Back	This Month at the Voyvoda Street Istanbul Lectures: Ottoman Muslim Cemeteries and Tombstones in Istanbul Prof. Edhem Eldem, from the History Department at Boğaziçi University, will join us at the Voyvoda Street Istanbul Lectures on Wednesday, January 28, at 6:30 p.m., to discuss "Muslim Cemeteries and Tombstones in Istanbul". "Istanbul is as much a city of the living as a city of the dead," says Prof. Eldem about the cemeteries in Istanbul. "From 1453 on, mausolea, burial grounds and cemeteries appear in areas both within and without the city walls, and are an essential feature of the city's identity. As for the tombstones themselves, the alterations they undergo over a five century-period or conversely, their unchanging aspects, reflect the entire social and cultural context of the time. The cemeteries and tombstones of the Muslim population in Istanbul have become a fascinating area of research both in terms of the city's history and, as an indicator of Ottoman social history and mentalities." For more information about the free lectures program offered by the Museum, please call the Ottoman Bank Archive and Research Center at (0212) 292 76 05