Semavi Eyice

Semavi Eyice was born in Istanbul on 9 December 1922 and belonged to the rooted Eyiceoğulları family of Amasra. His father was the naval officer Mehmet Kâmil Bey and his mother was Hatice Hanım. Since the family house in Kadıköy had been damaged shortly before his birth during the Haydarpaşa Çayırı Fire, he was born at a relative’s house in Selimiye.

He began his education at the French schools Saint Louis and Saint Joseph and continued at Galatasaray High School. His interest in historical monuments began in childhood; on weekends he walked through the streets of Istanbul, photographing historical buildings and taking notes. An assignment on the conquest of Istanbul given to him at Galatasaray High School further increased his desire to know the city.

After graduating from Galatasaray High School in 1943, he went to Germany for training in archaeology and art history under the difficult conditions of the Second World War. He attended courses in Vienna and Berlin, but returned to Turkey in 1945 because of wartime conditions. He completed his studies at Istanbul University Faculty of Letters, Department of Art History, and graduated with a thesis titled “The Minarets of Istanbul.”

In 1952 he completed his doctorate with a study titled “The Buildings of Side from the Byzantine Period.” While concentrating on Byzantine art and architecture, he also examined Istanbul’s Ottoman heritage with the same attention. In this respect, he became one of the pioneering figures of Byzantine art history in Turkey and approached Istanbul not only as a city of conquest and imperial capital, but as a place of civilizational layers accumulated over centuries.

An important part of Semavi Eyice’s work was devoted to tracing historical monuments that have now disappeared or changed. His notes taken street by street, the photographs he took and the writings he published hold a special place in preserving the architectural memory of a vanishing Istanbul. Works such as Galata ve Kulesi, Bizans Devrinde Boğaziçi, Son Devir Bizans Mimarisi and Tarih Boyunca İstanbul are products of this broad interest.

Eyice taught for many years at Istanbul University, served as a member of the High Council of Immovable Antiquities and Monuments, and belonged to scholarly circles such as the Turkish Historical Society, the German Archaeological Institute and the Royal Academy of Belgium. With numerous encyclopedia entries, articles, books and research writings, he became one of the most productive figures in art historical studies in Turkey.

Semavi Eyice died in Istanbul on 28 May 2018. His funeral prayer was held at Fatih Mosque, after which he was buried in the Fatih Mosque Cemetery beside Prof. Dr. Halil İnalcık.