2007 — New English Paperback. Pbo. 4to. (28 x 24 cm). In English and Turkish. 172 p., color and b/w ills. Wall, arch, dome: Byzantine Istanbul in the eyes of Ottoman photographers.= Sur, kemer, kubbe: Osmanli fotografçilarinin gözüyle Bizans Istanbulu. [Exhibition catalogue]. Text: Samih Rifat. One of the most outstanding characteristics of Istanbul's Byzan-tine monuments, as captured by Ottoman photographers, is their role as priceless documents in the city's history. The period between the second half of the 19th century and the turn of the 20th century is marked by profound changes in Istanbul with respect to urban structure, historical texture and monuments. A careful eye readily notices the considerable transformations spread over a hundred, hundred and fifty years in Istanbul city walls, Galata Tower, Hagia Sophia and the Hippodrome area. These photographs are replete with valuable clues for today's researchers, restorers, architectures and urban planners. Nonetheless, there is something beyond the obvious in these images: Istanbul's remaining city walls, arches, and domes of a far away past continue to survive in another form of existence in these old photographs, which reflect an age closer to us in time, yet just as rapidly vanished. The discolored surfaces permeating an indescribable sense of the old add another layer, another epoch to the historical richness of the city. Comprised of a selection from the Suna and Inan Kiraç Foundation Old Istanbul Photographs Collection, Wall Arch Dome ventures us into a journey in the same milieu and in a different time dimension. Yet, on this occasion, we find ourselves in an Istanbul more ancient, more distant than the Republican or Ottoman days; it is a Byzantine Istanbul of monuments, ruins and almost imperceptible traces from thousands of years past.
