Stone age renaissance by Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring with photographs by Simon Upton and Ahmet Igdirligil
Turkey's most innovative archtects are learning from the nation's fast vanishing heritage while there is still time. Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring report on the work of Ahmet Igdirligil, a man dedicated to bringing the logic and fabric of the past into the present day.
Lime washed walls focus the eye on simple shapes and natural colours in one of Ahmet's new houses
Kamil Gok has lived all his life in the village of Derelikoy, in the heart of the Bodrum peninsula among people who neither sculpt nor paint. In 1972 he became an impulsive sculptor, first decorating his house, then building massive fountains for the use of his fellow vllagers. As his work proliferated his neighbours turned against him...
Although this triangular corner house has been rebuilt, it still contains remnants of Kamil Gok's original painting. His grocery shop bakkal,now closed, also contans some of his decorations.
A place for the books The library of Ahmet Vefik Pasha by Patricia Daunt with photographs by Simon Upton
Secluded on a cliff beside the fortress of Rumeli Hisari is a kiosk that was once the retreat of a bon vivant bibliophile.
Top: The library in the days of Ahmet Vefik Pasha The photograph is from a catalogue of the library sale in 1893, which is now in the Legatum Warnerianum of Leiden University Library.
Below: The library after Italian architect Vallaury's transformation which was completed in 1902
Ahmet Vefik Pasha
On the roof of the world by Godfrey Goodwin with photographs by Simon Upton
The sixteenth-century Atik Valide Mosque in Uskudar was built as a tribute to the beautiful Venetian woman, captured by Barbarosso, who went on to dominate the Ottoman court. Godfrey Goodwin witnesses the skilful recladding of the mosque's magnificent dome
Also see Cornucopia 36 for Robert Ousterhout's report on the restoration of the Zeyrek Camii
Travel
Birds in paradise by Alice Carswell with photographs by Nafiz Guder
The Goksu delta is a wild and windy wetland of marshes, reeds and just the occasional bird-watcher. Here, thousands of the rarest birds break their journey across the Levant.
The autmn of he saffron gatherers Text and photographs by Andrew Byfield
Exotic, enigmatic, irresistible: saffron is the spice of kings and worth its weight in gold. Near the town of Safranbolu in north-west Turkey lie the countries last few fields of this precious crocus.
Cookery
Jewels of the fall Pickles and relishes Text and photographs by Berrin Torolsan
Nothing from the supermarket shelf can compare with home-made autumn pickles, with their jewel colours of amber, ruby, jade and coral and their mouthwatering tingle.
For a complete list of Berrin Torolsan's cookery stories in Cornucopia, see our cookery index. Selected recipes are also available online: menus.
Recipes for preserves of beetroot, tomatoes, peppers, aubergine, cucumber, cabbage, melon and pears.
Art
The changing Amazon by Jennifer Scarce
Scholars are exploding the stereotype of the submissive sex. Depictions of Anatolian women through the ages, seen recently at a memorable exhibition at the Topkapi Palace, are part of their ammunition.
Left: Bronze-age double idol in hammered gold from Alacahoyuk.
Right: Marble Roman figure of Tyche, goddess of good fortune, complete with cornucopia
Related articles: Mothers, Goddesses and Sultans, the Brussels exhibition. Cornucopia 33
Chinoiserie in the Bellini by John Carswell
Giovanni Bellini's masterpiece in Washington includes three distinctive pieces of blue-and-white porcelain. John Carswell pieces together the fragments of a fscinating story, following their trail from China to Venice via Istanbul.
