Selimiye Barracks

The initially wooden barracks was designed by Krikor Balyan. It was burnt down in 1806 by revolting Janissaries, who were against the reforms. Ordered by Sultan Mahmud II, rebuilding of the barracks in stone began in 1825 and it was completed on 6 February 1828. It is a gigantic rectangle building 200 m × 267 m (656 ft × 876 ft) with a large parade ground in the centre. The structure has three floors on three wings and two floors only on the eastern wing due to inclined terrain.[2] During the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid I, the barracks were renovated twice, first in 1842–43 and again in 1849–50. During this process, a tower seven stories in height was added to each of the four corners, giving the barracks the look they have today.

During the Crimean War (1854–56), the barracks were allocated to the British Army, which was on the way from Britain to the Crimea. After the troops of its 33rd and 41st regiments of foot[3] left for the front, the barracks were converted into a temporary military hospital.

On 4 November 1854, Florence Nightingale arrived in Scutari with 37 volunteer nurses. They cared for thousands of wounded and infected soldiers until she returned home in 1857 as a heroine.

Around 6,000 soldiers died in the Selimiye Barracks during the war, mostly as the result of cholera epidemic. The dead were buried at a plot next to the barracks, which became later the Haydarpaşa Cemetery.[4]

Today, the northernmost tower of the barracks is a museum.[5]

• Crimean War
• 
  An early photo, taken at Scutari, of officers and men of the 93rd Highland Regiment, shortly before their engagement in the Crimean War, 1854.
• 
  An 1856 lithograph of the Selimiye barracks as a hospital during the Crimean War.

Today, it serves as the headquarters of the First Army of Turkish Land Forces.

Selimiye Barracks is situated in the Harem neighbourhood between Üsküdar and Kadıköy, close to the Sea of Marmara. The highway connecting the ferryboat terminal and overland bus terminal to the motorway O-2 Istanbul-Ankara runs close beside the barracks.