Pandeli’s plight – mayday in the Mısır Çarşısı
’The country needs Pandeli,’ Adnan Menderes, Turkey’s charismatic prime minister in the 1950s, is said to have remarked in 1955 when he heard that Pandeli Çobanoğlu, the ethnic Greek owner of the...
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Photography for the people, by the people
FotoIstanbul, Istanbul’s only major photography festival, is all about bringing photography into the public sphere. Anyone passing through Beşiktaş or Ortaköy during the month of October will find...
View ArticleDeadlines for research grants fast approaching
Researchers, take note. There’s only a week or so left to apply for two grants awarded to individuals undertaking Turkey-related research. First up is the Ancient & Modern Prize, which is...
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Weekend gallery guide: smaller is better
This weekend the spotlight is on one event: Art on a Card. An exhibition and art sale at CIRCUIT in Kadıköy, the event brings together 12 foreign and Turkish artists who have each created a set of...
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Jazz on loop
Two years ago the Mancunian trio GoGo Penguin hypnotised the audience at Salon IKSV with a mix of jazz and trance. Replace the bass with a saxophone, and you’ve got another group from England, Mammal...
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Art fair ahead!
Anticipation has been building for Contemporary Istanbul. After the cancellation of this year's edition of ArtInternational, the other major international art fair in Istanbul, Contemporary Istanbul...
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Nesting woes
Imperial Eagle chicks hatch in hundreds of locations in Anatolia and Thrace every year. As the late Alice Carswell wrote in her article ‘Birds of Paradise’, Turkey is one of the few countries in...
View ArticleIn memory of Bryer
It was with enormous sadness that we learned of the passing of the great Byzantine historian Anthony Bryer. The funeral service was held yesterday at St Peter's Church, Harborne, in Birmingham....
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Designing humanity
When the Transparent Man first visited Turkey in 1938, residents of Istanbul and Izmir flocked to see the life-sized model of a man whose transparent plastic skin reveals the secret interior of a...
View ArticleThe snowman cometh
An exciting new piece of music receives its world premiere this Thursday, November 17. A lucky audience in London will be the first to hear The Snowman Rhapsody, composed by Howard Blake. The rhapsody...
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Aphrodisias: a pleasure garden unearthed
Andrew Wilson, Professor of the Archaeology of the Roman Empire at Oxford, will be speaking on Monday 28 November at Daunt Books in Marylebone High Street at 6.30 for 7 pm. His talk will focus on...
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Rewarding reads: October 2016
‘Rewarding reads’ is a new feature on the Cornucopia blog. In this series, we highlight some of our favourite Turkey-related articles and news titbits that we've read over the past month. Kornelia...
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Weekend gallery guide: the rise and fall of Istanbul’s street dogs
When Théophile Gautier first arrived in Istanbul in the mid-19th century, he used a large pit in the middle of the street as his reference point. What was so memorable about this pit? In the bottom,...
View ArticleSurprise finds in the Black Sea
This is a photogrammetric image (©EEF/Black Sea MAP) of The Flower of the Black Sea, an Ottoman ship that has been given her name because of the floral patterns found carved on her tiller. Nobody yet...
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Deck the halls
The holiday season is upon us, which in Istanbul means preparations for the New Year. Conveniently, Yılbaşı (New Year) celebrations in Turkey have all the trappings of Christmas, including decorated...
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A good neighbour
Pinpointing the qualities of a good komşu (neighbour) is far from an exact science. It comes down to what an individual values: one person may prefer a neighbour who leaves them alone, while another...
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Betting on Beyoğlu
Hacer Sayman has a soft spot for neglected buildings. In a city like Istanbul, where historic structures are more likely to be demolished and replicated than conserved, her willingness to pour money...
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Candle, candle, burning bright
A candle in the window is a favourite Christmas tradition of mine. There’s something about a flickering light that alleviates the winter doldrums. So as the days grew shorter in Istanbul, I found...
View ArticleJob opportunity: BIAA London Manager
The British Institute at Ankara (BIAA) is currently accepting applications for the position of London Manager. This opportunity may be a good fit for a Cornucopia reader, as the ideal candidate would...
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Hawick remembers the horrors of Gallipoli
The tragedy of the Gallipoli campaign was felt across the world, and not least in the small town of Hawick in the Scottish Borders. By the time the fighting had subsided in 1916, Hawick and the...
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