An Example of Architectural Representation from the Second Constitutional Era: The Ottoman Pavilion by Léon Gurekian at the Turin International Exhibition of Industry and Labor in 1911

Abstract

The Ottoman Empire took care to attend the international exhibitions that emerged because of the Industrial Revolution, beginning from the first event organized in London in 1851. During the reign of Sultan Abdülhamid II, this involvement increased in line with the idea of presenting a modern society and the leader of the Islamic world to the West. The Ottoman government continued to be a part of these exhibitions during the Second Constitutional Era. This paper focuses on the Turin International Exhibition of Industry and Labor 1911, which the Ottoman Empire attended during the Second Constitutional Era. The paper is largely based on an evaluation of relevant documents obtained from the Ottoman Archives and Italian publications from that period. Studies revealed information on the Ottoman participation in Turin International 1911, actors in the background, architectural and stylistic characteristics of the pavilion, and the architect, Léon Gurekian. In addition to known visual data, the plan of the pavilion signed by Gurekian is introduced in this paper for the first time. The pavilion stands out with an Orientalist style during a period dominated by the First National Architectural Movement in the Ottoman Empire. The paper discusses the relationship of this late example of the Orientalist style with the Ottoman national architectural identity that emerged after the Tanzimat reform period.

Keywords

• international exhibitions
• turin
• ottoman-italian relations
• second constitutional era
• léon gurekian