The utterly valuable archive including nearly 3,000 photographs taken by the painter Eleonora Arhelaou is put into the service of researchers after being classified and digitalized by the Atatürk Library. 

The Atatürk Library containing unique collections for researchers hosts now also the photograph archive of Eleonora Arhelaou as a rare collection devoted to the visual and social memory of Istanbul, which offers the opportunity to observe the urban texture, architecture and transformation of the city. Born in 1937 in Fener, painter Eleonora Arhelaou spent her childhood in Talimhane.

She completed her high school and undergraduate education in Athens, her master's degree in Munich and attended photography school in London. Arhelaou, who kept in touch with Istanbul during this period, took photographs documenting the changing city over time, especially focusing on the districts of Beyoğlu, Eminönü, Gedikpaşa, Kumkapı, Mahmutpaşa, Şişli, Pangaltı, Fatih, Balat and Fener between 1989 and 1996. The 2,956 photographs taken by Arhelaou were delivered to a bookstore in Beyoğlu through Niko Acemoğlu and 178x240 prints of the photographs were purchased. The archive was sorted by the Rare Books and Special Collections Unit of IBB Atatürk Library and added to our digital collection through the work of the Digitization Unit.