BALAT 2004

“One of the most important areas of Jewish settlement in Byzantine and Ottoman times was Balat, located along the upper reaches of the Golden Horn. Many of the people who lived here were from Macedonia, and during its "golden age" in the 18th and 19th centuries there were six synagogues. The oldest and most significant is the Ahrida, which predates the Ottoman conquest of Istanbul and has an altar shaped like Noah's ark. “

see JEWISH HISTORY IN ANATOLIA

also BALAT Turkish