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Death in Istanbul
Death and its Rituals in Ottoman-Islamic Culture Much can be revealed about the structure, the culture, and the mentalities of a society by studying the way it perceives and manages death. This is certainly true of Ottoman-Islamic society in general and more particularly of the population of the Imperial capital, Istanbul. This exhibition investigates the five-century-long funerary culture of Istanbul, from 1453 to 1922, and analyzes some of the major aspects of death, from its perception to inheritance law, from suicide to executions, from tombstones to the practice of fratricide and from the changing definition of martyrdom to funeral processions, through documents, miniatures, engravings, period photographs, photographs of tombstones, actual tombstones and other artifacts. The exhibition is conceived under 7 main headings: 1) City of the Dead: The intra muros and extra muros burial grounds of Istanbul from 1453 on, and their symbolic contribution to the city's identity; the sultanic mausolea and various other mausolea or türbes built within the city walls and their significance in Ottoman death culture. 2) Ottoman-Islamic Death Culture: The perception of death and the rituals of death in Ottoman culture and their conformity with/deviation from the principles of Islam. Information concerning the last rites performed and the duties and obligations to be fulfilled following death. 3) Empire and Death: The specific issue of the death of Ottoman sultans; the "death secret" or custom of hiding the death of a sultan until his successor's enthronement; the practice of fratricide. 4) Ottoman Tombstones: The emergence of the Ottoman tombstone in the 15th century and its progression over the subsequent centuries, the evolution of the epitaph, the links between status and death. 5) Ways of Dying: A closer look at three among the many forms and causes of death in Ottoman society: Execution and the changes in its methods with time; disease, one of the most frequent causes of death; and suicide as a very individualistic form of death. 6) Aspects of Modernity: The modernization process infiltrating Ottoman funerary culture from the 19th century onwards, driven by both local and foreign influences; innovations in the construction of tombstones; more realistic approaches to the subject of death in literature; the effect of new media such as photography and the press. 7) Death and Nationalism: Nationalism and its momentous impact on the culture of death in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire; the transformation of the concept of martyrdom; the emergence of a cult of national heroes; the influence of nationalism on funerary architecture and tombstones. Edhem Eldem |
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