İstipol Salma Tomruk Synagogue (Balat)

According to the Ottoman document dated 21 May 1693, the İstipol synagogue, called “Estipol” or “Semra Tomruk”, was built before the conquest of Constantinople. The name of “İstipol” derived from the town “İchtip” in Macedonia, from where a Jewish community came to Istanbul. The synagogue burned down in 1896, along with forty-five houses in the neighborhood, and was restored in 1898.