Tag: istanbul

Postcard from Istanbul, Turkey: Tooting horn about restitution of artifacts

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Above: Stag rhyton, Milas, Turkey, 400 BCE, displayed in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum

The elegant stag rhyton pictured above must have been quite a status symbol for its owner in ancient Turkey. Today’s value of the combination wine aerator and drinking vessel, $3.5 million, probably made it even more so for the billionaire American collector who acquired it without verifiable provenance.

For decades, Michael Steinhardt displayed a rapacious appetite for plundered artifacts without concern for the legality of his actions, the legitimacy of the pieces he bought and sold, or the grievous cultural damage he wrought across the globe. His pursuit of ‘new’ additions to showcase and sell knew no geographic or moral boundaries, as reflected in the sprawling underworld of antiquities traffickers, crime bosses, money launderers, and tomb raiders he relied upon to expand his collection.”

Cyrus Vance, Jr., District Attorney of Manhattan, December 2021 Statement

Now it is part of a growing collection of repatriated stolen antiquities proudly showcased in the Istanbul Archaeological Museum.

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Postcard from Istanbul, Turkey: Controversies resurface with conversion of Chora

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Above: Angels surround an image of the Virgin Mary and Child in a 14th-century Byzantine fresco in the dome crowning a side chapel of the former Church of the Holy Saviour in Chora, recently reopened as the Kariye Mosque.

I have no religion, and at times I wish all religions at the bottom of the sea. He is a weak ruler who needs religion to uphold his government; it is as if he would catch his people in a trap.” 

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938)

For many in Turkey, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk remains the most respected figure in the republic’s history. Banners bearing Ataturk’s image still flutter across streets and on buildings throughout Istanbul.

Following the defeat of the Ottoman Empire during World War I, Ataturk led a successful revolution against the Allied Forces to prevent them from dividing up Turkey as spoils of war. He abolished the Sultanate and then proclaimed Turkey an independent republic in 1923.

As the country’s first president, Ataturk launched a host of aggressively progressive reforms: free and compulsory elementary level education for all; equal rights for women; and secularization of the state. Later, both Hagia Sofia and Chora Church were converted into museums, demonstrating Turkey’s tolerance of different religions.

In 2020 to cement his support on the conservative right, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan succeeded in convincing the court to overturn Ataturk’s original decree and announced the conversion of both into mosques. The conversions were accompanied by a promise to keep the mosques accessible to those of all faiths.

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Postcard from Istanbul, Turkey: A far from innocent obsession

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Above: Detail of 4,213 cigarette butts collected and dated for exhibition in the Museum of Innocence

When those visiting my museum note that beneath where each of the 4,213 cigarette butts is carefully pinned, I have indicated the date of its retrieval. I hope they will not grow impatient, thinking I am crowding the display cases with distracting trivia: Each cigarette butt in its own unique way records Fusun’s deepest emotions at the moment she stubbed it out.”

Kemal, the main character and the narrator of Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Nothing I could possibly dream up could convey obsession with such immediate clarity.

The top quotation from Kemal’s thoughts in Orhan Pamuk’s 2009 novel, Museum of Innocence, does not appear until Chapter 68 of the 83-chapter book. The entire chapter is devoted to these fetish souvenirs of unobtainable love.

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