Istanbul exhibition showcases Ottoman manuscripts

An Istanbul exhibition on Ottoman manuscripts is attempting to explore the multifaceted life and culture of the period.

The exhibition, Memories of Humankind: Stories From the Ottoman Manuscripts is curated by K. Mehmet Kentel.

The Suna and İnan Kıraç Foundation has displayed its collection at the exhibition - which is open for public until July 25 - at the Istanbul Research Institute.

"This collection itself is based on mostly Şevket Rado's private collection," the curator said, referring to the influential intellectual who lived between 1913-1988.

According to Kentel, Rado was "interested in collecting intellectually stimulating works that reflected different aspects of Ottoman social and cultural life".

In 2007, the Istanbul-based foundation purchased the collection, which later arrived at the Istanbul Research Institute.

"Since then it has been open to our readers, our users of the library. They were digitized for those who are interested," Kentel said.

A catalog on the manuscripts was published in 2014 and was widely used by academics, but the larger public was mostly unaware of it.

"So with this exhibition, what we have in mind is to make this collection known to a larger audience, but also make the public, cultural enthusiasts in Istanbul interested in Ottoman history," he added.

The exhibition was organized with the help of advisors, Baha M. Tanman, Aslıhan Gürbüzel, Selim S. Kuru, Akif Ercihan Yerlioğlu, and Aslı Niyazioğlu, and is designed by PATTU Architecture.

67 copies were selected

"Manuscripts surviving from the Ottoman era still have many stories to tell, even after 90 years have passed since the adoption of the Latin script [in Turkey], 100 years since...