Cağaloğlu Anatolian High School continues its educational tradition, which began in 1850 under the name Darülmaarif, in its historic building that has carried this legacy from the Ottoman era into the Republic. With its structure adapting to changing approaches to education, the institution has welcomed students from different generations for approximately 176 years.
One of the first examples of a modern approach to education
Darülmaarif was established to train civil servants with the new knowledge and skills required by the changing administrative structure. In line with the educational approach of the Tanzimat period, the school taught arithmetic, geometry, philosophy, astronomy and geography alongside the traditional madrasa curriculum.
The building housing the school was constructed by Bezmialem Valide Sultan, the mother of Sultan Abdülmecid. The masonry structure, built beside the tomb of Sultan Mahmud II, opened for education on March 21, 1850, following a ceremony attended by the sultan and senior state officials.
From princes to higher education
Sultan Abdülmecid's children, Sultan Murad V and Fatma Sultan, were among Darülmaarif's first students. Approximately 250 to 260 students attended the school when it opened, but the quota was later limited to 180 and an entrance examination was introduced.
Bezmialem Valide Sultan allocated foundation revenues to cover the school's expenses. The salaries of teachers, civil servants and support staff were paid from these revenues, while a lithography press was established at the school to print textbooks. The collection of 546 volumes endowed by Valide Sultan is preserved today at the Beyazıt State Library.
Encümen-i Daniş, the Ottoman Empire's first modern scientific council, began operating in this building in 1851 during a ceremony attended by Sultan Abdülmecid. The school later became one of the institutions preparing students for higher education; with the opening of the first civil idadi classes in 1873, the building effectively became an idadi school.
From girls' education to an Anatolian high school
In 1911, the institution operated as a school for female students under the name İnas İdadisi. Later renamed İnas Sultanisi, Sultan Selçuk Sultanisi and Bezmialem Sultanisi, the school continued its activities during the Republican era as Istanbul Girls' High School.
Istanbul Girls' High School moved to the historic building in Cağaloğlu during the 1933-1934 academic year and began accepting boarding students in the 1959-1960 academic year. The institution became a German-language Anatolian high school in the 1983-1984 academic year, adopted the name Cağaloğlu Anatolian High School and began coeducational instruction. The school graduated its first students under this status in the 1989-1990 academic year.
Approximately 740 students attend the school
School principal Gökhan Karataş said the building has been used as an educational institution since 1850 and that, in its early period, the institution served female students under the name İnas İdadisi. Karataş said that a five-year education program, including a preparatory year, began when the school became coeducational in 1983.
According to information provided by Karataş, approximately 740 students attend the preparatory, ninth, 10th, 11th and 12th grades, and approximately 60 teachers work at the school. Under a protocol signed between Türkiye and Germany, students can obtain an additional diploma valid in Germany and in some countries where education is provided in German.
The historic building continues to bear witness to the transformation of education from the Ottoman era to the Republic. The building once educated princes and candidates for civil service, and later female students; today, it is attended by students of Cağaloğlu Anatolian High School.
