This is called “Rainbow steps”, becoming the new sightseeing spot in Cihangir, Istanbul. The city is known for many slopes, and this steps used to be one of the nondescript steps stunk with garbage until quite recently.
In 2013, the steps were painted by a local aged 66 at that time. It cost almost $800, but he really wanted to make them something special. With the help of his son-in-law, he spent four days to paint the steps with rainbow colour. Immediately, the steps attracted notions from many people. But two days later, it was painted with grey by the government.
This brought sharp criticisms and caused many protest demonstrations across Turkey. The government relented to the pressure, and it ended up being painted with rainbow color again.
The steps have become a symbol representing three things. First, it represents world peace, which comes from the rainbow flag that has been used for antiwar movements since 1960. Secondly, it also represents the resistance against Turkish oppressive government―police can detain people just by painting the steps―as you can see the story above. Recently, it has also become to represent the symbol of LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) that use the rainbow flag for its activities.
Everything was started from just an idea of a local man, but now, it has become “unofficial” tourist attraction. This site is known for the instagrammable spot, and the number of people who come here grew as Instagram became popular. What’s more, the number of rainbow steps are growing in Turkey, originally inspired by these steps.
Merhaba Turkey! 