Selimiye Barracks

The Selimiye Barracks in Üsküdar is the building where Florence Nightingale established modern nursing during the Crimean War. The northwest tower she used is maintained as a small museum, containing her personal effects, letters, and the original lamp. The rest of the vast barracks complex is still an active Turkish military installation.

Visiting the Florence Nightingale Museum requires prior arrangement — groups must apply through the Turkish military administration. Individual visitors should check the current access requirements before making the journey. The museum itself is small but moving, and the setting — a massive 19th-century barracks with the Bosphorus visible from the upper floors — is memorable.

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A story
Florence Nightingale arrived at the Selimiye Barracks in November 1854 with 38 nurses to tend the British wounded from the Crimean War. She found conditions of almost unimaginable squalor — ten times more soldiers were dying of disease than of battle wounds. In the northwest tower, which she was given as her base, she worked methodically to improve sanitation, supplies, and nursing standards. The mortality rate dropped from 42 per cent to 2 per cent. She kept a lamp lit through the nights, which is why she was called "the lady with the lamp." The tower is preserved as a museum.

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