At the House of Sabatai Sevi

Here we are with the last post of my Great Smyrniote adventure. In my last day in Izmir, I had a chance to visit one of the most paradoxical structures in the entire city. This withered structure, right behind the building in the center with three windows, is nothing less than the house of Sabbatai Sevi.

The area containing the house was normally protected with a wire fence, but I found a way to sneak in through a good-sized hole in the fence.

It's hard to believe that this building is more than four hundred years old!

I found two dark hole-like entrances at the ground level, but I couldn't crawl into any of them.


A narrow stairwell leads up to the rooms above.

This chamber, colored in a various layers of faded green, blue and white paint, was one of the largest enclosed rooms of the house. Until recently this building was inhabited by Gypsy or Kurdish squatters from the nearby Kadifekale neighborhood. In the last few years, the squatters have been evicted and the house was reclaimed as a part of the Smyrniote Agora restoration program.

What's even stranger is that people have been reported to visit this site and light candles in it. One anecdote I've heard of recounts people from America coming all the way to this house and praying in it. Weird. I guess in a way, the Sabbatean heritage lives on.


Right next to the "blue room" lies a half-collapsed terrace with yet another staircase leading up to the upper floor.

On the upper floor is the famous "chamber of the eyes," which houses these bizarre, face-like arrangement of windows, doors and alcoves.

Is this a case of genuine, anthropomorphic architecture? Or just simple 17th century lack-of-planning?

More details from the "chamber of the eyes".


My expedition of Sabbatai Sevi's house came to an end when I walked up to the roof of the building and saw a nice vista of the Agora unfolding below. It was this roof that Sabbatai Sevi supposedly ascended to the skies, levitating during his intense meditations.

I find these tales incredulous of course, but I still have a deep fascination for the life and history of Sabbatai Sevi, and the remaining Sabbateans in Turkey and beyond. This is not the least because Sabbatai Sevi's teachings literally expressed something like proto-secularism in an era riven with religious madness.

This vista concluded my trip to Sabbatai's house. I ran back to the fence, crawled back out from the hole and ended my day with a deep sense of satisfaction and wonder.

A special bunch of thanks go to my friend Okan Çetin, who guided and accompanied me on the trip to the Agora and the house of Sabbatai Sevi.