Cihan News Agency, Turkey
Aug 25 2014
Never-before-seen images of Topkapý Palace in new book
ISTANBUL – 25.08.2014 18:39:25
More than 100 previously unseen images of Ãstanbul’s Topkapý Palace
Museum have recently been compiled in a new book, published by the
Ãstanbul Metropolitan Municipality’s cultural body Kültür A.Þ.
A total of 118 miniatures, engravings and photos have been brought
together in the book “Resimli Belgelerde Topkapý Sarayý” (Topkapý
Palace in Visual Documents), written by Hilmi Aydýn, who served the
museum in various positions between 1990 and 2005.
Aydýn mostly focused on the changes the palace went through between
the 16th and 19th centuries in compiling the photos of the palace,
which was home to the Ottoman sultans and their harem.
Most of the photos in the book were taken by the Ottoman-Armenian
photographers the Abdullah Frères (brothers) — Viçen Abdullahyan,
Hovsep Abdullahyan and Kevork Abdullahyan — and by the studio of
Pascal Sébah and Polycarpe Joaillier at the end of the 19th century
and the beginning of the 20th century.
The miniatures provide a comparison between the former and later
periods of some locations in the palace such as the pavilions, the
garden and the doors. Some of the engravings depict now non-existent
parts of the palace, including seaside mansions and kiosks. The oldest
engraving in the book was made by Guillaume-Joseph Grelot in 1680 and
depicts the Sepetçiler Kasrý, which was wrongly named the Sinan
Pavilion by the artist.
(Cihan/Today’s Zaman)
From: Baghdasarian