The Bull of Altıyol
Why is it significant?
In the middle of the six-way junction, head lowered, tail flicking, a bronze bull stands ready to charge the traffic. This is the Boğa, the Bull of Altıyol, and if you arrange to meet anyone in Kadıköy, chances are they will say: at the Bull. The bull is French.
Key Facts
| Place | The Bull of Altıyol |
|---|---|
| Address | Altıyol Meydanı, Osmanağa, 34714 Kadıköy/İstanbul, Türkiye |
| Geo Coordinates | 40.99050, 29.02920 |
| Part of Walk | Fish, Pickles and Sunset Tea: Istanbul's Asian Side from Kadıköy Market to Moda |
| Generated | Generated |
In the middle of the six-way junction, head lowered, tail flicking, a bronze bull stands ready to charge the traffic. This is the Boğa, the Bull of Altıyol, and if you arrange to meet anyone in Kadıköy, chances are they will say: at the Bull.
The bull is French. It is the work of the sculptor Isidore Bonheur, an animal sculptor from a family of animal artists... his sister Rosa Bonheur was one of the most famous painters of horses and cattle of the nineteenth century. The statue was cast in the 1860s, and the story goes that it stood in Paris before it was brought to Istanbul in the early twentieth century, as a gift connected with the German emperor and the Ottoman court.
What happened next is a city legend in itself. The bull is said to have moved from palace garden to private garden to hotel garden, changing owners and neighbourhoods, before it finally landed here at Altıyol. Somewhere along the way, it became a creature of Kadıköy, and the neighbourhood will not let it go. People here speak of it as a neighbour rather than a monument. And it deserves the attention: look at the muscles bunched in the neck, the twist of the tail, the weight thrown onto the front hooves, the work of a sculptor who spent his life watching real animals.
Why a bull? Partly chance, but it fits. Kadıköy has always had a stubborn, independent streak: the district of students, writers, theatres, rock music and protest. It is also the home of Fenerbahçe, one of Turkey's great football clubs, founded in Kadıköy in 1907, and on match days this junction becomes a sea of yellow and navy blue.
Look around the junction: buses, students, street musicians, and somebody always waiting at the bull, checking a phone. Then take the street heading south, General Asım Gündüz Caddesi, which everyone still calls by its old name, Bahariye, where in a few minutes an elegant building with a theatre's façade appears on your left.