Centennial Honors College
Western Illinois University
Undergraduate Research Day 2012
Poster Presentation
Ottoman Architectural Changes Illustrating the Rise and Fall of an Empire
Zeynep Karataş
Faculty Mentor: Roberto Mazza
History
While visiting Istanbul, the former capital of the Ottoman Empire, two of the major
political residences, the Topkapı Palace and Dolmabahçe Palace, stand amongst a
nearly unending list of historical buildings. Their radical architectural differences exhibit
the change from the Golden Age of the Ottoman Empire to their decay into the Sick
Man of Europe. Major contributors to dissolution were the capitulations, which were
commercial agreements, between the Empire and European powers. As the Ottomans
grew increasingly influenced by Western powers (particularly France), as is evident in
the Baroque, Rococo, and Neoclassical fusion with Ottoman style architecture of
Dolmabahçe Palace (completed in 1856), the Ottoman Turks became victims of
Orientalism. The Topkapı Palace, in contrast, illustrates nothing less than absolute
Ottoman architecture as it housed the Golden Age rulers of Sultan Bayezid II (r. 14811512), Sultan Selim I (r. 1512-1520), and Sultan Süleyman I (r. 1520-1566). In my
poster, I will exhibit the economic, governmental, and political reasons for demise and
relate them to these significant monuments. Furthermore, I will transmit the modern
theory of Orientalism and its significant impact on the late Ottoman Empire.