Being situated just north of the Bosphorus Bridge, its only accessible to Galatasaray members and their guests.[1][2] Only Шаблон:Convert from the European coast,[3] the islet is reachable by free ferry service.
From Autumn 2002 to July 2007 Galatasaray Islet has undergone massive construction works, resulting in its transformationШаблон:Clarify into the entertainment and recreation centre that is now serving the
Galatasaray community and Istanbul.[4] That same year the constructions had been finished, on 4 October 2007, a fire broke out in a kitchen chimney and burnt down two restaurants and damaged four other premises on the islet.
In 1872, Ottoman sultan Abdülaziz (reigned 1861–1876) granted the islet to the Ottoman-Armenian court architect Sarkis Balyan (1835–1899), who erected a three-story house on it as his own residence. In 1874, during one of his several visits to Istanbul, Russian-Armenian painter Ivan Aivazovsky stayed in the mansion of Sarkis on the islet, and made here a number of paintings commissioned by the sultan for the Dolmabahçe Palace.[3]
Called as the "Sarkis Bey Islet" during his lifetime, it was rented out by his legal heirs after the World War I to "Şirket-i Hayriye", the company operating passenger ferries in Istanbul, and was used for a long time as a coal depot.[3]
In 1957, Galatasaray S.K. purchased the islet and constructed premises and sports facilities on it.[3] The swimming pool on the islet served home to the water polo team from 1957 to 1968.[5]
