ANAMED KONUŞMALARI

2020-2021 academic year will end with the talk titled "Becoming Bursa: The First Ottoman Capital Revisited" by Suna Çağaptay, 2005-2006 ANAMED Junior Fellow and 2018-2019 ANAMED Senior Fellow.

Conquered in 1326, Bursa, known to the Byzantines as Prousa, served as the first capital of the Ottoman Empire. It retained its spiritual and commercial importance even after Edirne (Adrianople) in Thrace, and later Constantinople (Istanbul), functioned as Ottoman capitals. Yet, to date, no comprehensive study has been published on the city's role as the inaugural center of a great empire. In works by art and architectural historians, the city has often been portrayed as having a small or insignificant pre-Ottoman past, as if the Ottomans created the city from scratch. This couldn't be farther from the truth. In her book titled "The First Capital of the Ottoman Empire: The Religious, Architectural, and Social History of Bursa," Suna Çağaptay tells the story of the transition from a Byzantine Christian city to an Islamic Ottoman one positing that Bursa was a multi-faith capital where we can see the religious plurality and modernity of the Ottoman world. The encounter between local and incoming forms created a synthesis filled with nuance, texture, and meaning. Indeed, when one looks more closely and recognizes that the contributions of the past do not threaten the authenticity of the present, a richer and more accurate narrative of the city and its Ottoman accommodation emerges. Moderated by Oya Pancaroğlu, this online talk will be in English.

For more information and registration, visit our website.

Becoming Bursa: The First Ottoman Capital Revisited
Speaker: Suna Çağaptay
Moderator: Oya Pancaroğlu