Witness the life of Faik Pasha, one of the most important figures of Istanbul, with the History of Faik Pasha Beyoğlu.
Faik Pasha Beyoğlu History and Heritage
Faik Pasha, born Francesco Della Suda in 1814-1866, was born on the island of Syra in Greece, as the son of a poor family (1814). At the age of 12, he was placed in an orphanage in Istanbul. He worked as an apprentice in a pharmacy, later worked as a pharmacist assistant at Maltepe Military Hospital, entered medical school in 1844, and graduated as a pharmacist in the military.
During the Crimean War, he made great efforts to meet the pharmaceutical and medical supply needs of the military health organizations and was appointed as the Chief Pharmacist of the Ottoman army.
In 1859, he was promoted to ‘major general’. In 1862 in London, 1855 in Paris, and 1863 in Istanbul World exhibitions, he won medals with the drug and morphine collections he participated in.
Pera
In 1849, the Grand Pharmacy on Beyoğlu Pera Street (Independence Avenue), which he opened (Grand Pharmacia Della Suda), was one of the first pharmacies in Istanbul.
Société de Pharmacie de Constantinople and Société Impérial de Medicina de Constantinopl: Faik Pasha was one of the founders of these associations, and he was the first member of the Société de Pharmacie de Paris (today Académie Nationale de Pharmacie) from the Ottoman Empire.
Due to his services to the Ottoman Empire, he was titled ‘Pasha’, and his name was changed to Faik Pasha instead of Della Suda.
Turkish opium contains high-quality morphine, best known as opium in Europe. Francesco della Suda and his son Pharmacist Giorgio della Suda Faik Pasha II (1835-1913) exhibited Turkish Opium for the first time in European Congresses and were awarded. During this period, the stone building located in Çukurcuma Faik Pasha extending to Galatasaray Street and Turnacıbaşı was named after Francesco della Suda: the famous pharmacist of the Abdulaziz period, and there is a bust of him on a catafalque in the Saint-Esprit cemetery.
Della Sudda
In Emra Aracı’s Donizetti Pasha Biography, Francesco Della Suda (he was the grandson of Faik Pasha I) was referred to as a “gentleman, the son of an Istanbul gentleman,” He was a student of Franz Liszt (1880). The grandson Della Suda also studied with the famous pedagogues Theodor Leschetizky (1830-1915) and Theodor Kullak (1818-1882). He was a sociable and friendly personality.
On May 12, 1882, Della Suda played Chopin’s Barcarolle during the day; his teacher Liszt likened his playing style to that of a galloping horse in Westphalia. Della Suda, who never married, lived with a butler named Dandigin in detached houses on Faik Pasha Street in Beyoglu.
Faik Pasha I. gave the name of our street (Francesco della Suda)
The son of Faik Pasha (Faik Pasha II (Georgio Della Suda December 14, 1835, Istanbul – January 7, 1913, Istanbul)
Faik Pasha’s Impact on Beyoğlu
- Faik Pasa Street
The last representative of the Della Suda family was piano teacher Francesco della Suda, who died childless in the family’s home on Faik Pasa Street.
Mr. Francesco Della Suda gave piano lessons to lady Zeynep Altar. She was married to Mr. Cevat Memduh Altar (1902-1995). Mr. Suda loved his young student very much and gave her a gold necklace as a wedding gift in 1933. This necklace was given to Della Suda’s mother by Ottoman Empire Sultan Abdulaziz as a gift of a commemorative object. This necklace has a very high moral value, which is still in the Altar family today.
Francesco della Suda gave his photograph to Mr. M. Cevat Altar. This photo is also in the Altar family archives and was published in the Journal of Music Andante. Special thanks to the Altar family and Mr. Emre Arıcı and Andante.
