Balıklı Greek Hospital
Balıklı Greek Hospital, known in Greek as Ελληνικό Νοσοκομείο του Βαλουκλή and in Turkish as Balıklı Rum Hastanesi, is a historic hospital in the Balıklı neighborhood of Yedikule, in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, Turkey. It was founded in 1753 as Yedikule Hospital by the Ottoman government and funded by the Union of Greek Grocers to help fight epidemics and diseases affecting Constantinople’s Greek community.
After a devastating fire in 1790, the building was rebuilt in 1793 with support from Patriarch Neophytus VIII. By the end of the 1700s, the Greek community had built two more hospitals in Galata and Pera, all overseen by the Ecumenical Patriarch who appointed their boards. In 1852, with support from Patriarch Cyril VI, Balıklı Hospital opened an orphanage on its grounds. The hospitals were open to patients of all ethnicities and faiths and include a church serving the Greek Orthodox community.
During the Istanbul riots of 1955, it treated many trauma and abuse victims. The hospital was restored in 1991, and in 1994 Turkey’s first private clinic for alcohol and substance abuse treatment was established there. In the 1960s, the Turkish Treasury seized the hospital’s properties, but a 2002 law protecting minority rights prevented further seizures.
Today Balıklı Greek Hospital continues to serve Istanbul. In 2011 it had 39 doctors, 98 nurses, and about 440 total staff. A fire on August 4, 2022 damaged the roof and upper floors, destroying the roof and upper level while leaving the ground floor intact.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 18:47 (CET).