This exhibition has been organized by the Réunion des musées nationaux and IKSV (Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts) as part of the Season of Turkey in France (July 2009 – March 2010).
Byzantium, renamed Constantinople and then Istanbul, has always been a meeting place and a centre for cultural encounters. Its geographical location makes it both a continental and maritime crossroads, as confirmed by the excavations carried out in 2004 when the undersea tunnel for the future metro was being dug. This chronological exhibition will set out the different stages in the city’s history. The site, which has been occupied since the Palaeolithic period, became a focal point as a result of the Bosporus for large flows of migrants from the Balkans towards Anatolia. The documented existence of a port for over eight thousand years, is the sign of an eminent and prosperous trading point, the key point in a route running from north to south. The economy and daily life of Byzantium, founded by the Greeks in the 7th century BC, were governed by the city’s position. Roman occupation did not alter this identity, but added activities related to the stationing of garrisons.
The city became a capital following the split between the Eastern and Western Roman Empires in 330 and was renamed Constantinople in tribute to the Emperor Constantine. Its position as a commercial, political, military and religious centre grew until the end of the Middle Ages. Different ethnic groups have always intermingled there. The modernized ancient city – the port, city walls, main thoroughfares, the forum, the hippodrome, the palace and Hagia Sophia – were added to by Venetian and Genoese influences from Galata. The “Latin invasion” which took place throughout the fourth crusade saw Western law imposed between 1204 and 1261, prior to a restoration and then the city’s fall to Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, following the decline of the surrounding Empire.
Mehmed II the Conqueror wanted to make the city a point from which to dominate East and West and the capital of a new Muslim empire. His reign and those of his successors, such as Bayezid II, Selim I and Suleiman I the Magnificent, saw Christian buildings – the most important of which was Hagia Sophia – converted to the needs of Islam. Similarly, the construction of the new palace and a fort on the eastern coast of the Bosporus and the appearance of mosques and medressas were the result of an ongoing policy of public works. The face of the city was transformed, reflecting the growth of the Ottoman Empire. Christian communities nevertheless remained and the city continued to be cosmopolitan.
In terms of power, many accounts and numerous representations have been left to us of official ceremonies, processions, religious festivals, hunting expeditions, ambassadors’ receptions and great royal events. We also know about the daily life of the city’s residents through specific objects used in crafts, commerce, music, land and maritime transport, religious practices, etc.
The slow and gradual integration of Istanbul into the West ended with a transformation in military and social customs. This transformation can be especially well observed through clothing and the city’s expansion along the Bosporus, whose banks in particular provide the sites for the new palaces of Dolmabahce, Beylerbeyi and Ciragan.
The exhibition brings together around 300 objects from Turkish, French and international public collections. In conclusion, a special place will be reserved for the Port of Theodosius which has recently been discovered at the Yenikapi site in the centre of Istanbul, where a station is being constructed for the metro which will link the European and Asian banks of the Bosporus.
Exhibition organizer
Nazan Ölçer, Director, Sakip Sabanci Museum, Istanbul
Layout design
Boris Micka
Exhibition catalogue: edited by Edhem Eldem, director of the history department at the University of the Bosporus, Istanbul and historian of the Ottoman Empire.
Useful Information
Address
Galeries nationales du Grand palais
Entrance Clemenceau
3, avenue du Général Eisenhower
75008 Paris
Opening hours
Every day except Tuesdays and 25th decembre from 10am to 8pm (Evening opening Wednesdays until 10pm)
Admission
€ 11, concession € 8
Access
M° 1, 9, 13 : Franklin-Roosevelt or Champs-Élysées Clemenceau
Audioguide
5 €
French, English, Turkish
Rmn Publications
exhibition catalogue: 49 €€
album : 9 €
petit journal : 16 pages, 3,50 €
