The ruined Sivastopol Köşkü (Trotsky House) stands in its wild garden at the foot of Hamlacı Sokağı, which leads down to the north shore from Çankaya Caddesi. Leon Trotsky lived here in the years 1929-33, after being exiled from Russia, and it was here that he wrote his autobiography and his History of the Russian Revolution.
Trotsky left Büyükada on 17 July 1933, never to return. Despite his isolation on the island he seems to have enjoyed his exile there, as evidenced by the last entry he made in his notebook on the day he departed: "It has been four and one-half years. I have the strange feeling of having my feet firmly planted on Büyükada."
