I have decided to do my paper on Ottoman Architecture for a multitude of reasons.
For instance, how many people even know about the Ottomans besides their domination of Constantinople or their fall in WWI? I choose the Ottoman's because they are so undermined and deserve much more credit for being the only Islamic Empire to reign from the Balkans, to the Middle East, and stretch across most of Northern Africa. They were so successful in establishing a major superpower back then and now we mistake them for a piece of furniture we put our feet on. I chose to focus primarily on their form of architecture, not only because I find the topic interesting, but because they completely redesigned Constantinople into their image. I find it fascinating how a huge, traditional Christian Byzantine city became the capital to the Islamic empire of the Ottomans. Almost immediately after they took control of the once prized possession of the Byzantines, they completely changed the city; renaming it Istanbul and constructing mosques, palaces, monuments, and even a system of aqueducts; they even made the Hagia Sophia, a once glorious Christian church, into a fitting mosque for a capital. Yet, they did see the beauty of the city and decided to preserve it, making a city that has both Turkish and Byzantine architectural style. To capture and understand their logic in the remodeling of Constantinople and to learn and explain why and how they had reformed a Christian Sanctuary into a Islamic capital are my main goals in this paper.
I think this a really interesting topic, as are all the others out class has chosen. It's great that you could work on something that sounds to be of serious interest to you! Will you focus more on the historical influences on architecture or the religious/cultural? I personally think both papers would be intriguing. I don't know much about the Ottoman Empire, besides what you stated above, so I'm looking forward to learning more about it.
ReplyDeleteEdit: I think this *is* a really interesting topic.
ReplyDeleteDitto to what Emily said. Also are you going to go into the mathematics around the differences in structures between the different architectural designs? The combination of all subjects will really make this a much stronger paper as an audience would be able to understand every aspect of the Architecture and how it was important to the culture. This could possibly tie a bit with Carly's paper as hers is about Greek art which may contrast with the hidden beauty of the architecture you study. Good luck!
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