Istanbul_ The Collected Traveler_ An Inspired Companion Guide - Barrie Kerper [130]
Part two of the book, on the Ottoman silk industry, features a detailed description of the Istanbul hans devoted to the textile industry, complete with a map of the bedesten (cloth hall) in the market district.
Life’s Episodes: Discovering Ottoman Architecture, by Godfrey Goodwin (Boğaziçi University, 2002). Despite what the title may suggest, this is actually an autobiography of Goodwin, who joined the faculty of Robert College (which later became Boğaziçi University) and was the author of A History of Ottoman Architecture (see above), still considered the standard work of reference on the subject. He passed away in 2005, and in his obituary in The Guardian, Goodwin was referred to as “a scholar in love with the wonders of Ottoman architecture and all things Turkish.” Goodwin’s passion for Ottoman architecture is evident, but I like this book more for his personal observations of people, places, and events. About his first day in Istanbul, upon moving there on New Year’s Day, 1957, he relates:
It was raining. It went on raining every day through January and February, when there were brief interludes of snow, and then every day until the middle of April. It rained so much that it was no longer a storm but a wall of water and one needed gills like a fish. Taksim was ankle deep, achieving a flood at the top of a hill. It shrank your socks in your shoes and I did not get to the İstiklâl Caddesi for fear that I would never return. Both my pairs of heavy shoes fell apart but happily there are fine cobblers in Istanbul. I might add that all this did not stop the Turkish citizens from going about their business. It was a golden period when the city was still as it had been and there was proof of this when the long handle of a baker’s pan laden with baked loaves came straight out of the window and hit me in the stomach. At least I had the wit to laugh at myself. It was the period when manhole covers were stolen each night and sold back to the Belediye (municipality), so I was anxiously watching my step.
Mosque, by David Macaulay (Houghton Mifflin, 2003). All of Macaulay’s wonderful books are appropriate for children and adults, but Mosque is perhaps the one with which adults feel most completely comfortable as it is quite a sophisticated book. Macaulay admits in his preface that, as he was researching construction details, he realized he knew very little about Ottoman architecture, or more specifically about Sinan, and he was convinced “that the time had come to find out where these extraordinary buildings came from, who built them, why, and of course how.” He explains that the building complex in the book is fictional, as are its patron and architect; but the individual structures are modeled directly on existing examples built between 1540 and 1580 in and around Istanbul. Macaulay says that he believes the best examples of religious architecture are among humankind’s proudest accomplishments: “Motivated by faith, but guided ultimately by common sense, these builders created constructions that reveal a level of ingenuity, ambition, and craftsmanship rarely found in secular architecture. The greatest achievement of the buildings, however, as well as the ultimate indication of their success, lies in their ability to impress and move even those whose personal beliefs they do not necessarily serve.”
Sinan: Ottoman Architecture and Its Values Today, by Godfrey Goodwin (Saqi, 1993). For readers interested in comparing and contrasting the many works of Sinan, this is perhaps the best volume, though it is out of print. The buildings and bridges Goodwin studies here are not limited to Istanbul, and the photographs are black and white. He provides a handy abbreviated