David French, the former director of the British Institution at Ankara, who died on Friday (pictured right), was a leading figure in British archaeological research in Turkey for six decades. For just over a quarter of a century, he was Ankara Director of the Institute, then an exclusively archaeological body....
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Archaeology, Obituaries
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istanbul
An Anglo-Turkish moment: JF Lewis’s portrait (almost certainly) of the great Egyptologist Sir John Gardner Wilkinson
By John Scott | March 17, 2017
This witty portrait by the Orientalist painter John Frederick Lewis can be found this weekend at BADA, the British Antique Dealers’ Association’s annual fair in Chelsea (March 15–21). In Guy Peppiatt Fine Art’s catalogue notes, the art historian and JF Lewis-expert Briony Llewellyn describes the sitter in Turkish costume as...
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istanbul
By John Scott | November 11, 2016
It was with enormous sadness that we learned of the passing of the great Byzantine historian Anthony Bryer. The funeral service was held yesterday at St Peter's Church, Harborne, in Birmingham. Professor Emeritus of Byzantine Studies at the University of Birmingham, or simply Bryer, as he was known to all,...
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History, Obituaries
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In conversation with the artist and cartoonist Cem Dinlenmiş about his exhibition ‘You’ll Know When You See It’ at x-ist
By Emma Harper | February 23, 2016
When it comes to recent developments in Turkey, sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying. One of the best at finding the humour in what would otherwise make you weep is Cem Dinlenmiş, the artist and cartoonist whose weekly ‘Anything Goes’ (‘Her Şey Olur’) column in
Penguen pointedly...
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istanbul
From The Paper Diaries 2015, by Deborah Wargon
By Malika Browne | November 25, 2015
A work by Deborah Wargon at her recent Istanbul exhibition. Photograph: Monica Fritz In a house in Balat on a quiet street just past St Mary of the Mongols, a fish is pinned to the wall above a bed. ‘My friend, the owner of this house, tells me this house...
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Contemporary Art
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By Victoria Khroundina | August 21, 2015
If you’ve been following the blog, you will know I have been travelling these past few weeks. Last weekend I finally got around to visiting Cappadocia, and out of all the places I have been to in Turkey this awed me the most. The otherworldly landscape peppered with fairy chimneys,...
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Nature, Photography, Travel
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istanbul
By Victoria Khroundina | August 14, 2015
If you want to get up close and personal with Turkey’s Mediterranean coast there’s no better way to do so than by boat. You can stay in a town such as Fethiye, Kaş, Kalkan or Antalya, and take daily boat trips or, better still, hire your own boat and spend...
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Modern Art, Photography, Travel
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istanbul
By Cornucopia UK | March 20, 2015
Joobin Bekhrad’s moving tribute to Yaşar Kemal in
Reorient magazine perfectly encapsulates the legacy the novelist left not only within Turkey’s literary history, but for storytelling in general. Bekhrad lovingly calls Kemal, who passed away last month, a ‘hero’. Writing the piece in his Toronto apartment, Bekhrad is surrounded by Kemal’s...
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Literature, Obituaries
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A tribute by Andrew Finkel
By THE CORNUCOPIA BLOG | July 9, 2014
I walk most days past Aslanyataği Street in the Cihangir neighbourhood of Istanbul – which translates as the Lion’s Den. It is a tiny loop of an alleyway and I know it better for a particular building called Jones Apt which was home to the Mango family, scions of the...
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Obituaries
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istanbul
‘Shah Abbas’ Gifts to the Serenissima’ exhibition
By Cornucopia UK | March 19, 2014
A fascinating exhibition on display at the Chamber of the Scrutinio in the Doge’s Palace in Venice traces the history of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Venice and the Safavid Persia under the rule of Shah Abbas the Great (1587–1629). The show specifically highlights the gifts exchanged between the two powers...
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Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Fine Art, History, Islamic Art
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istanbul
The scholar and archaeological explorer who restored the frescoes of Ayasofya in Trabzon
By Cornucopia | January 12, 2014
During the eight and a half decades of his life, David Winfield, who died a few months ago on the island of Mull, was by turns a writer on architectural aesthetics, possibly the leading restorer anywhere of Byzantine frescoes, a skilled conservationist who was the National Trust’s first-ever national Surveyor...
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Obituaries
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By David Barchard | December 10, 2013
Osman Streater, who died on November 22, might have seemed to be simply the ultimate London gentleman, a Chairman of a London Club, a leading figure in City PR, an amusing but always well-informed conversationalist, and unfailingly polite and courteous, with his ironic sense of humour kept just a little...
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News, Obituaries
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By John Scott | August 26, 2013
What appeared to be a cousin of this chap (photograph courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) dropped by for tea in Yeniköy yesterday. Perfectly good manners. Enjoyed a walnut. Could any reader explain what on earth it was doing on the Bosphorus? Our friendly black squirrel sported an elegant patch of white...
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istanbul
Archaeobotany workshop with Dr Chantel White
By Victoria Khroundina | August 17, 2013
Cornucopia’s editor John Scott gave his keen observations of last Wednesday’s archaeobotany workshop at Yedikule
bostans (gardens) with Dr Chantel White in yesterday’s blog. Today I will take you through Chantel’s own observations.
The area of the Yedikule gardens marked on a map of Istanbul A bit of background: the...
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Culinary Arts, History, News, Talks and Lectures
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istanbul
By John Scott | August 16, 2013
At first it seemed it would be impossible to follow Chantel White's softly spoken words as she described the changing fortunes of Yedikule's
bostans. Perfectly audible above the rustling leaves that muffled the distant traffic, she was hardly to blame. It was a good talk, not a wasted word – occasionally...
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istanbul
By Julie Witford | August 7, 2013
The Central Orchestra of the General Staff of the Mongolian Armed Forces had a day trip to Hawick today to see where a lot of the cashmere from their 30 million goats ends up. Here a young Mongolian woman poses on top of the broad shoulders of the athletic Borderer,...
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Music & Performing Arts, Highlights Around The World
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istanbul
The ongoing destruction of Istanbul's cultural heritage
By John Scott | July 8, 2013
YEDİKULE YEDİKULE YEDİKULE! Before reading this, fling open your window, fill your lungs with air and bellow '
Yedikule!' three times very fast. For anyone in earshot who ever called Istanbul home, it will bring a tear to the eye. Now sit down and brace yourself. This is yet another sad...
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Architecture, Culinary Arts, History, News, - Gezi Protests, Travel
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By Cornucopia TR | February 20, 2011
This review must begin by examining the joke of a title that is !f Istanbul Independent Film Festival. What makes this festival independent? Is it that it is run by AFM Cinemas, Turkey’s largest cinema chain which generally ignores anything resembling independent film? Or perhaps we can thank its primary...
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Film
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By Cornucopia TR | February 18, 2011
Something which came to our attention via the ever-informative H-Islamart website: "I am looking for a workshop co-director with whom I would like to collaborate and propose a workshop for the 13th Mediterranean Research Meeting to take place in Florence from 21-24 March 2012. My tentative title for the workshop...
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Talks and Lectures
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By Cornucopia TR | February 18, 2011
On 22 February, Professor Edhem Eldem (above) will give a talk at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, entitled "From Tughra to Coat of Arms: Redefining Ottoman State Symbolism." This will consider the changing ways in which the Ottomans sought to define themselves through visual means, whether as Islamic rulers...
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Talks and Lectures
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