Monica’s meanderings
By Monica Fritz | February 3, 2018
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The once rusting St Stephen of the Bulgars in Balat has opened its doors again after years of silence and then restoration. This extraordinary structure now gleams from tip to toe, with the Fener/Balat weekend crowds of local tourists pouring in. The church was made of cast iron in Vienna,...
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istanbul
A memorable London must-see
By Cornucopia UK | February 3, 2018
The mid-19th century Alphabet of London includes this entry, and shows the importance of the British Museum's collection from the Lycian city of
Xanthos. Elgin's marbles don't get a mention. This comes from the Bishopsgate Institute in London. Xanthos features in Barnaby Rogerson and Rose Baring's article on the Lycean...
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istanbul
A cornucopia at The London Antique Rug & Textile Art Fair
By Cornucopia UK | January 25, 2018
The Decorative Antiques and Textiles Winter Fair in London’s Battersea Park is in full swing, with 150 exhibitors putting a huge variety of items on display. In the upstairs mezzanine the gloriously colourful world of LARTA, the London Antique Rug & Textile Fair, spreads out its wares. Pictured here is...
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istanbul
A Sunday afternoon at the splendid Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi Yalı
By Cornucopia UK | January 17, 2018
Hekimbaşı Salih Efendi Yalı perches like a queen’s ruby underneath the Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, the object of envy for casual boaters who dream of residing in summer mansions. From the back, it hides behind the stone wall that rims the main seaside road past Anadolu Hisarı. With the clouds...
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istanbul
Europa Nostra puts the Greek Orphanage on a short list
By Cornucopia UK | January 17, 2018
The Greek Orphanage on Büyükada, formerly Prinkipo, largest of the Princes Islands, is one of 12 heritage sites shortlisted for the ‘7 Most Endangered’ programme for 2018, just announced by Europa Nova, at the start of the new European Year of Cultural Heritage. The story of the Greek Orphanage, built...
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istanbul
The tactile exhibitions taking over Karaköy
By Cornucopia UK | January 12, 2018
The new space housing four galleries (with one more across the way) in Karaköy allows the terrific experience of a different artistic thrill on every floor. I was struck by how many of these exhibitions don’t seem to translate to photographs; the textures and intricacies are best experienced up close....
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istanbul
Monica's meanderings (cont.)
By Monica Fritz | December 10, 2017
Uskudar's flea market is one, or maybe even the last, of the bazaars in Istanbul where a bargain is still to be found. On a Saturday afternoon the empty shops and busier workshops have a sleepy atmosphere – a shopkeeper actually remembered me from when I bought my first furniture...
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istanbul
A Day at One of Istanbul’s Hottest Venues
By Ezgi Üstündağ | December 4, 2017
When I walked into Salon IKSV on November 10, ceramic mug and notebook in hand, it was the first time I’d ever seen it empty. The brightly-lit room–a dark grey floor connecting the small stage on one end to the sound booth and bar stocked on the other, with stairs...
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istanbul
The Haydarpaşa old books festival
By Monica Fritz | December 3, 2017
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Today, December 3, is the last day of the Haydarpasa Sahaf Festival, an alternative way to browse second-hand books on the first track of the semi-abandoned, mythical train station jutting out into the Bosphorus that once served travellers to far-off destinations across Asia from Baghdad to Tehran. You can still...
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istanbul
Ai Weiwei's provocative porcelain works
By Cornucopia UK | November 23, 2017
The Biennial has wrapped up but there’s still plenty of art to see in the city. If you were too busy exploring Biennial events to see some of the other notable exhibits, now is your chance.
Ai Weiwei On Porcelain at Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Emirgan The Chinese artist and provocateur...
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istanbul
10th Annual Nâzım Hikmet Poetry Competition Accepting Submissions through January 15, 2018
By Ezgi Üstündağ | November 13, 2017
Poets around the world are invited to submit their original work to the 10 th annual Nâzım Hikmet Poetry Competition. The competition, judged by award-winning academics, poets and translators, will remain open until January 15, 2018. Aside from a monetary award of $100, competition winners and honorable mentions will be invited to read...
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istanbul
Monica’s meanderings
By Cornucopia | November 11, 2017
A beautiful Golden Horn morning view from a hidden-away student cafe called Mimar Sinan Cafe on a side street off of the Süleymaniye Mosque. The spectacle unfolds four storeys up a dark and kitsch stairwell. Photograph: Monica Fritz (part 3 of her series of Sunday postcards)
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istanbul
Monica’s meanderings
By Cornucopia | November 5, 2017
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Moda, October 15, 2017 Istanbul loves a good sunset. Monica Fritz,
Cornucopia’s photographer-at-large, captures the dying day in Moda on the Asian side of the Bosphorus. Sharpshooters, lovers, smart phones and fishermen gather on the shore of the Sea of Marmara to share the moment. Café life in the...
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istanbul
The sultan’s glittering gift has been re-created
By Cornucopia UK | October 30, 2017
Was it Horatio or his chelengk that attracted Emma? In the 1941 film
That Hamilton Woman Laurence Olivier played Lord Nelson opposite Vivien Leigh’s Emma Hamilton. The wife of the British Ambassador in Naples, William Hamilton, was clearly not the only feather in the admiral's cap. The sparkling turban decoration,...
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istanbul
Monica's meanderings
By Cornucopia | October 29, 2017
In a year that has been one of the most financially crippling in its 500-year history the Grand Bazaar resiliantly raises morale by celebrating today's Republic Day (Cumhuriyet Bayramı) with all the gusto it can summon. Here flags and Atatürk banners bring a festive glow the Yağlıkçılar Sokak, the lively...
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istanbul
Jordi Savall plays in his Ottoman world
By Cornucopia UK | October 24, 2017
The concert at the Wigmore Hall in London on Saturday (see Events), given by Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI, is an opportunity for a British audience to get to know more about Dimitrie Cantemir (1673–1723), whose collection of Turkish, Armenian and Sephardic works in his
Book of the Science of...
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istanbul
The muralist that inspired the cover of the new Cornucopia
By Cornucopia | October 23, 2017
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Barış Suyabatmaz, the artist whose mural features so prominently in Monica Fritz's photograph on the cover of the latest
Cornucopia, out this week, made his career following his family’s footsteps. He is the grandson and son of Istanbul sign-painters
and the great-grandson of an Ottoman calligraphist and teaches Traditional Arts...
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istanbul
Portrait of an Artist, the Howard Hodgkin sale at Sotheby’s, October 24, 2017
By Thomas Roueché | October 15, 2017
That Howard Hodgkin (1932–2017) was an important collector of Indian Art is well known – not least from the frequent displays of his work internationally (two might be
Visions of Mughal India: The Collection of Howard Hodgkin, at the Ashmolean, Oxford; and
Sultans of Deccan India, 1500-1700, Opulence and Fantasy,...
Posted in
Fine Art, Islamic Art
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Two shows that transcend the Beyoğlu doldrums
By Cornucopia UK | September 29, 2017
İstiklal Caddesi is one of those confounding urban space that can be a heavenly mix of history, vitality and culture, or a hellish experience stumbling over concrete slabs and construction sites, so it’s only appropriate that two exhibitions on the avenue explore the holy and the profane.
Behind Mt. Qaf...
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istanbul
By Cornucopia UK | September 22, 2017
Istanbul's 15th Biennial,
A Good Neighbour, arrives in a Turkey grappling with a particularly eventful two years. I’ve had the opportunity so far to see three of the six main exhibition spaces: The Galata Greek Primary School, the Pera Museum, and the Istanbul Modern. While it’s heartening to see so...
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istanbul
