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Istanbul's Early Tourists: Connecting "Constantinopoli" and 19th Century Italian Travel Writers with Dr. Luca Orlandi

Istanbul's Early Tourists: Connecting "Constantinopoli" and 19th Century Italian Travel Writers with Dr. Luca Orlandi


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Can't make this time? A video recording will be sent to all participants after the seminar.

 Join us as we present diaries, postcards, illustrations, and other first-hand accounts that reveal the Levantine world in Constantinople and then Istanbul – as experienced by Italian artists, ambassadors, and businessmen who some would say kick-started Istanbul's "modern" tourism industry between 1800 and the beginning of the Great War. This period of history encompassed Costantinopoli's formal transition into the present-day city of Istanbul.
 Archived accounts of daily life, left behind in sketchbooks and diaries by travelers (diplomats, traveling clergy, journalists, artists, and more) provide us an exclusive and unique perspective from which to cross-examine daily life and Turkish culture during this tumultuous era. Those early travelers witnessed and discovered the so-called Levantine world – the urban Western-like environment in which they lived, the iconic architectural marvels they built, and the several languages they intermingled with their daily routines. These Italian accounts often display a sense of intense curiosity and befuddlement by the daily habits and traditions displayed among the Muslim Turks whose nation they were touring. 
Led by an expert on Ottoman Architecture and Genoese in the Levant, Luca Orlandi, this Conversation will compare and contrast the contrasting experiences of Turkish locals and Italian travelers in the 1800s and 1900s – the golden age for Grand Tours of Europe. Together we will examine the unique perspective which "modern" travelers brought to the former Capital of the Roman Empire. Designed to provoke curiosity as well as inspire future travels to Istanbul, participants will come away with an increased understanding of Istanbul's layered heritage as viewed through the lives of its early tourists. 

Luca Orlandi is an architect and an architectural historian. He graduated from the Faculty of Architecture at University of Genoa (Italy) and obtained a PhD in 2005 from the Polytechnics of Turin (Italy), within the program: History and Critics of the Architectural and Environmental Heritage. He lives in Istanbul and works as Assistant Professor Dr. in the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Özyeğin University (OZU). He teaches courses such as: History of Architecture, Contemporary Architecture, and Architectural Design Studio. He often participates in lectures, seminars, and workshops in other Turkish universities and abroad, mainly in Italy. He is an active member of ICOMOS Italy and his fields of interest cover several topics like Ottoman Architecture and Master Sinan, Contemporary Turkish Architecture, as well as Genoese Heritage in the Orient and Travelogue and Narratives about the Levant.

This conversation is suitable for all ages.

90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.

Customer Reviews

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Maria Robinson (San Francisco, US)
Another fascinating and well researched architecture exploration!

Outstanding lecture by Dr. Orlandi on Constantinople

Customer Reviews

Based on 1 review
100%
(1)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
M
Maria Robinson (San Francisco, US)
Another fascinating and well researched architecture exploration!

Outstanding lecture by Dr. Orlandi on Constantinople