Born on 9 December 1922 at
Kadıköy, Istanbul, to parents originating from
Amasra, he grew up in Istanbul, where he attended the primary and secondary French schools in
Kadıköy district, and graduated in 1943 from the
Galatasaray Lisesi in
Beyoğlu. During
World War II, he went to
Germany to learn the language. During the war years he attended in two different periods lectures in archeology, history and art history respectively at the Universities of
Vienna and
Berlin (at that time heavily bombed). In 1945, he was forced to leave Berlin, and was evacuated to
Denmark and
Sweden. In the same year, he returned to Turkey to undertake the study of art history at
Istanbul University, where he graduated in 1948 under Ernst Diez with a thesis on the
minarets of Istanbul. He then worked as a research assistant in the Department of Art History, and earned his doctorate in 1952 with the work ''Side'nin Bizans Dönemine Ait Yapıları
(). In 1955, he was appointed associate professor after publishing his work Istanbul’da Son Devir Bizans Mimarisi
(). In the same year, Semavi Eyice published Istanbul, Petit guide à travers les monuments byzantins et turcs'' (), a book which is still among the most cited works in the field of
Constantinople's art history. ==Academic career==