The historic stone exterior and entrance of the Cağaloğlu Hüsamettin Yivlik High School in Istanbul. (AA Photo)
A 152-year-old high school in Türkiye’s Istanbul has transformed into a vital hub for cultural preservation, training students in traditional arts to keep centuries-old crafts alive.
Built in Fatih in 1874 as a Language School, the structure is now the Cağaloğlu Hüsamettin Yivlik Traditional Turkish Arts Vocational and Technical Anatolian High School.
Principal Sevilay Oğuz said the building hosted the first Ottoman women’s university in 1916-1917. It served as a Law School, a laboratory, the Darülmuallimin teachers’ college from 1909 to 1921 and the Sanayi Nefise Mekteb-i Alisi academy from 1922 to 1925. Painter İbrahim Çallı taught there. Elif Naci and Mahmut Cüda attended, with workshops opening in their names in 1997 and 2000.
It became the Istanbul Girls’ Middle School in 1929, the Independent Cağaloğlu Evening Girls’ Art School in 1940, the Cağaloğlu Girls’ Vocational High School in 1981 and a fashion center in 1994. The Istanbul Education Ministry directorate allocated space for a nursery, operating from March 2004 to 2013 with three teachers and three 25-student classes, following a child development department opening in 2003-2004.
The Education and Culture ministries signed a protocol on Sept. 25, 2018. It adopted an arts focus, receiving Sedefkar Hüsamettin Yivlik’s name in 2021-2022.
Oğuz said it admits 60 students annually via the LGS exam, with a 160 to 170 capacity. Students begin vocational courses in ninth grade, intern three days weekly in 12th grade and take culture classes two days.
“Students prepare calligraphy, illumination, tile making, miniature, kat’ı and hand-drawn works alongside garments based on an 11th-grade theme,” she said.
“Entering the building feels like coming to a museum. You feel the history touching stone walls, walking marble stairs, working in high-ceilinged rooms and looking through tall windows,” Oğuz said.
