On the shores of Calabria, a boy gazed out at the sea under the crimson light of dawn. On the horizon, the sails of Mediterranean ships hinted at a future that would take him far beyond his small town. At only eleven years old, he was meant to be sent to a seminary in Naples. But fate had other plans: …
Imagine boarding a train in Istanbul and riding it all the way to Madine across Anatolia, through war affected Syria, past the rose red city of Petra in Jordan and into the heart of the Arabian Peninsula. For a brief window in history, this journey was real. And now, more than a century later, it may be possible again. In …
Wars live on through their battles, commanders, and body counts. Rarely, though, do we stop to recall the soldiers who said no men who looked across a rifle barrel and chose not to pull the trigger. Not because they were cowards. Because they saw a human being on the other side. In the Greco-Turkish War of 1919-1922, one such group …
Women in Istanbul protested the high cost of living and the shortage of meat for the first time on 13 May 1808. They marched to the house of the Istanbul Qadi (chief judge), waving poles with pieces of liver -the cheapest meat at the time- tied to the ends, along with empty pots and pans they had grabbed, as a …
In the autumn of 1865, two Ottoman corvettes – Bursa and İzmir – set sail from Istanbul on a mission that should have been unremarkable: a long but well-charted voyage around the Cape of Africa to reach Basra in the Persian Gulf. The Suez Canal had not yet been opened, so the route demanded sailing the full length of the Atlantic. Aboard …
Sultan Abdulhamid II, who took his personal passion for carpentry a step further after ascending to the throne, practically turned introducing and teaching Western-style furniture across the empire into a state policy. From Traditional Interiors to Western-style Furniture In the Ottoman Empire, which had sustained its traditional interior design identity for centuries, modernization brought a rupture: there was now a …
We know you are already familiar with the fact that first animal hospital in the world was built on the fertile soil of Anatolia. What about a book hospital? Yes, there is one in Istanbul! Books are far more than ink on paper -they are silent witnesses to the past, carriers of knowledge, culture, and spirit across the ages. But …
When travelers walk through today’s Istanbul -past Hagia Sophia, the Land Walls, or the quiet streets of Fatih– it is easy to forget that this city’s most dramatic transformation was once witnessed not by its conquerors, but by a defeated Greek aristocrat who chose to write rather than flee. His name was Michael Critobulus of Imbros. Writing only a few years …
With its deep-rooted cultural richness, Turkey projects many Ramadan traditions and values into the present day. As the month of Ramadan begins, we have listed enduring Ramadan customs -passed down from generation to generation- that reinforce social solidarity, strengthen communal unity, and contribute to the preservation of cultural heritage. Mahyas on Mosque Minarets Although the tradition of lighting oil lamps …
As the sun sets during Ramadan, a powerful sound breaks the silence: a cannon fires, signaling that it is time to break the fast. The iftar cannon tradition is more than a timekeeping method: it is a ritual rooted in history, empire, and communal identity. But where did this dramatic Ramadan custom begin? The exact origin of the Ramadan cannon …