1.
Culture of the Ottoman Empire
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Ottoman culture evolved over several centuries as the ruling administration of the Turks absorbed, adapted and modified the cultures of conquered lands and their peoples. Tevfik Fikret, born in 1867, is considered the founder of modern Turkish poetry. Nevertheless, a number of genres - the travelogue, the political treatise, from the 19th century, the increasing influence of the European novel, and particularly that of the French novel, began to be felt. Şemsettin Samis Taaşuk-u Talat ve Fitnat, widely considered the first Turkish novel, was published in 1872, other notable Ottoman writers of prose were Ahmet Mithat and Halit Ziya Uşaklıgil. The most significant figure in the field, the 16th-century architect and engineer Mimar Sinan, was a Muslim convert of Armenian descent and his most famous works were the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne and the Suleiman Mosque in Constantinople. One of his pupils, Sedefkar Mehmed Agha, designed the early 17th century Blue Mosque, the Diwani script is a cursive and distinctively Ottoman style of Arabic calligraphy developed in the 16th and early 17th centuries. It was invented by Housam Roumi, reaching its greatest development under Süleyman I the Magnificent, the highly decorative script was distinguished by its complexity of line and by the close juxtaposition of the letters within words. Other forms included the flowing, rounded Nashki script, invented by the 10th-century Abbasid calligrapher Ali Muhammad ibn Muqlah, noted Ottoman calligraphers include Seyyid Kasim Gubari, Şeyh Hamdullah, Ahmed Karahisari, and Hâfiz Osman. The weaving of such carpets originated in the cultures of central Asia. Turks used carpets, rugs and patterned kilims not just on the floors of a room, but also as a hanging on walls and doorways and they were also commonly donated to mosques, which often amassed large collections of them. Hereke carpets were of high status, being made of silk or a combination of silk and cotton. Other significant designs included Palace, Yörük, Ushak, and Milas or Türkmen carpets, Yörük and Türkmen represented more stylized designs, whereas naturalistic designs were prevalent in Palace. The Ottoman Empire was noted for the quality of its gold- and silversmiths, jewelry had particular importance as it was commonly given at weddings, as a gift that could be used as a form of savings. Silver was the most common material used, with gold reserved for more pieces, designs often displayed complex filigree work and incorporated Persian. Apart from the traditions of its constituent peoples, the Ottoman Empire evolved a distinct style of court music. This was a vocal form, with instrumental accompaniment, built on makamlar. Another distinctive feature of Ottoman music were the mehterân, the bands used by the Janissaries. These bands were the ancestors of modern bands, as well as of the brass ensembles popular in traditional Balkan music
2.
Ottoman Empire
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After 1354, the Ottomans crossed into Europe, and with the conquest of the Balkans the Ottoman Beylik was transformed into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the 1453 conquest of Constantinople by Mehmed the Conqueror, at the beginning of the 17th century the empire contained 32 provinces and numerous vassal states. Some of these were later absorbed into the Ottoman Empire, while others were granted various types of autonomy during the course of centuries. With Constantinople as its capital and control of lands around the Mediterranean basin, while the empire was once thought to have entered a period of decline following the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, this view is no longer supported by the majority of academic historians. The empire continued to maintain a flexible and strong economy, society, however, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of their European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian Empires. While the Empire was able to hold its own during the conflict, it was struggling with internal dissent. Starting before World War I, but growing increasingly common and violent during it, major atrocities were committed by the Ottoman government against the Armenians, Assyrians and Pontic Greeks. The word Ottoman is an anglicisation of the name of Osman I. Osmans name in turn was the Turkish form of the Arabic name ʿUthmān, in Ottoman Turkish, the empire was referred to as Devlet-i ʿAlīye-yi ʿOsmānīye, or alternatively ʿOsmānlı Devleti. In Modern Turkish, it is known as Osmanlı İmparatorluğu or Osmanlı Devleti, the Turkish word for Ottoman originally referred to the tribal followers of Osman in the fourteenth century, and subsequently came to be used to refer to the empires military-administrative elite. In contrast, the term Turk was used to refer to the Anatolian peasant and tribal population, the term Rūmī was also used to refer to Turkish-speakers by the other Muslim peoples of the empire and beyond. In Western Europe, the two names Ottoman Empire and Turkey were often used interchangeably, with Turkey being increasingly favored both in formal and informal situations and this dichotomy was officially ended in 1920–23, when the newly established Ankara-based Turkish government chose Turkey as the sole official name. Most scholarly historians avoid the terms Turkey, Turks, and Turkish when referring to the Ottomans, as the power of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum declined in the 13th century, Anatolia was divided into a patchwork of independent Turkish principalities known as the Anatolian Beyliks. One of these beyliks, in the region of Bithynia on the frontier of the Byzantine Empire, was led by the Turkish tribal leader Osman, osmans early followers consisted both of Turkish tribal groups and Byzantine renegades, many but not all converts to Islam. Osman extended the control of his principality by conquering Byzantine towns along the Sakarya River and it is not well understood how the early Ottomans came to dominate their neighbours, due to the scarcity of the sources which survive from this period. One school of thought which was popular during the twentieth century argued that the Ottomans achieved success by rallying religious warriors to fight for them in the name of Islam, in the century after the death of Osman I, Ottoman rule began to extend over Anatolia and the Balkans. Osmans son, Orhan, captured the northwestern Anatolian city of Bursa in 1326 and this conquest meant the loss of Byzantine control over northwestern Anatolia. The important city of Thessaloniki was captured from the Venetians in 1387, the Ottoman victory at Kosovo in 1389 effectively marked the end of Serbian power in the region, paving the way for Ottoman expansion into Europe
3.
Ottoman architecture
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Ottoman architecture is the architecture of the Ottoman Empire which emerged in Bursa and Edirne in 14th and 15th centuries. For almost 400 years Byzantine architectural artifacts such as the church of Hagia Sophia served as models for many of the Ottoman mosques, overall, Ottoman architecture has been described as Byzantine architecture synthesized with architectural traditions of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. The Ottomans achieved the highest level architecture in their lands hence or since, today, one finds remnants of Ottoman architecture in certain parts of its former territories under decay. With the establishment of the Ottoman Empire, the years 1300–1453 constitute the early or first Ottoman period and this period witnessed three types of mosques, tiered, single-domed and subline-angled mosques. The Hacı Özbek Mosque in İznik, the first important center of Ottoman art, is the first example of an Ottoman single-domed mosque, the domed architectural style evolved from Bursa and Edirne. The Holy Mosque in Bursa was the first Seljuk mosque to be converted into a domed one, among these are the Fatih Mosque, Mahmutpaşa Mosque, the tiled palace and Topkapı Palace. The Ottomans integrated mosques into the community and added soup kitchens, theological schools, hospitals, Turkish baths, during the classical period mosque plans changed to include inner and outer courtyards. The inner courtyard and the mosque were inseparable, the master architect of the classical period, Mimar Sinan, was born in 1489/1490 in Kayseri and died in Istanbul in the year 1588. Sinan started a new era in world architecture, creating 334 buildings in various cities, Mimar Sinans first important work was the Şehzade Mosque completed in 1548. His second significant work was the Süleymaniye Mosque and the surrounding complex, the Selimiye Mosque in Edirne was built during the years 1568–74, when Sinan was in his prime as an architect. The Rüstempaşa, Mihriman Sultan, Ibrahimpasa Mosques and the Şehzade, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman, Roxelana, most classical period design used the Byzantine architecture of the neighboring Balkans as its base, and from there, ethnic elements were added creating a different architectural style. During the reign of Ahmed III and under the impetus of his grand vizier İbrahim Paşa, due to its relations with France, Ottoman architecture began to be influenced by the Baroque and Rococo styles that were popular in Europe. The Baroque style is noted as first being developed by Seljuk Turks, examples of the creation of this art form can be witnessed in Divriği hospital and mosque a UNESCO world heritage site, Sivas Çifteminare, Konya İnce Minare museum and many more. It is often called the Seljuk Baroque portal, from here it emerged again in Italy, and later grew in popularity among the Turks during the Ottoman era. Various visitors and envoys were sent to European cities, especially to Paris, to experience the contemporary European customs, the decorative elements of the European Baroque and Rococo influenced even the religious Ottoman architecture. On the other hand, Mellin, a French architect, was invited by a sister of Sultan Selim III to Istanbul and depicted the Bosphorus shores and the pleasure mansions placed next to the sea. During a thirty-year period known as the Tulip Period, all eyes were turned to the West, however, it was about this time when the construction on the Ishak Pasha Palace in Eastern Anatolia was going on. Beginning with this period, the class and the elites in the Ottoman Empire started to use the open
4.
Iznik pottery
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The designs combined traditional Ottoman arabesque patterns with Chinese elements. The change was almost certainly a result of intervention and patronage by the recently established Ottoman court in Istanbul who greatly valued Chinese blue-and-white porcelain. During the 16th century the decoration of the pottery gradually changed in style, becoming looser, initially turquoise was combined with the dark shade of cobalt blue and then the pastel shades of sage green and pale purple were added. Finally, in the middle of the century, a very characteristic bole red replaced the purple, the ceramic collection of the Topkapi Palace includes over ten thousand pieces of Chinese porcelain but almost no Iznik pottery. Following the establishment of the Ottoman Empire in the early 14th century, after this initial period, Iznik vessels were made in imitation of Chinese porcelain, which was highly prized by the Ottoman sultans. As the potters were unable to make porcelain, the vessels produced were fritware, the originality of the potters was such that their use of Chinese originals has been described as adaptation rather than imitation. Chinese ceramics had long admired, collected and emulated in the Islamic world. This was especially so in the Ottoman court and the Safavid court in Persia which had important collections of Chinese blue-and-white porcelain, such Chinese porcelains influenced the style of Safavid pottery and had a strong impact on the development of Iznik ware. By the mid-16th century, Iznik had its own vocabulary of floral, decoration progressed from pure symmetry to subtle rhythms. Although it is now believed that all the pottery was produced in Iznik the earlier names associated with the different styles are often used. In the 19th century until the 1860s all Islamic pottery was known as Persian ware. However, between 1865 and 1872 the Musée de Cluny in Paris acquired a collection of polychrome pottery with a design that included a bright sealing-wax red. The ewer has an inscription in Armenian script under the glaze on its base stating that the vessel was in commemoration of Abraham, servant of God, as a result, pottery with similar spiral patterns became known as Golden Horn ware. It was not until the 1930s that art historians realised that the different styles of pottery were probably all produced in Iznik. This chronology has been generally accepted, the Abraham of Kutahia ewer of 1510 is not the only vessel with a possible Kütahya origin. Lane argued that it was unlikely that either the Abraham of Kutahia ewer or the bottle had been made in Kütahya. The designs, materials and manufacturing technique appear to have similar to that used in İznik. Kütahya is further from Istanbul with less access to the capital and was probably only a small pottery producing centre in the 16th century
5.
Islamic calligraphy
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Islamic calligraphy is the artistic practice of handwriting and calligraphy, based upon the alphabet in the lands sharing a common Islamic cultural heritage. It includes Arabic, Ottoman, and Persian calligraphy and it is known in Arabic as khatt Islami, meaning Islamic line, design, or construction. The development of Islamic calligraphy is strongly tied to the Quran, chapters, deep religious association with the Quran, as well as suspicion of figurative art as idolatrous has led calligraphy to become one of the major forms of artistic expression in Islamic cultures. As Islamic calligraphy is highly venerated, most works follow examples set by well established calligraphers, in antiquity, a pupil would copy a masters work repeatedly until their handwriting was similar. The most common style is divided into angular and cursive, each divided into several sub-styles. Some styles are often written using a metallic-tip pen, Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels, carpets, and inscriptions. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing, the advent of paper revolutionized calligraphy. While monasteries in Europe treasured a few volumes, libraries in the Muslim world regularly contained hundreds. Coins were another support for calligraphy, beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value, generally the coins were inscribed with quotes from the Quran. By the tenth century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, so precious were calligraphic inscribed textiles that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the Abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer near Caen in northwestern France, Kufic is the oldest form of the Arabic script. The style emphasizes rigid and angular strokes, which appears as a form of the old Nabataean script. The Archaic Kufi consisted of about 17 letters without diacritic dots or accents, afterwards, dots and accents were added to help readers with pronunciation, and the set of Arabic letters rose to 29. It is developed around the end of the 7th century in the areas of Kufa, Iraq, the style later developed into several varieties, including floral, foliated, plaited or interlaced, bordered, and squared kufi. There were no set rules of using the Kufic script, the common feature is the angular, linear shapes of the characters. Common varieties include square Kufic, a known as bannai. Contemporary calligraphy using this style is popular in modern decorations
6.
Meddah
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Meddah is the name given to a traditional Turkish story teller, who played in front of a small group of viewers, such as a coffeehouse audience. This form of performance was popular in the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century onwards. The play was generally about a topic, the meddah playing different characters. The meddah would use such as an umbrella, a handkerchief, or different headwear, to signal a change of character. There was no limitation on the shows, a good meddah had the skill to adjust the story depending on interaction with the audience. Meddahs were generally traveling artists whose route took them from one city to another, such along the towns of the spice road. The repertoires of the meddahs also included stories, modified depending on the audience, artist. The Istanbul meddahs were known to integrate musical instruments into their stories, in 2008 the art of the meddahs was relisted in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The meddah originally started as the narrators of religious and heroic tales, such kıssahan existed during the Seljuq period and usually told Arabic and Persian epics, stories of Ali and Hamza, as well as tales from One Thousand and One Nights. These stories expanded over time to include such as Battal Gazi. The tradition of kıssahan continued into the Ottoman period, as evidenced by the documentation of a kıssahan working in the palace named Mustafa during the reign of Mehmed II. In time, all became known as meddah and their stories became more and more secular. They began to imitate animals and make innuendos to attract the attention of the audiences, according to a scholar, this occurred when the Mohammeddan clergy forbade any reference to the saints in the plays. Between the 16th and the 18th centuries, the meddah increased their influence in the society and they remained popular into the 20th century. However, the tradition of the ended by the middle of the 20th century, with Sururi, active until the 1930s. Whilst traditional story-telling weakened in Turkish society, the function the meddah had was taken up by the ashik
7.
Ottoman classical music
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Classical Turkish music, sometimes known as Ottoman classical music, developed in Istanbul and other major Ottoman cities and towns through the palaces and Sufi lodges of the Ottoman Empire. Above all a vocal music, Ottoman music traditionally accompanies a solo singer with an instrumental ensemble. In recent times, instruments might include tambur, ney, kemençe, keman, kanun, sometimes described as monophonic music, the variety of ornamentation and variation in the ensemble requires the more accurate term heterophonic. Ottoman music has a large and varied system of modes or scales known as makams, there are more than 600 makams that have been used so far. Out of these, at least 119 makams are formally defined, in the Sufi teaching, each makam represents and conveys a particular psychological and spiritual state. Sometimes, in certain makams, Ottomans would use different instrumental and vocal musical pieces in order to certain medical and psychological conditions. A number of systems were used for transcribing classical music. Turkish classical music is taught in conservatories and social clubs, the most respected of which is Istanbuls Üsküdar Musiki Cemiyeti, a full fasıl concert would include four different instrumental forms and three vocal forms, including a light classical song, şarkı. A strictly classical fasıl remains in the same throughout, from the introductory taksim to the end. Tanrıkorur argues that the differences between the traditional music genres stemmed from the cultural clash between the East and the West that emerged during the Tanzîmat Era. Older instruments still in use include lavta, Ottoman classical music comprises many vocal and instrumental forms, among which are the suites called fasıl. A fasıl typically includes many instrumental and/or vocal movements, including taksim, peşrev, şarkı, beste, Ottoman music has various genres including the spiritual, improvised and fasil music. Other famous proponents of this genre include Dede Efendi, Prince Cantemir, Baba Hamparsum, Kemani Tatyos Efendi, Sultan Selim III, the most popular modern Turkish classical singer is Münir Nurettin Selçuk, who was the first to establish a lead singer position. Other performers include Bekir Sıdkı Sezgin, Alaeddin Yavaşça, Müzeyyen Senar, Emel Sayın, the long list of Turkish words on the screen are names of individual makam. Each makam has its own quality and repertoire, click on any of these to get a list of the music available to view. TurkMusikisi, the premier Turkish-language website dedicated to Ottoman music, highly recommended, regardless of Turkish ability. Secular classical music, selection from gazel improvisation sung by Safiye Ayla mp3,829 kB,0,00,53 duration Mosque music, selection from Merhaba bahrı sung by Kâni Karaca mp3,1. It explores the history, reviews the instruments of Turkish classical and folk music and it is available in four languages, Turkish, English, French and German
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