Nişantaşı

Nişantaşı
Quarter
New Year's Eve decorations in Nişantaşı
Location of Şişli in Istanbul
Country	Turkey
Province	Istanbul
District	Şişli
Time zone	GMT +2
Area code(s)	(+90) 212

Nişantaşı is a quarter of the Şişli district on the European side of Istanbul, Turkey. It comprises neighbourhoods like Teşvikiye, Maçka, Osmanbey and Pangaltı. A popular shopping and residential district, it is one of Istanbul's most exclusive neighbourhoods. The area includes fashion shops, department stores, cafés, pubs, restaurants and night clubs. Abdi İpekçi Street, Turkey's most expensive shopping street in terms of lease prices, stretches from the neighbourhoods of Maçka and Teşvikiye to the center of Nişantaşı.

Nişantaşı was settled by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid I in the middle of the 19th century. He erected two obelisks to define the beginning and ending points of the quarter. He ordered the construction of the Neo-Classical style Teşvikiye Police Station and the Neo-Baroque style Teşvikiye Mosque for a proper district, encouraging the citizens of Istanbul to settle in the area (hence the name Teşvikiye which means Encouragement in Ottoman Turkish).

The word Nişantaşı literally means "Aiming Stone" in Turkish. Aiming stones were erected in the Ottoman period to mark the archery range records of the Ottoman archers and sultans. Some of these aiming stones, which are shaped like small obelisks and have Ottoman Turkish inscriptions on them, are still found on the pavements of Nişantaşı as monuments from the past. The inscriptions give information about the date, the shooter and the distance the arrow was thrown.