now retrace our steps back to the last turning before the church
and there take the street to the right. This almost immediately brings
us to a steep step-street which bounds the walled enclosure containing
the churches of St. George Metochi and Vlach Saray. Halfway down
the steps we come to another of the gateways to the enclosure. Beside
the gate is a plaque honouring Demetrius Cantemir, a Feneriote
Greek who became Prince of Moldavia. Cantemir wrote a history
of the Ottoman Empire covering the years 1688-1710 and he also
wrote an important treatise on Turkish musicology.
At the bottom of the steps we turn left and then right at the next
corner, bringing us back to Vodina Caddesi. We retrace our steps to
Fener Kapısı, after which we continue walking up the shore of the
Golden Horn.
About 100 metres beyond Fener Kapısı we come to a restored
meta-Byzantine building that now houses the Women's Library
and Cultural Centre. The library, which opened in 1990, is the first
institution of its kind in Turkey. Its collection includes works by
and about women in Turkish and other languages, including a
complete collection of all the women's magazines and periodicals
published in Turkey in the late Ottoman era and in the early years