A photo exhibition titled “The Song of Stones: The Heritage of Anatolian Seljuk Architecture” opened in New York on Thursday with an aim to introduce the cultural heritage of the Seljuks to the United States.
The exhibition features a series of photographs of Seljuk-era monuments by renowned Konya architectural photographers İbrahim Dıvarcı, Ahmet Kuş and Feyzi Şimşek. The exhibit curator is Katharine Branning, a Seljuk art historian, and was sponsored by Blue Dome Press and the Turkish Cultural Center of New York.
Delivering a speech at the opening of the exhibition, Dıvarcı said the photos included in the exhibition were selected from the “Anatolian Seljuk Works Photo Album.” He said the Seljuk civilization made a significant contribution to the world’s culture, science and architecture.
Branning also made a speech at the ceremony during which she gave detailed information about the Seljuk civilization. She said the Seljuk Empire gave great importance to commerce, arts, education, culture, architecture and love and that the Seljuk civilization is the root of Turkish culture.
She said Seljuks constructed medreses (schools), hospitals and mosques and that scientists from this civilization made important achievements in the fields of medicine, chemistry, law and astronomy. In explaining the goal of the exhibition, she said it is to show the works of art and a kind of legacy the Seljuks left to the Ottoman Empire and the Turkish Republic that followed them. She noted that since the Seljuk era remains under the shadow of the Ottoman Empire, it is not well known; hence, the aim of the exhibition is to introduce the Seljuks to Americans. The exhibition also includes informative panels that will provide a detailed historical background of the Anatolian Seljuk civilization and that seek to bring a better understanding of Seljuk cultural heritage to the American public.
