Count de Bonneval (Claude Alexandre de Bonneval) is a soldier of French descent. After the conflict with Louis XIV, King of France, he took refuge first in Venice and then in the Ottoman Empire. He decided to become a Muslim in Ottoman lands and changed his name to Ahmet. Afterward, he established the world’s first mortar battalion, the Humbaracı Ocağı. “Humbara” means box-shaped bomb filled with gunpowder and metal pieces. Over time, the name “Kumbara (Piggy Bank)”, in which coins are stored, derived from this term and also gave its name to the street where Count de Bonneval lived.

In other words, Kumbaracı Yokuşu, one of the oldest streets in Istanbul connecting Istiklal Street and Tophane, is named after Humbaracı Ahmet Pasha, who lived between 1675 and 1747.

The magnificent mansion, where Humbaracı Ahmet Pasha lived in the 1700s, burned down in the great Istanbul fire in 1870 and became completely unusable. One of the buildings built in the same place, The Story Hotel Pera, witnessed the history of Beyoğlu and hosted famous names of the period. In 2010, the building was converted into a hotel with 24 large rooms with high ceilings by a modern approach, while preserving its originality and historical texture. The building has been serving its guests since that time.