MANISA IN THE ITINERARIES AND ENGRAVINGS

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire lands were the interest and attraction source for westerners since the 15th century. Almost everything that they saw in these lands was significant to be written or drawn for westerners who came to the Ottoman lands for diplomatic reasons primarily and for trading purposes. The number of artists and scientists, who came to the Ottoman lands along with the diplomats and merchants initially, increased gradually during the 18th and 19th centuries. Istanbul first and Izmir and the Western Anatolia after a short time and primary centers until the four borders of the Empire became the subject of the engravings and itineraries gradually. Manisa is one of the centers drawing interest of explorers. The explorers coming to the city including Edmund D. Chishull, Charles Texier, and Robert Walsh reflected their observations of the city in their itineraries. Furthermore, engravings about the city were made by artists including Cornelis de Bruyn, Thomas Allom, and Outhwaite. Geographical location, socio-cultural and economic situation of the city and description of the architectural structures and drawings in line with these take place in the itineraries generally. In this study with the title ‘Manisa in the Itineraries and Engravings’, the aspects of Manisa city and its architecture reflected in the itineraries and engravings of the western explorers and artists were discussed. In the light of the acquired data, perspectives of the western observers about Manisa city and architectural structuring were revealed. Moreover, the images in the engravings and the current states of the structures were compared, and their applications, which did not survive until today or went through changes, were determined. Hence, our historical-cultural values that vanished in Manisa and its environs like in any point of Turkey were determined and it was aimed to contribute to the clarification of the applications today The aspects of Manisa City and its architecture reflected in the itineraries and gravures of the western explorers and artists were scrutinized in this study titled Manisa in the Itineraries and Gravures. Perspectives of the western observers towards Manisa City and its architectural structuring were revealed under the light of the acquired data. Furthermore, by comparing the current states of the images in the gravures and structures, their implementations that survived until today or went through changes were determined. Hence, it was aimed that our vanishing historical and cultural values in Manisa and its vicinity were determined, as they emerge at any location of Turkey, and contributing to shed light on today’s implementations. The interest on the East surfaced in Europe during the early centuries. It is seen that there are differences in economic, political, religious and mystic cognizance between the East and West since the oldest periods of history and they intensified in time. The relations between Europe and the East turned into Europe and the Ottoman Empire relations considerably with the collapse of a thousand-year East Rome Empire and settlement of the Ottoman Empire in Istanbul. There are differences seen periodically in the relations between Europe and the Ottoman Empire. As the military success of the Ottoman Empire increased during the period encompassing the 15th and 16th centuries and even the 17th century, the dread of the general Western opinion started to change in the 18th century andfollowing political events that the Ottoman Empire experienced includingVienna Defeat in 1683 and Karlowitz Treaty in 1699, and the Ottoman Empire was obligated to establish a relationship in order to make up for its deficiencies in military, scientific and technical fields. The westerners, who were swayed with the enchanted Eastern concept in the 19th century, acted with the Romantic cognizance and on the other hand with the Orientalist cognizance, and established relationships with the East in general and with the Ottoman Empire specifically. Many Western explorers of various vocational groups organized numerous travels to visit the Ottoman land during this period. These journeys took place as literary texts in the itineraries and on the other hand they were taken to the West as orientalist drawings. One of the cities focus of interest of Western explorers wasManisa, located in Western Anatolia and known as “the City of Sultan’s Sons”. The main theme of the observations of the explorers visiting Manisa was comprised of its prosperous geography and Sipil Mountain. The city, developed at the foothills of Sipil Mountain, was mentioned loosely in the panoramic images. It is seen that the emphasis intensified on mosques, shrines and minarets generally and Sipil Mountain and the fortress crowning the mountain dominated the whole image. The city’s Ottoman – Muslim character was revealed with canopies and minarets in the gravure of Cornelis de Bruyn titled Manisa which is a description in this cognizance. The city in the gravure is different considerably from the current state of the city naturally. The only thing that remained unchanged yesterday and today is the dominance of SipilMountain. Nearby counties of Manisa as well as the city center were the topic of the itineraries and gravures. The explorers mentioned Kula County focusing especially on weaving. Another topic that the explorers focused on around Manisa was antique settlements including Alaşehir (Philadelphia), Sart (Sardes), veAkhisar (Thyateria) situated in the city vicinity. The common reason for these settlements to draw attention was that they owned one of the seven churches in Asia. Moreover, another factor for this attention was that they sheltered antique period artworks. The mostly treated subject in all drawings was the antique settlements including the general city views. The westerners, who hit the road to find out the traces of their past generally, felt joy and sorrow at the same time to be in one of the wealthiest

Özet

Osmanlı İmparatorluğu toprakları, 15. yüzyıldan itibaren Batılılar için bir merak ve ilgi kaynağı olmuştur. Başta diplomatik ve ticarî olmak üzere Osmanlı topraklarına gelen Batılılar için bu topraklarda gördükleri hemen her şey yazıya dökülecek ya da resimlenecek kadar önem arz etmiştir. Başlangıçta diplomat ve tüccarlarla Osmanlı topraklarına gelen sanatçı ve bilim adamlarının sayısı 18. ve 19. Yüzyıllarda giderek artmış, önceleri İstanbul, kısa bir süre sonra İzmir ve Batı Anadolu ve giderek imparatorluğun dört yöndeki sınırlarına kadar belli başlı merkezler gravür ve seyahatnamelere konu olmuştur. Gezginlerin dikkatini çeken merkezlerden biri de Manisa İli'dir. Kente gelen Edmund D. Chishull, Charles Texier, Robert Walsh gibi gezginler kent ile ilgili gözlemlerini seyahatnamelerinde yansıtmışlardır. Aynı zamanda Cornelis de Bruyn, Thomas Allom ve Outhwaite gibi sanatçılar tarafından kent ile ilgili gravürler yapılmıştır. Seyahatnamelerde, genel olarak kentin coğrafi konumu, sosyo- kültürel ve ekonomik durumu ile mimari yapılarıyla ilgili anlatımlar ve bunlara paralel olarak resimler yer almaktadır. Seyahatname ve Gravürlerde Manisa başlıklı bu çalışmada, Manisa kenti ve mimarisinin Batılı gezgin ve sanatçıların seyahatname ve gravürlere yansıyan yönleri üzerinde durulmuştur. Elde edilen veriler ışığında, Batılı gözlemcilerin Manisa kenti ve mimarî yapılaşmasına bakış açıları ortaya çıkarılmaya çalışılmıştır. Aynı zamanda gravürlerdeki görüntüler ile yapıların bugünkü mevcut durumları karşılaştırılarak, günümüze ulaşamamış ya da değişim geçirmiş olan uygulamaları belirleme yoluna gidilmiştir. Böylece ülkemizin her noktasında karşımıza çıktığı gibi, Manisa ve çevresindeki yok olan tarihsel-kültürel değerlerimiz tespit edilerek, günümüzdeki uygulamalara ışık tutabilmek konusunda belli bir katkı sağlanması da hedeflenmiştir