Mimarlık Bölümü Koleksiyonu

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11779/1947

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Courts & Kalfas: Patronage Relationships in Selim III’s Reign
(Koç University Research Center For Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), 2024) Türker, Deniz; Uğurlu, A. Hilal
The patronage networks of the members of Sultan Selim III’s extended court, specifically his mother, sisters, cousins, and their respective mothers, expand what is already written about the “Greek” artists, architects, and craftsmen who serviced the imperial family. This paper delves into the role of Greek kalfas, akin to modern architects, who served Selim III and his female relatives. It specifically examines figures such as Komyanoz, Foti, Todori, and Yani Kalfas, exploring their professional lives, which typically began in the imperial arsenal as shipbuilders. These individuals worked under—or alongside—French shipbuilders/architects, who were invited to the Capital by the court in the eighteenth century. Another important but overlooked aspect of their lives is the deep professional (and possibly familial) connections these men had with Aegean islands. The cultural interactions with Italian and French influences might shed light on the decorative tastes they adopted, practiced, and disseminated, particularly in palatial interiors. Additionally, this investigation might help us uncover the business networks of these kalfas, for example, their relations with 'woodcarvers from Chios.'Mapping the multiple and often simultaneous imperial building projects which these kalfas oversaw and examining the privileges they received from their patrons upon the successful and timely completion of these projects demonstrates the significance of these actors for the imperial family. Furthermore, these privileges—whether granted or sought—highlight not only the intense competition among these kalfas but also their deep awareness of each other's professional lives, underscoring the stakes of their interactions. The paper also offers close readings of the lengthy correspondence between Esma Sultan, Abdülhamid I’s daughter, her kethüda (personal accountant/asset manager) Ömer Ağa and her remarkably involved mother Sineperver, on the prolonged building process of her new waterfront mansion in Eyüb. These texts not only reveal insights about Komyanoz Kalfa, a Greek-Ottoman architect from Phanar tasked with the mansion's design and construction, but also about the operational methods of these builders and the decorum of engagement with different members of Esma’s own court. Additionally, the correspondence highlights Sineperver's pivotal role in supporting her daughter by overseeing the project and reveals the architect-client relationship. The paper ends with a rumination on the anonymous Greek artist who accompanied the English architect Charles Robert Cockerell (d. 1863) and allowed the foreigner to sketch domestic architectural features of spaces (instead of the usual grand imperial sites) that were contemporaneous with Esma’s now non-extant Eyüb mansion.
“Introduction” in Sacred Spaces + Urban Networks
(Koç University Research Center For Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), 2019) Uğurlu, A. Hilal; Yalman, Suzan
What is a sacred space? How do we begin to understand the dynamics between religious belief and architectural development? Pilgrimage accounts for Harran, a renowned ancient city of Upper Mesopotamia, help illustrate important points. These travelers from different religious backgrounds reported on the significance of a site in the city. This location was believed to be the temporary dwelling place of Abraham before he moved to the land of Canaan, as stated in the Old Testament (Gen. 12:4–5). Yet, the site’s sacred associations were not limited to the Abrahamic religions. The city was referred to as “the heathen city” by the Fathers of the Church because of the dominant pagan population. An early Christian pilgrim’s account (ca. 381–84 CE) by Egeria, underlines that the location chosen for the church of the city was the “very spot where the house of Abraham stood.” Moreover, she recorded that the pagan people of the city also venerated the same site, which indicates the multilayered meanings attributed to the same location. Centuries later, when a Muslim pilgrim, al-Harawi (d. 1215), visited Harran, he also recorded a site associated with Abraham. This time, however, instead of a residence, it was a rock that Abraham was believed to have sat on while waiting for his flock. What remains unclear is i f this was another “spot” or if the association with the previous sacred site changed over time.
“Introduction", in The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics
(Intellect Books, 2020) Uğurlu, A. Hilal; Yalman, Suzan
The Friday Mosque in the City: Liminality, Ritual, and Politics Explores the relationship between two important entities in the Islamic context: the Friday mosque and the city. Earlier scholarship has examined these concepts separately and, to some degree, in relation to each other. This volume seeks to understand the relationship between them. Inorder to begin this discussion, defining the terminology is necessary. The English term mosque’ derives from the Arabic Masjid, a term designating a place of prostration, whereas the term jami‘,which is translated variously as Friday mosque, great mosque or congregational mosque, originates from the Arabic term jama‘, meaning to gather. The religious obligation for Muslims to congregate on Fridays eventually created an Islamic social code. Similarly, the migration from Mecca to Medina was instrumental in transforming a society based on tribal kinship into a community (umma). The Prophet himself played a vital role in establishing the first congregational space in Medina. Whatever the original terminology that defined it,this space is usually accepted as the prototype of the ‘mosque’ by architectural historians. The distinctions in terminology are important because, according to Islamic legal tradition,the presence of a Friday mosque was an important parameter in defining a city (madina).
Perform Your Prayers in Mosques!: Changing Spatial and Political Relations in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Istanbul
(Intellect Books, 2020) Uğurlu, A. Hilal
An article published on May 29, 1852, in the Journal de Constantinople reported a new environmental planning project for Istanbul’s Tophane district. A range of shops would be demolished so that the main street could be widened and transformed into a square that ended at the flamboyant main door of the Nusretiye Mosque (1823–26).Tophane Fountain and certain other neighboring fountains would be renovated, and trees would be planted between the boundaries of the Artillery Barracks and the widened mainstreet, to make the Tophane district ‘the most beautiful, pleasant and healthiest promenade of the city. This reported endeavor was only a small aspect of a larger project that began in the 1840s, after the proclamation of the Gülhane Rescript (November 3, 1839), and it was considered a physical extension of Ottoman modernization. Throughout the long nineteenth century, while the urban fabric of the capital was regularized and adjusted to the expectations and needs of the ongoing modernization efforts, novel building types, such as barracks,schools, and railway stations, and new social spaces, such as parks, theaters, and promenades, emerged. Many existing building types and thus the daily routines shaped by them were also affected.

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