Boğaziçi Üniversitesi, the University of the Bosphorus, began its existence on September 10, 1971 on the campus of the former Robert College, founded in 1863 by the American missionary Cyrus Hamlin. The university has expanded considerably since 1971, but its center is still the old campus of Robert College, whose buildings stand on the hillside above the towers of Rumeli Hisarı on the European shore of the Bosphorus, a site of incomparable beauty. This site is now known as the South Campus, to distinguish it from the more recent North Campus and Hisar Campus on the top of the hill. During the rectorship of Üstün Ergüder (1992-2000), the quadrangle of the South Campus was planted with grass, bushes, flowers and trees, and some of the old college buildings around it were restored, identified once again by their original names, together with more recent designations. These buildings embody the history of Robert College and Boğaziçi University, which between them span the gap between the ancient Ottoman Empire and the modem Turkish Republic.

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