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EXHIBITION OF SULEIMAN’S AGE The exhibition “The Age of Sultan Suleiman, the Magnificent” was first displayed in the US states Washington D.C., Chicago, and New York between 25 January 1987 and 17 January 1988. It attracted an extraordinary interest from many thousand visitors. This led to the requests from a number of other countries to have the exhibition. The Ministry of Culture decided to display the exhibition also in the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Australia. It was displayed both at the Art Gallery of New South Wales in Sydney between 27 June and 26 August 1990 and at the National gallery of Victoria in Melbourne between 7 September and 25 November 1990. The exhibition attracted a great deal of interest at both venues. It was the first time that an exhibition had been sent to Australia from Turkey. It was an important event in the development of Turco-Australian relations and coincided with the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the International Cultural Cooperation of Australia.
The exhibition comprised 111 works of art chosen from among the collections in the Topkapi Palace Museum, Turkish-Islamic Art Museum, and Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Cinili Kosk, and Istanbul University Library. Museums in such countries as the UK, France, Denmark, Austria, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia contributed with some additional complementary works. Care was taken to choose objects reflecting the aspects of the Suleiman’s era, his personality, his likes, and his administration as well as the social and economic conditions, architectural richness, the sciences, and the culture of the time.
Among the works displayed were manuscripts on scientific, literary and religious subjects that were produced in the imperial workshops. The “Kitab-i Bahreyn” (Book of Maritime), which contains the Captain Piri’s map, attracted special attention. Metallic objects encrusted with jewels, ceremonial swords and shields, ceramics and tiles, royal robes and other embroidered garments were among the attractions of the exhibition.
The exhibition received a lot of positive criticisms in the foreign press. The following lines published in the USA indicate that the exhibition served its aims:
“‘The Exhibition of Suleiman’s Age’ means more than solely being the first exhibition of some extraordinary works of art for the first time in the Western World. This is the end of a long-lasting neglect and ignorance of a real culture. Any nation that has the power of creating such beauties can never be neglected.”
THE TRADITIONAL BLACKSEA LIFE STYLE EXHIBITION
The Traditional Blacksea Life Style Exhibition is held in the Trabzon Cultural Centre, and reflects the history and cultural life of Trabzon, and the Kemeralti Bazaar – the historical centre of trade. The traditional handicraft “silver filigree” is exhibited here. It is peculiar in terms of both design and craftsmanship which is the product of a combination of hands, eyes, heart and love and which reflects the creativity of the people of Trabzon. Copper is processed delicately in the hands of the craftsmen of Trabzon. The colourful waist-clothes, which are peculiar to the region and which show diversity from one locality to the other, and “keshan” – the traditional regional head cover – continue to be part of the daily lives in our handicrafts. The woodwork in Trabzon, where all the tones of green can be seen at the same time, is an important part of the daily life. The branches of hazelnut trees turn into wickerwork in the skilful hands of the Blacksea people. From cradle linings to stockings, from bags to saddlebags, wool textile industry is one of the important elements of the daily life. The traditional Trabzon towels still decorate the windows of the shops in Kemeralti. The Trabzon linen shirt has been one of the subjects of the folk songs. The sorrows and joys of the young girls of the Blacksea region can be seen in the motifs of their needlework. Steel turns into knives in the hands of skilful craftsmen of Surmene district.
Male and female garments, which are produced almost in all villages and districts, reflect the richness of the traditional culture, and the jewellery are the unequalled symbol of aesthetic taste.
THE CEVDET SUNAY MUSEUM
Cevdet Sunay was born in Atakoy village, 21 km. away from Çaykara district. Born in 1900, Mr. Sunay became the Chief of General Staff, a senator, and the fifth president of the Republic of Turkey. He died in 1982 and his house was restored and converted into a museum in 2001.
The house is a typical two-storey village dwelling. The outer walls are made of cut stones and the inner parts are made of wood. The basement is used as a depot. The ground floor has two doors, one on the east side and one on the west side. There is a large living room in the entrance, and it is redesigned as an original traditional living space. On the walls are many photographs reflecting different periods of Mr. Sunay’s life. The study contains Mr. Sunay’s books, photos, other documents, and some furniture. The museum is worth seeing as one travels through the beautiful countryside of Ataköy on the way to the famous Sultan Murat Yayla (mountain pasture).
THE TRABZONSPOR SOCCER CLUB MUSEUM
The Trabzonspor Soccer Club was established in 1927 in order to unite the three sports clubs – Idmanocagi, Karadeniz Gücü and Martispor. The club has won many awards in football, swimming, wrestling, rowing, judo and shooting.
The museum is on the second floor of the Sadri Sener Social Facilities building in Halkevi Street. The building is an historical one, and the museum in it displays the many cups reflecting the successful history of the club.
The oldest document in the museum is the document in Ottoman about the establishment of the Idman Ocagi Sports Club that was given in 1921. The museum displays a statute of Atatürk and a flag that were given by Mustafa Kemal Association in 1924 and various cups. It also displays the medals, plaques and various certificates of achievement won by Idman Ocagi, Idman Gücü, Karadeniz Gücü and Martispor sports clubs before they united in 1967.
The most interesting cup in the museum is the “half cup” won by Idman Ocagi in an amateur football tournament in 1958. At the end of the tournament the Idman Ocagi and Ankara Hava Gücü teams had the same points and same averages. The two teams rejected playing a second match. Upon this, the two teams were announced as champions and the cup was cut into two. Each team was given one half of the cup.
Another interesting cup in the museum is the one that was won by Idman Ocagi after beating Besiktas 1-0 in 1965. The ball that was used in this game is also displayed there. The most valuable cup in the museum is the Cyprus Peace Cup won by Trabzonspor in a tournament in its first year in the Premier League. Near the exit of the museum are the two windows that exhibit the cups and certificates won by the Junior and PAF (Professional Amateur Football) teams. As the six-time winner of the Premiere League, seven-time winner of the Presidential Cup and six-time winner of Cup of Turkey, Trabzonspor has an invaluable place in the history of Turkish sports.
VILLAGE HOUSES EXHIBITION
The Village Houses Exhibition was opened in May 1996 on a 900-sqm land that was annexed to the Hagia Sophia Museum site at the end of 1993. The purpose of this exhibition is to preserve some of the riches of our folk culture and to present a small cross section of the village life to the visitors of the museum.
An old “serander” in the Yukari Kislacik village of the province of Of was disassembled and reassembled in its new site under the supervision of an 85-year-old serander master. This portable building is also known as “serendi” or “tekir”, and is used for drying and storing grain. It has a very special place in the folk architecture in the Eastern Blacksea region. The 3.90m x 3.30m serander stands on six wooden pillars and is made of chestnut wood without using any studs. On top of the pillars just before they meet the main body are round discs to prevent mice from climbing up. These discs may be wood or stone. As can be seen in this example, seranders do not have fixed staircases. Portable staircases are used to climb upstairs.
On one side, it has a balcony with railings. The balcony is for the products that have to be protected in the open air. The inner part of the building is used to store grain and fruits. The other sides have small window-like openings for ventilation. The roof has extended eaves to get better protection from the rain and is covered with local clay tiles. The decorations on three sides of the door replicate other examples of its kind. These decorations consist of plain geometric carvings. The iron door braces are also replicas of other examples of its kind.
Next to the serander is a small one-storey village house. It is a replica of the old houses in Yukari Aksu village of Surmene district near Trabzon. The building was built by masters of such buildings who knew traditional building techniques. The façades are made of chestnut wood using the interlocking technique. The technique forms rectangular shapes on the façades which are further divided by diagonal woods forming triangular shapes. The triangular shapes on two of the façades are empty and the triangular shapes on the other two façades are filled either with stone or earth. The roof has four sides with extended eaves, and is covered with clay tiles.
It has two rooms and a kitchen. The floor of the kitchen is covered with pressed earth as in the original buildings. In the kitchen area, ceiling is simple and it has no covering on the main beams. Above the fireplace in the kitchen, there is a small hole on the ceiling to serve as a funnel. A chain hangs from one of the horizontal wooden beams over the fireplace. The floors of the rooms are higher than the floor of the kitchen. The rooms have wooden floors and ceilings. All the doors and windows including the locks are replicas of their original examples.
The interior design of the house was made according to the information gathered from many villages. The materials used in the design of the house are authentic and they were chosen from among the materials kept in the depot of the museum. The cauldron hanging from the hook at the end of the chain over the stone fireplace, a cupboard in a corner in which copper utensils are kept, a wooden table, some wooden troughs of differing sizes, a flour chest, sieves hanging on the walls, churns made of earth, and hand grinders of various sizes can be seen in the kitchen.
In one of the rooms, a small loom used to produce shawls and cotton or silk cords, which is still in good working condition, is displayed together with other textile tools. The other room is designed a bridal chamber where there is an ornate wooden cradle, an adorned trousseau chest, traditional clothes and other objects.
On a separate location near the serander are a “choten” (a large cylindrical basket made of branches of a hazelnut tree used in the past to collect fallen leaves), a basket, a stone mortar and a knife-sharpener.
This annexed area is separated from the area of the Hagia Sophia Museum with iron railings and looks like a small village square with its house, serander, baskets, miniature field, stone path, and different trees. This area also contains a small café which is a replica of a rural café and which serves tea and coffee to the personnel and the visitors. The area on which this small-scale open-air village museum was built is covered with grass. All efforts were made to provide the visitors with a natural look of the village life in the region. No artificial materials were used.
For the time being, this exhibition reflects only a small part of our folk culture. In the future, by extending the exhibition area, the scope of this exhibition will be enhanced to contain more aspects of our folk culture.
German Version
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