Because its close location to the harbor and having the main train station used as the last stop of the Orient Express, Sirkeci has always been an important business area. During Byzantium period (657 BC - 196 AD) the Jews were settled on this part of the Golden Horn. This is the reason why this area was called Porta Iudeca (Jewish Gate) or Porta Hebraica (Hebrew Gate). There was a synagogue in this neighborhood at the beginning of the 13th century. This temple was destroyed in the fire of 1204. There was also a Caraim synagogue destroyed during the construction of the New Mosque at the end of the 16th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population of Sirkeci grew very fast after the fires of Hasköy and Kulaksiz. The Jewish refugees coming to the Ottoman Empire during the Balkan War and 1st World War were also settled to this area. In 1919 there was a congregation of 500 families in Sirkeci.
Today there are two active synagogues in this neighborhood: <
