İstiklal Avenue Art Nouveau and styles; as well as a few Art Deco style buildings from the early years of the Turkish Republic, and a number of more recent examples of modern architecture; starts from the medieval Genoese neighbourhood around Galata Tower and ultimately leads up to Taksim Square. Galatasaray Square is located at approximately the center of the avenue and is home to the oldest secondary school in Turkey: the Galatasaray High School (Galatasaray Lisesi), originally known as the "Galata Sarayı Enderun-u Hümayunu" ("Galata Palace Imperial School"). In the historic Karaköy (Galata) district towards the southern end of the avenue, it
Galata descends to the Bosphorus. "Galata" has subsequently been re-adopted by the city of Genoa in the naming of its naval museum "Galata Museo del Mare." In historic documents, Galata is often called Pera, which comes from the old Greek name for the place, Peran en Sykais, literally "the Fig Field on the Other Side." The quarter first appears in Late Antiquity as Sykai or Sycae. By the time the "Notitia Urbis Constantinopolitanae" was compiled in ca. 425 AD, it had become an integral part of the city as its 13th region. According to the "Notitia", it featured public baths and