Mysterious tunnel under Istanbul’s İstiklal Avenue attracts curious tourists

Away from the hustle and bustle a few metres above, a mysterious underground tunnel discovered beneath Istanbul’s famous İstiklal Avenue and recently restored, attracts curious visitors and tourists alike, although it remains largely unknown to most visitors to the Bosphorus metropolis… and even to most of its inhabitants.

To reach it, one must go to Rumeli Han, a passage located on İstiklal Avenue in Istanbul’s Beyoğlu district; It is a former inn or caravanserai with a neoclassical façade built in 1894 by Sarıcazade Ragıp Pasha, the chief chamberlain of the Ottoman Sultan Abdulhamid II, who built two more inns on the same street, each named after the three great regions of the Ottoman Empire: Rumeli (southeastern Europe and the Balkans), Anadolu (Anatolia and Asia) and Afrika (Africa).

It was precisely during the restoration of the Rumeli Han begun in 2017 that the workers stumbled upon an underground passage, hidden under layers and layers of rubble and rubbish, while excavating the foundations. With a total area of 1,400 square metres, the tunnel has several chambers but to this day it remains a mystery as to when and why it was built, and its origins are in fact considered to be before the construction of the Rumeli Han itself.

Add to this mystery the legend – which is more of an open secret – that the three han were connected by underground tunnels like the one discovered at Rumeli Han, making it only part of a larger network of tunnels, believed to have been used secretly by Istanbul’s rich and noble class to move around without mingling with the crowds or being seen.

There are now plans to turn this mysterious tunnel that runs under Istanbul’s bustling İstiklal Avenue into an exhibition centre for new artists, which would attract even more onlookers and tourists. For now, the newly restored tunnel has not yet much visits; so you can still enter it and feel what the rich and noblemen who used to walk through the bowels of Istanbul to escape the gaze of the plebs felt during the last days of the Ottoman Empire. To enter the tunnel, just head for the Rumeli Han in İstiklal, pass through the shops and cafes on both sides of the passage, and pay the 50 liras entrance fee to enter the tunnel.

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