The Rise (and Return) of Ottoman Nostalgia / A. ERSOY

IISMM

Conférence d'Ahmet Ersoy (Université du Bosphore) - Le 21 février 2018 Chaire sécable de l'IISMM/EHESS "The Rise (and Return) of Ottoman Nostalgia: On the Use and Abuse of Architecture as History" The lecture investigates the historicist pursuits of late Ottoman architects as they maneuvered through the nineteenth-century’s vast inventory of available styles and embarked on a revivalist/Orientalist program they identified as the “Ottoman Renaissance.” It reveals how Orientalism was embraced by the Ottomans as a nostalgic pursuit, and as a universally recognizable marker of authenticity. While exploring the historical context of the late Ottoman invention of Ottoman nostalgia, it also touches upon the recent implications of the phenomenon in the official and popular culture of contemporary Turkey.