Şirince

Hikayemiz

Şirince is a village of 600 inhabitants in İzmir Province, Turkey, located about 8km east of the town Selçuk.History in Ottoman timesŞirince was settled when Ephesus was abandoned in the 15th century but most of what one sees today dates from the 19th century. There is a story that the village was settled by freed Greek slaves who named the village Çirkince (meaning "Ugly" in Turkish) to deter others from following them. The village's name was changed to Şirince (meaning "Pleasant") in 1926 by the governor of Izmir Province.House of MaryA building known as the House of Mary (Ottoman Turkish: پناغى قپىلى Panaya Kapulu) was discovered in 1881 about 17 km outside of Şirince, and is venerated by Catholics as well as Muslims. Local Christians, descended from the first churches in Ephesus, already had a tradition of venerating the building.Restoration projectsIn the 1990s the well-known Istanbul linguist Sevan Nişanyan and his wife Müjde Tönbekici settled in Şirince, which had been semi-derelict since the 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey. They were instrumental in having the village declared a national heritage site, and they undertook to renovate ruined historic houses using the original materials and building techniques of the village.Several of the renovated village houses were eventually converted into a highly acclaimed Hotel de Charme by the name of the Nisanyan Houses.