Mimar Sinan University(School of Fine Arts)

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*Thanks for taking these pictures Kuvvaci

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very nice. I miss Istanbul!

Do you know the history of this building?

Nice school.It has a wonderful view

Icy and other friends, do you know the history of this school? It's interesting...

kuvvaci - you are making me jealous - this university looks amazing.

ps. I know it's history . . . a little.

Was it not originally the Academy of Fine Arts - with many emminent foreign professors, even during Ottoman times?

Actually this school has been founded 1883 as Fine Arts Academy and first bulding was beside the current Archeological Museum (founder of the both school and museum is the same person, Osman Hamdi). And with the Republic, Academy has been moved to this building. First departments were Painting, sculpture and achitecture. But now there are many faculties and departments. In 1983 Academy has been converted Univerisity and added some other faculties like concervatory (Istanbul state concervatory joined the academy and became University) then history department has been openned (so, university had its own art and civilizetion historians)...

Actually the history of the building is different... This building has been built as palace first (for one of the daughters of a sultan that I forgot the name now). But later here was the last Ottoman Parliament building. This is why the name of the street is still Meclis-i Mebusan Avenue (Parliamneterians Assambly Avenue)

factory of art and artificers

i was at the 'Turks' exzhhibition in London on Monday and in the bookshop of the Royal Academy (where the exhibition was held) there was a fantastic new book about Sinan and the Royal cops of architects under his command.

It is called The Age of Sinan and is by gulru necipoglu - a professor of islamic art at harvard university.

i bought it and am reading it now - it is absolutely amazing! And for the first time (in English) ottoman architecture is discussed in its own right instead of being seen as a derivative of this style or that style - as has been the case in the past. (in 'western' texts anyway)

I've come to the conclusion also that i have to visit Edirne - Selimiye cami is truly astonishing.

ps. i have good links with University of Strathclyde in Glasgow - and recently, while there, I noticed mimar Sinan university is now part of the ERASMUS/SOCRATES student exchange network.

pps. the exhibition (which looked at all the turkish peoples of Asia and Europe) was pretty damn good too - Timur! what a guy!

ppps. also, there was this incredile architectural scroll on display - from timurid era - it was like a pattern book designed by Escher! - all these interlocking motifs and patterns whicch were used as templates and guides for creating surface decoration. It is in Topkapi most of the time - don't know if its usually on show however.