Wednesday, June 4

We went to Dolmabahce Palace and the Military Museum today. Dolmabahce is the sultan's palace built in 1853 by Sultan Abdulmecid at the cost of 35 tons of gold. Although not the sole reason for its demise, this frivolous use of the Ottoman Empire's revenue certainly contributed to its ultimate downfall. It has been called "the Versailles of Turkey," and I would most certainly agree with that statement but qualify a little bit - to me, it was not as beautiful, and that may have to do with the excessiveness of it, especially that it seemed more cramped than Versailles. It was designed in the Rococo style - which means LOADS of gold leaf, cherubs, horrifying amounts of decoration, nothing left untouched by curlicues and other decorative touches. Basically, GAUDY. But it was fun to photograph, as David, understanding my withdrawal from my own camera, so kindly allowed me to use his camera.

After that, the group took taksis (our first taksi experience in Istanbul!) to the Military Museum for Kevin and David's site project presentation. We watched the janissary band perform, which was very cool, as they were dressed in the uniforms of the time (complete with fake mustaches - janissaries were not allowed to have beards in order to distinguish them from other guards/members of the military). Then we headed into the Museum, where we saw an incredible collection of weapons, saw a mock-up of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans (a full room was dedicated to this), and observed interesting descriptions of Turkish military actions, aka propaganda. The Armenian conflict is a huge issue for Turks, and the room dedicated to this was the most fascinating to me. Although it was formally recognized by the UN as a genocide in 1977, the Republic of Turkey does not recognize the use of that word. It is apparent in their exhibit on the conflict, which focuses on the "massacre" of Turks by the Armenians. The plaque describing this, along with horrible translation, was full of phrases that were clearly nationalist and biased. Far different from the US.