}

Hippodrom/ Atmeydanı

A Stage For Istanbul's History

February 16 - April 18, 2010

The Hippodrome was the largest and one of the most significant buildings in Byzantine Constantinople. Located in the heart of the city beside the Great Palace, it was not only an arena for chariot races -the most exciting and popular spectator sport from the 4th to the 7th century- but also a place where emperors were created, military victories celebrated, and rulers collectively acclaimed by the people. Atmeydanı, on the other hand, became one of the most important and lively public spaces of Ottoman İstanbul. “The Hippodrome/Atmeydanı: A Stage For İstanbul’s History” exhibition examined this very special and colorful square of the city, which has also hosted a variety of consequential incidents during the foundation of the Republic, through artefacts, architectural drawings, photographs and daily life objects, and took the İstanbulites on a tour of their city’s different recollection spanning from the 4th to the 20th century.

Exhibition Catalogue

Hippodrom/ Atmeydanı

Hippodrom/ Atmeydanı

The Hippodrome was the largest and one of the most significant buildings in Byzantine Constantinople. Located in the heart of the city beside the Great Palace, it was not only an arena for chariot...

Il Cavallo di Leonardo

Il Cavallo di Leonardo

In 1493, exactly 500 years ago, Leonardo da Vinci was finishing the preparations for casting the equestrian monument (4 times life size), which Ludovico il Moro, Duke of Milan commissioned in memory of his father some 12 years earlier. 

History of a Khanjar

History of a Khanjar

Henryk Weyssenhoff, author of landscapes, prints, and illustrations, devoted much of his creative energies to realistic vistas of Belorussia, Lithuania, and Samogitia. A descendant of an ancient noble family which moved east to the newly Polonised Inflanty in the 17th century, the young Henryk was raised to cherish Polish national traditions.

From the Age of Reason to the “Tortoise Trainer”

From the Age of Reason to the “Tortoise Trainer”

A Salon exhibition held in the Grand Palais in Paris on May 1, 1906 showcased an Ottoman painting. This was Osman Hamdi Bey’s famous “Tortoise Trainer”.