Conventional historiography claims that Galatasaray High School was established under the authority of Ottoman Sultan Abdulaziz (1830–1876) in cooperation with the French Minister of Education Victor Duruy (1811–1894) during the rule of Napoleon III (1808–1873), a transformative moment in the Ottoman Empire’s educational framework. With French established as the main language of education, the school broke new ground by opening its doors to students from diverse linguistic, cultural and religious backgrounds. This progressive approach, however, provoked resistance from several factions both within and beyond the Ottoman Empire, most notably the Vatican, which issued two decrees prohibiting Catholic students from enrolling in direct response to the school’s structure. The Franco—Ottoman cooperation at Galatasaray High School, shaped by both the Ottoman and French imperial contexts, has not only defined the institution’s heritage under the Ottoman Empire but has also sparked a continuous and contested discourse surrounding its categorization. The school’s complex categorization continues to persist throughout history until the 21st century with a myriad of labels such as “Ottoman,” “Turkish,” “French,” “imperial,” “republican,” “indigenous,” “foreign,” and even “colonial” and “anti-colonial.” Because of the school’s quite complex and entangled background, such labels continue to exist. These labels reflect the ongoing debates over its cultural heritage and the role it plays in embodying the historical and educational transformations surrounding Galatasaray’s heritage.