Of course, you know that the area at the end of Istiklal Caddesi, where the entrance to the world’s second oldest metro is located, is called the “Tunnel”. Did you know that the uphill avenue descending from Tünel to Kuledibi is the biggest music market in Istanbul?

The name of this street is Galip Dede Street. The street bears the name of Şeyh Galip, one of the poets of the Divan Literature period. The tomb of the famous poet is located in the Galata Mevlevi Lodge at the beginning of the street.

The street and the surrounding buildings began to take shape in the mid-1800s. According to the first photographs of the city taken during this period, there are bookstores, coffee shops, patisseries, antique shops and stamp shops in the shops on the street. At the beginning of the 20th century, cafes and patisseries were closed on the street, which took its current form. However, 3 of the 35 stamp shops still exist in the 1950s. The oldest store operated on the street is the second-hand bookshop, Librairie de Pera, which was opened by German Adolph Platner in the 1920s. Today, this second-hand bookshop sells rare and valuable books and organizes book auctions.

The opening of shops selling records, cassettes, CDs and musical instruments, which caused the street to be named the biggest music market in Istanbul, took place in the 1980s. Zuhal Music, the most famous of these music shops, is also known as “Turkey’s biggest music shop”. Street musicians also perform on the street with the permission of the municipality.

Although the digitalized music industry has reduced the sales of CDs and cassettes, there are still many music shops on Galip Dede Street that sell records and CDs. There are also Luthier shops where almost every musical instrument is repaired, from guitar to violin, from baglama to kemençe, on the street, where all kinds of instruments related to sound and light systems used in concerts are also sold.
Walking on this very colorful and very loud street today also means breathing the air of a historical street from the Genoese Colonies period.

If you are interested in musical instruments, do not miss this street!