For Istanbul's Sephardic Jews, the Asian shore was a step closer to the Holy Land. The hillside above the village kept that wish for four centuries.
Many of the city's Sephardic Jews considered the Asian shore closer to Jerusalem. Families who lived elsewhere chose to be buried on the Nakkaştepe hillside above Kuzguncuk, and the village became known as Little Jerusalem. The oldest headstone found there has been dated to 1562.
Less often told: from the mid-20th century, houses spread onto cemetery land, and witnesses describe old stones reused in steps and garden walls. Today the cemetery can be visited only with permission from the Chief Rabbinate of Turkey.
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