http://artebru.blogcu.com/osmanli-resim-sanati-minyatur/5909277

http://www.felsefeekibi.com/sanat/sanatalanlari/sanat_alanlari_osmanli_minyaturu_klasik_sonrasi.html

http://yalpturk.blogcu.com/levni-abdulcelil-celebi/1150416

Nakkaş Levni 

Ottoman miniature art had its roots in the nomadic times. It was influenced by Persian and Chinese traditions. Artists didn’t always enjoy freedom of expression in the Empire:

İslam akidesinde insan sureti çizilmesi ve heykel yapmak Allah ile boy ölçüşmek gibi algılanmış ve ressamın kimliği çoğu zaman gizli kalmıştır. In the Islamic faith drawing a picture of a human being and making a statue is perceived as competing with Allah, and often the artist’s name was kept a secret.

Miniature painting took a step forward in Fatih Sultan Mehmet’s era. Its classical period can be dated to the reign of Suleiman the Magnificient. The most mature miniatures come from the period of Murad III and young Osman II. The last great miniatyrist, Levni alias Abdülcelil Çelebi, created his masterpieces during the Tulip era.

Çelebi was born in Edirne where he began his career. He was given the nickname Levni ‘colorful’. Levni was also known as a poet and a musician. He painted the portraits of 22 Sultans. Unfortunately the original works have not remained until today. Levni’s most important work, the series Surname-i Vehbi which tells the story of Palace circumcision festivals, is still kept in the library of Topkapi Palace. Levni is praised for his natural compositions, sensitive use of colors and special talent in describing joy of life.

Padişahın badem gözleri, kemerli burnu, koyu sakalı, uzun yüzü, zarif duruşu ve bakışı gerçekçi bir portre olduğunu gösterir. The Sultan’s (Ahmed III) almond eyes, Roman nose, his thick beards, long face, elegant pose and glance show that it is a realistic portrait.

Şehzade düğünlerine oyuncular, hünerli kişiler, fişek ustaları, yazarlar, ressamlar, alim ve şairler katılırdı. Actors, jugglers, firework masters, writers, painters, scholars and poets attended the circumcision festivals of the princes.

Levni´s woman figures broke the earlier tradition:

Levni’nin minyatüre getirdiği en önemli değişiklik kadını erkekler arasındaki silik yaşamın dışına taşıyarak kadını tek başına elinde çiçekle, otururken, uyurken, yatarken ve enstrüman çalarken minyatürleri ile eserlerinde işlemiştir. The biggest difference Levni brought to the miniatyr was taking the woman out of the faceless life among men and presenting her alone: a flower in her hand, sitting, sleeping, lying, playing musical instruments.

Receiving foreign ambassadors at the Ottoman court

The Ottomans used the ceremonial reception as a means of demonstrating the might and wealth of the Ottoman Empire

Because these ambassadorial receptions were so important at the Ottoman Empire, a Department of Ceremonies was set up during the reign of Kanuni Suleyman I from 1520 to 1566.

Today a foreign ambassador comes to Turkia and presents his credentials to the president. The ceremony, such as it is, is low key and quickly over. Not so among the Ottomans, who used the ceremonial reception as a means of demonstrating the might and wealth of the Ottoman Empire.

Because these ambassadorial receptions were so important, a Department of Ceremonies was set up during the reign of Kanuni Suleyman I from 1520 to 1566. Although there were rules laid down for the conduct of such ceremonies, these were expanded as the Empire grew. An official was appointed to take charge of the office and be responsible for the proper organization of the ceremonies. A number of assistants and junior officers made up the staff of the office. And we learn many of the details of these ceremonies because the Ottomans kept meticulously detailed registers that contain information about when the ceremony was held, who was presented to the sultan and who attended the occasion, what gifts were presented to the sultan or given by the sultan, fabrics purchased and banquet expenditures.

Of particular importance where foreign correspondence and foreign ambassadors were concerned were the interpreters. The latter were professionals that handled the translations of correspondence and petitions as well as speeches delivered at meetings. The chief translator was responsible for receiving foreign ambassadors when they arrived in addition to translating for the grand vizier and the sultan.

Showing power and wealth

Upon being notified that an ambassador would be received at Topkapı Palace, the ambassador and his retinue would be escorted to the palace and into the second courtyard. Such a reception was often scheduled on a day when the quarterly payment of wages to the Janissary corps was being held in order to show the foreigners how powerful and wealthy the Ottomans were.

Baron W. Wratislaw was part of the retinue of Austrian Ambassador Frederick von Kregwitz, who was sent in 1591 to the Ottoman court from Vienna to extend a treaty of peace between the two empires and to offer the annual tribute. Although very young, he was a keen observer of people and events while in Istanbul, including the reception for the ambassador.

“On December 8, His Excellency Ambassador Mr. von Kregwitz placed 4,500 gold pieces in coaches and sent them to the palace with the embassy’s translator. Towards ten on the same day, the two ambassadors [the resident ambassador and the ambassador leading the group from Vienna] mounted their horses and set out for the palace with men carrying silver trays and clocks in front and according to custom. When they reached the outer gate, it was seen that there were armed soldiers called bostancı lined up in a hundred rows. These soldiers were like the private security guards of the Empire,” Wratislaw wrote in an account of the day.

“When we entered the first courtyard of the palace, we found beautiful buildings. Among these were the workshops of the palace craftsmen just as it is in the palace in Prague. When we reached the other side of the courtyard, we saw a number of soldiers who resembled those at the gate were in a more respectful posture. Here one had to dismount because one is not permitted to enter the third courtyard where the sultan resides on horseback and even the greatest government official enters the palace on foot after dismounting in the second courtyard,” Wratislaw wrote.

Two pashas meet ambassadors

After the ambassadors dismounted, they were met by two pashas who welcomed them and directed them to the reception salon. Ambassador von Kregwitz then told the Council of State what he intended to say to the sultan. The two pashas then went off to tell the sultan, Sultan Murad III, that the ambassador had arrived.

There were, according to Wratislaw, hundreds and maybe thousands of soldiers waiting in the second courtyard. “In spite of there being thousands of men there, there was no conversation, nor any whispering and no movement such as coming and going. This condition astonished us. It seemed to show a greater and deeper respect than that shown to their commanders by the Janissaries who are rough and bad-tempered on the battlefield or by children towards their teachers. Each one of them was like a statue made of marble.”

While the Austrian group waited to be admitted, the Janissaries took the gifts that had been brought and took them to the Audience Chamber to show to the sultan. The ambassadors were asked whether or not they were carrying weapons and when they answered in the negative, the soldiers took hold of their arms and took them into the room where the sultan was seated. [A number of miniatures show how the arms of every foreign ambassador were secured. This was done because the guards around Sultan Murad I negligently allowed a Serbian captive to get close enough to stab the sultan to death.] The ambassadors then greeted the sultan and bowed so low as to almost touch the ground. They addressed the sultan and handed over their credentials before kissing his hand. Wratislaw admits that he was so fascinated by the sultan that he barely looked around the chamber; however, he did notice that it was beautiful and decorated with jewels.

The last step after seeing the sultan was eating with the grand vizier in a room especially set aside for such meetings, next to where the sultan’s council (divan) would hold its sessions. Wratislaw further notes that there were no knives and no wine served but he really liked what he calls Arab sherbet, which seemed to him to have been made with sugar and lemon. After about half an hour they then departed the same way they had come in.

Protocol differences

Protocol in general was quite strict, but it seems that there were some differences. For instance, the ambassador would be given a valuable robe and it was mandatory that he wear this or otherwise he would not be able to advance further. The gifts that he brought for the sultan would sometimes be put on display right inside the Audience Chamber. This small building, directly opposite the entrance to the Third Courtyard, was built during the reign of Fatih Sultan Mehmed as a meeting place. Not only were ambassadors received here, but the grand vizier and members of the Council of State and religious figures. Over the centuries the building suffered from earthquakes and fire so today, although it has been restored, it is no longer as magnificent as it once was.

The various sultans saw this as a portal between their private quarters and the outside world. The throne on which the sultan would sit is about half a meter in height and would have been covered with carpets and other draperies and pillows, which would have been decorated with valuable jewels. In a side note, it is said that the draperies would be changed in accordance with the importance of the ambassador.

Abla, Because your thread is mostly about Ottomans, I thought this post of mine would fit in here.

From Hürriyet Daily News - Niki Gamm

I do not own the thread and I very much liked what you added.

Look how important people translators have always been.

Yes, They have, are and will always be important people. Can you imagine the responsibility of the chief translator who was translating for the grand vizier and the Sultan. The job that required perfect attention and faultlessness.

"The chief translator was responsible for receiving foreign ambassadors when they arrived in addition to translating for the grand vizier and the sultan."

http://worldarchivetr.com/wp/sultan-ahmet-camiinin-bilinmeyen-hikayesi/

http://www.biristanbulhayali.com/sultanahmet-camii-kapisi-ve-evliya-celebi

http://www.gbg.bonet.se/osmanli/kultur/eserler/sultanahmet.htm

Dağ gibi yüce, kuş gibi hafif

Evliya Çelebi, the great Ottoman traveller and the writer of Seyahatname, was there when the building work of Sultanahmet Mosque (the Blue Mosque) was initiated in 1609. It was an impressive moment:

Evvela Sultan Ahmed Han, eteğine toprak doldurup, ´´Ya Rab! Ahmed kulunun hizmetidir, kabul eyle´´ deyüp, amelelerle birlikte temelden toprak taşıdı.´´  Sultan Ahmed I, gathering some soil to his lap, carried the soil from the foundation together with the workers and said: ”Lord, accept the service of your slave Ahmed.”

Sedefkar Mehmed Ağa, the architect of Sultanahmet Mosque was a man of many talents. He was a musician, poet and and an artist also. In his greatest work he was able to use all sides of his artistry.

Sultanahmet Mosque was the last great mosque of the classical Ottoman period. It had to compete in beauty and majesty with both Hagia Sofia and Suleimaniye Mosque which was the masterwork of Mimar Sinan, the teacher of Mehmed Ağa.

There is a legend which says that the six minarets of Sultanahmet are actually a misunderstanding: a confusion between the Turkish words altın ‘gold’ and altı ‘six’. Who knows. Anyway, the amount of minarets caused a small scandal in the Muslim world: is Sultanahmet competing Masjid-il-Haram of Mecca? Ahmed I solved the problem by having one more minaret built in Mecca.

The Sultan was a god-fearing man:

Avlunun batı girişinde, demirden ağır bir kordon bulunmaktadır. Bu kordon, avluya atıyla giren padişahın kafasını çarpmamak için eğmesini gerektiriyordu. There is a heavy iron cord in the western gate of the mosque yard. When the Sultan entered on horseback this cord forced him to bow in order not to hit his head.

Sultanahmet Mosque has a concrete link also to our hero traveller. Next time when you enter the building from the main entrance pay attention to the door. It has been elaborated by the dervish and silversmith master Mehmed Zilli who was Evliya Çelebi´s father.

http://www.byzantiumistanbul.com/detay.asp?detayid=216

http://ekonomi.haberturk.com/teknoloji/haber/757288-ayasofyanin-temeli-arsimete-mi-dayaniyor

Ayasofya´nın temeli Arşimet´e mi dayanıyor?

Ayasofya birçok açıdan hayranlık uyandıracak bir yapı ama buradaki önemli nokta diyagramlar ve sayılarla tasarlanmış olmasıydı. Bu kesinlikle matematikçilerin işiydi. Hagia Sophia is an awe-inspiring building in a lot of ways but what is important here is its being projected with graphs and calculations. It was certainly work of mathematicians.

When Emperor Justinianus I wanted to build the greatest building on earth he hired two scientists, the mathematician Tralles of Anthemius and the physicist Isidore of Miletus:

Antik dönem kaynaklarında Anthemius ve İsidoros için mimar yerine daha çok mühendis anlamına yakın olan mekhanikos veya mekhanipoioi kelimesi kullanılmıştır. Trallesli Anthemius çalışmalar başladıktan kısa bir süre sonra ölünce, Miletli İsidoros kiliseyi tek başına bitirmiştir. İsidoros’un hocası olduğu sanılan Anthemios mekanik cihazlar, hidrolik konular üzerinde çalışan bir matematikçi ve fizikçiydi. İsidoros’un parabol çizmeye yarayan bir pergel icat ettiği bilinmektedir. In the sources of ancient history instead of being called architects Anthemius and Isidoros are called ‘mekhanikos’ or ‘mekhanipoioi’ whose meaning is close to engineer. As Tralles of Anthemius and died shortly after the works had begun, Isidore of Miletus finished the chuch alone. Anthemius who is believed to have been Isidore’s teacher was a mathematician and physicist who worked on mechanic apparatus and questions of hydraulics. It is known that Isidoros invented a compass which could be used for drawing a parabole.

Isidore was a specialist of Archimedes´s mathematics and he probably made some corrections to the manuscricpts of the ancient master. His three codexes were kept in Istanbul, the last one until 1912, and recent research has proved their ideas are manifested in the engineering of Hagia Sophia. My layman thinking says it must have something to do with the greatness of the dome because Archimedes’s most important achievement was to count the volume of the sphere. On his own request a sphere and a cylinder were put in his tomb in Sicilia as a symbol of his life’s work.

"SACRIFICE" OF OTTOMAN SULTAN

In the first day morning of the muslim festival of sacrifices (Eid al Adha), while the Sultan returns to the seraglio from celebrations, after he gets off the state carriage (if before times from the horse) seven animals are sacrificed with ceremony. After the Sultan steps the steppingstone,the chamberlain of treasury who is waiting ready there, steps forward and sho

http://www.osmanli700.gen.tr/padisahlar/28index.html

http://www.bizimsahife.org/Kutuphane/Osmanli_Tarihi_Ans/Osmanli_Tarihi_K/274_Kabakci_Mustafa.htm

Kabakçı Mustafa İsyanı

Selim III (reign 1789-1807) was one of the most remarkable Ottoman rulers: a learned man, a humanist, a reformer, a Sultan who was greatly loved by his people. He was forced to resign and finally killed by reactionarists.

Selim was the first Sultan who made a noteworthy effort to renew Ottoman army. (Well, let’s not forget the ill-fated Osman II whom the corrupted Janissary gangs tortured to death because he also had similar intentions  -   the boy was only 18.) After Ottomans suffered serious losses in the war against Russia Selim founded a system called Nizam-ı Cedid, including military troops inspired by the modern Prussian army. These new army units successfully fighted Napoleon in Egypt.

A coup named after its leader Kabakçı Mustafa followed. It was agitated by the grand vizier and the religious leaders. They say France also used the anger of Janissaries for its own revenge. The main scene of these events was Atmeydanı (Sultanahmet Square) where several statesmen were executed. Maybe the gentle-hearted Sultan waited too long before he gave orders to subjugate the revolting Janissaries, maybe his trusted troops were occupied in the Russian front. In any case, in the end Selim III was forced to say these words:

"Böyle isyankar tebanın hükümdarı ve halifesi olmaktansa olmamak daha iyidir.” It is better not to be the emperor and the kaliph than to be the emperor and the kaliph of such rebellious people.”

The 1807 revolt cancelled Nizam-ı Cedid and put an end to reforms in the fields of administration, education and army.

Kabakçı Mustafa isyânı, Osmanlı Devleti’ne maddî ve manevî bir çok zararlar verdi. Devletin ilerlemesi için gerekli olan kabiliyetli devlet adamlarının öldürülmesi kayıpların en büyüğü idi. The rebel of Kabakçı Mustafa caused great material and moral damage to Ottoman Empire. The biggest loss was the killing of those skilful statesmen whose contribution was essential for the development of the country.

Anyway, countdown had begun for the Janissaries who were to be fully abolished in 1826.

Kentlerin Gerçek Yüzleri,

Köşelerinde Gizlidir

Daracık arka sokaklarında, çarşılarında, binalarında… Kentler, oralarda gösterir en mahrem yanlarını, çünkü ruhları oralarda dokunmuştur yıllar boyu o kentin insanının. In the narrow back streets, bazaars, buildings…that is where cities show their most intimate side, because the souls of the people of that city was woven there year in and year out.

The Spice Bazaar was originally part of the social complex built next to Yeni Cami. It was located in an ancient Jewish market place and just like the mosque itself, it had existed as a plan for a long time before it was actually completed by architect Mustafa Ağa in 1664. Rents of the shops were used for the upkeep of the mosque. The bazaar got its name from Egypt:

Mısır Çarşısı adını Mısır ülkesinden alır. Çünkü Osmanlı zamanında Mısır’dan gelen baharatlar, kuru yemişler, tahıllar ve yiyecekler burada İstanbullulara satılırdı. Ayrıca çarşının büyük bir kısmı Mısır’ın başkenti Kahire’den alınan vergiler ile yapılmıştır. The Spice Bazaar got its name from the country of Egypt. That is because in Ottoman times spices, dried fruit, grain and food products which were brought from Egypt were sold to Istanbul inhabitants here. Besides, a big part of the bazaar was built with the taxes collected from Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

The bazaar burned twice into ashes, in 1691 and 1940, but was restored afterwards. It has been built in the shape of L and the place where the short and the long wing meet is called ‘square of invocations’. It is symbolically an important place:

Burada bulunan ezan köşkü ile ezan saatlerinde ezan okunur ve bir din görevlisi esnaflara bereket için dua eder. The call to prayer is recitated in the adhan pavilion here at the times of prayers, and a religious official prays blessing for the shopkeepers.

The Bazaar has six doors. The second floor of the building originally functioned as a courtroom where disputes with customers or between sellers were solved.

Oriental perfumes and luxurious spices like black pepper came from India via Egypt to Venice. Istanbul also got its share because on those days the Medıterranean was like an inland lake for the Ottomans. The Spice Bazaar also became a center of herbalists’ trade and knowledge.

Bu çarşı, yıllarca her derde deva olmuş kurutulmuş bitkilerin, çeşit çeşit otların ve yüzlerce tür baharatın buluştuğu o eski dev günlerin kalıntılarını halen saklamakta. This bazaar is still saving the remnants of those great days when it brought together heal-all dried plants, various herbs and hundreds of different kinds of spices.

http://www.serenti.org/kiz-kulesi-tarihcesi-ve-efsaneleri/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24VEKG3TI-4

Kız Kulesinin Misafirleri

The best known legend of the Maiden’s Tower is an Istanbul version of the fairy tail about Sleeping Beauty. A sultan loved his little daughter dearly. Oracles saw in the stars that the princess will be bit by a poisonous snake on her 18^th birthday. As an attempt to save his daughter from this destiny, the sultan had a castle built on a small rock in the sea to keep the girl far away from snakes. But  -  auch!  -  an uninvited visitor sneaked to the rocky islet hidden a box of grapes and gave the princess a mighty sting.

In the reality Kız kulesi has had many functions since it has been standing there in the entrance of Bosphorus only 200 metres from the bank of Üsküdar  -  Its history dates back to the 5^th century B.C. even though it got its present shape as late as in 1832.

* It was used as a customs station in the Byzantion times. A long chain was adjusted between the tower and a fortress in the European side of Bosphorus.  The fee was worth one tenth of the cargo of the ship.

* During the Ottoman period artillery fire was shot in the Maiden’s Tower during feasts and celebrations.

* While being used as a lighthouse Kız kulesi burned into smoking ruins in 1721 after the lamp oil burst into flames.

* The Chief Harem Eunuch Morali Beşir Ağa who had fallen into disfavour was executed on the island in 1752.

* Infected patients were isolated on the island during the great plague epidemy which killed up to 30 000 people in İstanbul in the 1830’s.

* The island was a radar station of the navy until 1983.

* In 1995, the island was rented to a private company to be used as a tourist spot.

The Maiden’s Tower was always an excellent place to keep an eye on the Bosphorus:

Kulenin giriş kapısı Üsküdar tarafına bakmakta ve doğu tarafı hariç her üç tarafında da toplam yedi adet top mazgalı bulunmaktadır. Bu mazgallar Sarayburnu ve boğazı tarassut altına almak için, kuzey ve batıdaki altı tanesi duvarlara 90 derece, güneydeki bir tanesi ise daha eğik bir açı ile inşa edilmiştir. The entrance of the castle is facing Üsküdar and there is a  total of seven embrasures for cannons in every side except the east. In order to observe the strait and Sarayburnu, the northern and western embrasures have been built with a 90-degree angle against the walls while the southern one has a wider angle.

http://wowturkey.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=52299

http://tr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fenerbah%C3%A7e_feneri

http://www.denizcigunlugu.com/sikca-sorulan-sorular/926-osmanli-bogazici-deniz-fenerleri-kiz-kulesi.html

İstanbul’daki Deniz Fenerleri

Boğazın Marmara girişindeki Yeşilköy ve Ahırkapı fenerleri gibi, Karadeniz girişinde de Rumeli ve Şile fenerleri durmaksızın yanıp sönmektedir. Just like Yeşilköy and Ahırkapı do at the Marmara entrance of Bosphorus, Rumeli and Şile lighthouses continuously flash on and off at the Black Sea entrance.

There are 37 small and big lighthouses along the Bosphorus Strait. Look how they wink:

http://www.bekirdildar.com/denizfeneleri_net/istanbulda/istanbulda.htm

Historically the most interesting ones are Fenerbahçe, Yeşilköy, Ahırkapı, Rumeli and Şile. At times, Kız kulesi has also been used as a guide for sailors.

The story of Fenerbahçe dates back to the Byzantine period when a lighted castle was built over the cliffs to meet vessels at the southern entrance of the Bosphorus. The lighthouse was mentioned by the name Bağçe-i Fener in Ottoman documents as early as in the days of Suleiman the Magnificient. It was probably built again in the beginning of the 18^th century. Ahmed III, the Emperor of the reformative and humanist Tulip era, had his vizier’s head cut off and body thrown to the sea from the Fenerbahçe lighthouse. The present building has been standing there in Kadiköy since 1837.

İngiliz işgali sırasında İngiliz askerleri kuleye çıkmak isterler. Fenerci Mediha Hanım ve annesi, içkili askerleri ellerinde sopayla kovarlar. During the English occupation, English soldiers wanted to enter the tower. The lighthouse keeper Mediha Hanım and her mother drove the drunken soldiers away with sticks in their hands.

In 1755 a disasterous shipwreck took place in front of Kumkapı . While emperor Osman III was watching the resque work a sailor told him there is an urgent need for a lighthouse in the strait. Today Ahırkapı in the district of Fatih in is the second highest lighthouse in Turkey and its height is at 40 metres above sea level.

Ahırkapı Feneri, fenercilik geleneğinin son örneği olan fenerde bir ailenin yaşadığı son Fenerlerden.  The Ahırkapı lighthouse which represents the highest technics of lighthouses is one of the last lighthouses where a family lives.

The biggest lighthouse in Turkey is in the Black Sea side of Bosphorus. The 60-metre-high black and white Şile feneri was built by a French constructor in 1859 during the Crimean war in order to protect English and French ships passing through the strait. Şile lighthouse now functions as a museum.