The largest wooden building in Europe is at risk of collapsing near Istanbul

Istanbul - The largest wooden building in Europe, located on one of the Princes' Islands near Istanbul, which is also the second-largest wooden structure in the world, is at risk of collapse. Opposition MPs raised this issue in the Turkish parliament this week, calling on the Ministry of Culture to save this unique structure. This was reported by the independent Turkish news agency bianet.

"The Ministry of Culture is capable of securing funds for the restoration of Turkish and Muslim cultural heritage around the world. It should do the same for the protection of Christian buildings, as they are also part of Turkey's cultural heritage," said MP Tuma Çelik to the bianet agency. He expressed concern that the building may not survive another winter.

The so-called Prinkipo Palace, also known as the Prinkipo Orphanage, now belongs again to the Greek Orthodox Church. According to Çelik, it had long been managed by a Turkish government agency and the patriarchate could do nothing with the building. Disputes over the ownership of the building in the past contributed to its decline.

The Prinkipo Palace, which has 20,000 square meters of usable space, was built on the island of Büyükada in 1898 as a luxury hotel and casino by the Wagons-Lits company, the founder of the famous Orient Express. However, the then Sultan Abdülhamid II ultimately did not allow the operation of the hotel with a casino, and the building was purchased by the wife of a prominent Greek banker, who donated it to the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

The church made the extensive complex into an orphanage that took in around 5,800 children. The orphanage was closed in 1964 during a heightened dispute between Turkey and Greece due to events in Cyprus. The Turkish state then took over the building, allowing it to fall into disrepair. It was seriously damaged in 1980 due to a fire that caused part of the roof to collapse.

In 2012, the Prinkipo Orphanage was added to the list of endangered monuments by the non-governmental organization World Monuments Fund (WMF), and in 2018 it was included on the list of endangered cultural heritage by the non-profit organization Europa Nostra.

The only wooden building in the world that surpasses the Prinkipo Orphanage in size is the Todai-ji Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan.