Excavations around Haydarpaşa Train Station, one of the iconic locations of Istanbul, continue. The authorities also removed the platforms of the station, especially during these excavations where they would try to illuminate the history of Kadıköy. After this process, the date officially came out. Because the authorities identified many artifacts from tombs to fountains in the excavation area. The most striking aspect of the works was a military bunker located under the station.
Yalçın Eyigün, General Manager of Infrastructure Investments of the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure, who made statements on the subject, gave information about the works and said, “We continue the design of closed spaces and open air museums. Our goal is to complete them within 2 years.” The authorities also served some photographs of the excavations.
Here is the military shelter under the Haydapaşa Train Station.
Experts working on the bunker found during the excavations determined that this bunker was built during the 2nd World War. This shelter, which has a total length of 400 meters, a width of 2 meters and a height of 2.4 meters, was built to protect the soldiers in case of a possible attack. Moreover, there were electrical installations and toilets in the shelter. The above image has been shared with the public for the first time.
Yalçın Eyigün, describing the military shelter with the words “very special”, used the following expressions:
We have an excavation area target of 140 thousand square meters in total, we have completed 68 thousand of them. Our archaeological excavations continue. Our approximately 250 workers work under the supervision of 15 archaeologists and under the supervision of the Istanbul Archeology Museums Directorate, in line with the decisions of the conservation committees. We have taken more than 50 board decisions regarding the excavations of the site, we walk with board decisions in every step we take. From now on, we are planning to have 3 functions, not only Haydarpaşa Station, not just a train, but also Haydarpaşa Station and an archaeological excavation site, an archaeological park, and our industrial heritage museum. Our total area is 475 thousand square meters. When we’re done, only 75 thousand square meters will be railway-related areas. Let there be an open-air museum, closed museums, exhibition areas and viewing corridors behind it. We have spent 255 million liras to date for archaeological excavations and restoration, industrial heritage and archaeological park area. We anticipate that it will reach 700 million liras in total. These are spent entirely with the budget of our Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure. Minister Çavuşoğlu is also very sensitive for the artifacts here to be revealed and to meet with our people. Here we present our projects to him. Here, we have a large area that can accommodate 500 people at the same time. There are various structures here whose names are unknown to the public. For example, there is a private accommodation house built by the Ottomans as an immigrant guesthouse. We want to open this accommodation house. There are bunkers built by our soldiers as a precaution in World War II in 1942. These are 400 meters long, galleries, very special galleries with a width of 2 meters and a height of 2.40 meters. . .
This is how the excavation around Haydarpaşa Station looks from above
Rahim Asal, Director of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums, also made some statements on the subject. Asal said, “There are remains of a late Roman, early Byzantine structure dating back to the 4-5th century, which emerged with the removal of the platform, a structure that gives a very beautiful architectural plan. Right next to this, we have identified furnaces that we guess were used as a smelting workshop during the middle Byzantine period. “The ruins around the building, which we thought would be the remains of a palace, began to emerge. It gave an architectural integrity and allowed us to access more archaeological information. Currently, the Istanbul Archeology Museums Directorate is conducting archaeological excavations in 45 areas. But there are no coins that we have come across, especially late Roman, early Byzantine coins. “There is no area. We have identified about 12 thousand. Not only the number but also the information it gives is very important. For example, one of the first coins of Chalcedon, one of the first coins dated to the 5th century BC, was found here during the excavation. This is very important. There were these coins before, but this is the first time they’ve been found in an excavation. The importance of appearing also increases the database and the information it gives. ” said.
Other photos from the excavation site are as follows:
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