Archival Memories: Marcell Restle’s Research in Anatolia and Beyond

ANAMED Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations, İstiklal Caddesi No. 181, Merkez Han, Beyoğlu, İstanbul

Extended from November 2, 2020, to November 29, 2021, ANAMED’s latest exhibition, Archival Memories: Marcell Restle’s Research in Anatolia and Beyond , opened for the 5th International Sevgi Gönül Byzantine Studies Symposium, presents to academic and broader audiences in Istanbul the distinctive personality of one of 20th-century Istanbul’s most influential art historians.

Marcell Restle took on a pioneering role in the systematic examination of the heritage of Cappadocia, one of the crossroads of Anatolia; his detailed studies of Byzantine architecture and mural paintings across this wide region is considered from many perspectives to be the beginning of the modern art-historical study of Cappadocia. He was also a superb architectural photographer. His images of the south portal of the Süleymaniye and the Byzantine church of Ferneri Isa are particularly memorable.

In the course of an intense career that lasted approximately 60 years and led to the near-complete loss of sight, Restle produced an extensive archive of thousands of slides, photographs, written documents, technical and photogrammetric drawings, and video and sound recordings, all the result of meticulous and patient labour. Two years before his death, in 2014, Restle donated this rich collection to the Department of Art History of the University of Vienna.

Curated by Lioba Theis, Su Sultan Akülker and Caroline Mang, the exhibition presents a small but important part of this collection that bears the deep traces of a life dedicated to science. Strongly recommended.