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ISTANBUL, Turkey | Rising above the pine-covered hills of Prinkipo Island, the largest of Istanbul’s Princes’ Islands in the Sea of Marmara, stands one of the most remarkable and symbolic buildings of the Greek Orthodox world.
The Prinkipo Greek Orthodox Orphanage, regarded as the largest wooden building in Europe and among the largest in the world, has dominated the island’s skyline for more than a century as a silent witness to the rise, decline and survival of Constantinople’s historic Greek Orthodox community.
Now, the monumental structure is entering a new era. Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew announced that the Ecumenical Patriarchate has decided to convert the building into a hotel in an effort to save it from irreversible collapse.
For many Greeks