Soon after the foundation of the Faculty of Science at Istanbul University in 1933, German astronomer Erwin Finlay-Freundlich was invited to direct the Department of Astronomy. He suggested to establish an observatory. The observatory building with dome was designed by architect Arif Hikmet Holtay. Its groundbreaking took place in December 1935, and the construction, conducted by Ekrem Hakkı Ayverdi, was completed within six months. It became ready for use in the summer of 1936.[1]
As the main instrument of the observatory, an astrograph was ordered to Carl Zeiss Jena in Germany on December 11, 1935. The instrument arrived in Istanbul disassembled in twelve pieces on September 25, 1936, and was installed in the observatory's dome. The facility started its observations in the fall of 1936. It is the first modern observatory of Turkey.[1]
Used for the observation of the structure and interesting phenomena of Sun's chromosphere supported with a monochromator (H-alphaLyot filter) and a camera (Canon F-1) placed on the focal plane.
