İstanbul

The Great Architech Sinan (Koca Mimar Sinan)

The Great Architech Sinan (Koca Mimar Sinan)
Sinan is considered the greatest Ottoman architect of the Ottoman Empire's Architectural heritage. It is generally assumed that Sinan was born in the year 1490. It is also assumed that he spent his youth in the village of Agirnas near Kayseri until conscription (devsirme) to the "masters of carpenters". At age 22, Sinan is then…
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Florence Nightingale

Florence Nightingale
The most important military confrontation during the reign of Sultan Abdülmecid (1823, 1839-1861) was the three-year Crimean War (1853-1856) between the Russians and the British, French, Sardinians and Ottomans. It marks the first Ottoman war, for which Ottomans allied with other countries. Among the major causes of the war was that Russians desired to expand their territory south…
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Hz. Mevlâna Celaleddin-i Rumi

Hz. Mevlâna Celaleddin-i Rumi
(1207-1273) "Either seem as you are, or be as you seem", Hz. Mevlâna Hz. Mevlâna Celaleddin-i Rumi, the founder of the Mevlevi Order, is the great Anatolian theologian, scholar, and poet. Known as Hz. Mevlâna in the East and as Rumi in the West, his birth name was Mohammed, and he was later nicknamed "Celaleddin".…
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Sedefkâr Mehmed Agha

Sedefkâr Mehmed Agha
(1540-1618) Born in Albania  around 1540, Sedefkâr Mehmed Agha was brought to Istanbul in 1563 for employment in the Janissaries. The talented young man had many talents and skills, including playing musical instruments and creating beautiful artisanal wordworking  with inlaid mother of pearl. He started his career as a musician, and, at the same time,…
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Sultan Mehmed II

Sultan Mehmed II
(1432, 1444-1446, 1451-1481) Dracula was afraid of only one person: Mehmed II.  Dracula (or son of dragon) was the legendary vampire character of the novel, created by author Bram Stoker in 1897. In real life, Vlad Drakul (1431-1476), known as “Vlad the Impaler”, was the prince of Wallachia (today, Romania). He earned his nickname from…
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Sultan Ahmed I

Sultan Ahmed I
(1590, 1603-1617) What would you do, if you had only 27 years to live? If you never thought about it, the story of Sultan Ahmed, the creator of the signature religious complex of the Blue Mosque of Istanbul, may give you an idea.   Ahmed’s Father, Sultan Mehmed III (1566, 1595-1603) Ahmed was born into…
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Sultan Mahmud II

Sultan Mahmud II
(1785, 1808-1839) Turkish Rondo (or Turkish March), one of the most recognized  classical music pieces, was created in 1780 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The famous composer was inspired by the sound of the Turkish Janissary Bands, which were well known then. (1) When Mozart composed the “Turkish March”, the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire…
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Sultan Abdülmecid

Sultan Abdülmecid
(1823, 1839-1861) Sultan Abdülmecid is remembered for the Dolmabahçe Palace, the pearl of the Bosphorus, but his achievements during  the 38 years of his colorful life includes  many wars, construction and modernization accomplishments, along with fathering a large family. Sultan Mahmud II did not have any sons in the first 15 years of his reign…
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Sultan Abdülaziz

Sultan Abdülaziz
(1830, 1861-1876) When Abraham Lincoln (1809, 1861-1865),  became the 16th president of the USA in the spring of 1861, on the other side of the Atlantic, a new leader came to the world diplomatic stage; Sultan Abdülaziz, the 32nd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. Sultan Abdülaziz, born on 8 February 1830, was the younger son…
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Sultan Abdülhamid II

Sultan Abdülhamid II
(1842, 1876-1909, 1918) In 1876, when Alexander Graham Bell filed the first patent to use the telephone as a practical instrument in the USA, and the German composer and pianist Johannes Brahms introduced the Symphony No. 1 for the first time to his audience in Europe the Ottoman Empire had a new sultan on the…
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