Leyla Gencer House to open in Karabük

SAFRANBOLU - Anadolu Agency

Gencer is known as a La Diva Turca around the world.

UNESCO World Culture Heritage Safranbolu will have a Leyla Gencer Culture and Arts Center. Genceri who died in 2008, is known as a La Diva Turca.

The “Leyla Gencer Culture and Arts House,” will be founded at a 450-year-old mansion. An old Safranbolu mansion will be restored to become an arts center. Yörük village of Safranbolu is home to many relatives of Gencer, and the officials decided to transform a mansion to an arts and culture center for Gencer.

Speaking about the project, Gov. İzzettin Küçük said Yörük had been taken under protection in 1997. “We are proud that some of Gencer’s relatives belong to Safranbolu. Each year we organize a ‘Leyla Gencer Commemoration’ and Leyla Gencer days.”

“In order to open and restore the mansion we need 500,000 Turkish Liras,” he said. Küçük said
Safranbolu, which is a world heritage site, possessed a wealth of cultural riches and they should develop congress tourism to the town to draw even more visitors. Known as “La Diva Turca” in the opera world, Gencer was a notable bel canto soprano who spent most of her career in Italy, from the early 1950s through the mid-1980s, and had a repertoire with more than 70 roles.