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Meydan (park)
The meydan is an urban public park or open space. The word is often associated with the Ottoman Empire, and refers to a public area in which discussions take place and speeches are made. The word and concept is current in the Republic of Turkey. A good example of a meydan can be seen in Ohrid, North Macedonia. On two sides of the meydan in Ohrid, there are two mosques. In the centre of the meydan there is a çinar (plane tree) to shade one from the heat. There are places to sit and there is water to drink. One can deduce from the historical existence of the water source, the reason for existence of both the çinar and the meydan. The çinar is said to be 900 years old. From this we may deduce that the meydan already existed at least 500 years before the arrival of the Ottomans. There is an interesting literary insight into the function of the meydan in ''Birds Without Wings'' by Englishman, Louis de Bernières Louis de Bernières (born 8 December 1954) is an English novel ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Public Space
A public space is a place that is open and accessible to the general public. Roads, pavements, public squares, parks, and beaches are typically considered public space. To a limited extent, government buildings which are open to the public, such as public libraries, are public spaces, although they tend to have restricted areas and greater limits upon use. Although not considered public space, privately owned buildings or property visible from sidewalks and public thoroughfares may affect the public visual landscape, for example, by outdoor advertising. Recently, the concept of shared space has been advanced to enhance the experience of pedestrians in public space jointly used by automobiles and other vehicles. Public space has also become something of a touchstone for critical theory in relation to philosophy, urban geography, visual art, cultural studies, social studies and urban design. The term 'public space' is also often misconstrued to mean other things such as ' gath ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Europe, between the early 16th and early 18th centuries. The empire emerged from a Anatolian beyliks, ''beylik'', or principality, founded in northwestern Anatolia in by the Turkoman (ethnonym), Turkoman tribal leader Osman I. His successors Ottoman wars in Europe, conquered much of Anatolia and expanded into the Balkans by the mid-14th century, transforming their petty kingdom into a transcontinental empire. The Ottomans ended the Byzantine Empire with the Fall of Constantinople, conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Mehmed II. With its capital at History of Istanbul#Ottoman Empire, Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul) and control over a significant portion of the Mediterranean Basin, the Ottoman Empire was at the centre of interacti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Iran to the east; Iraq, Syria, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south; and the Aegean Sea, Greece, and Bulgaria to the west. Turkey is home to over 85 million people; most are ethnic Turkish people, Turks, while ethnic Kurds in Turkey, Kurds are the Minorities in Turkey, largest ethnic minority. Officially Secularism in Turkey, a secular state, Turkey has Islam in Turkey, a Muslim-majority population. Ankara is Turkey's capital and second-largest city. Istanbul is its largest city and economic center. Other major cities include İzmir, Bursa, and Antalya. First inhabited by modern humans during the Late Paleolithic, present-day Turkey was home to List of ancient peoples of Anatolia, various ancient peoples. The Hattians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ohrid
Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of 2002. Ohrid is known for once having 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans"."The Mirror of the Macedonian Spirit, Zlate Petrovski, Sašo Talevski, Napredok, 2004, , page 72: "... and Macedonia in the Cathedral Church St. Sofia in the Macedonian Jerusalem — Ohrid..." The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980, respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Ohrid is one of only 40 sites that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites. Name In antiquity the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
North Macedonia
North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the north. It constitutes approximately the northern third of the larger geographical Macedonia (region), region of Macedonia. Skopje, the capital and largest city, is home to a quarter of the country's population of over 1.83 million. The majority of the residents are ethnic Macedonians (ethnic group), Macedonians, a South Slavs, South Slavic people. Albanians in North Macedonia, Albanians form a significant minority at around 25%, followed by Turks in North Macedonia, Turks, Romani people in North Macedonia, Roma, Serbs in North Macedonia, Serbs, Bosniaks in North Macedonia, Bosniaks, Aromanians in North Macedonia, Aromanians and a few other minorities. The region's history begins with the Paeonia (kingdom), kingdom of Paeonia. In the la ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Platanus
''Platanus'' ( ) is a genus consisting of a small number of tree species native to the Northern Hemisphere. They are the sole living members of the family Platanaceae. All mature members of ''Platanus'' are tall, reaching in height. The type species of the genus is the Oriental plane ''Platanus orientalis''. All except for ''Platanus kerrii, P. kerrii'' are deciduous, and most are found in riparian or other wetland habitat (ecology), habitats in the wild, though proving drought-tolerant in cultivation. The hybrid London plane (''Platanus × hispanica'') has proved particularly tolerant of urban conditions, and has been widely planted in London and elsewhere across the temperate world. They are often known in English as planes or plane trees. A formerly used name that is now rare is plantain tree (not to be confused with Plantain (other), other, unrelated, species with the name). Some North American species are called sycamores (especially ''Platanus occidentalis''), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Birds Without Wings (novel)
''Birds Without Wings'' is a novel by Louis de Bernières, written in 2004. Narrated by various characters and set in the early 20th century in the fictional village of Eskibahçe in southwestern Anatolia, the novel portrays a small, mixed community whose inhabitants are primarily Christian Greeks and Muslim Turks. The villagers speak and sometimes write, combinations of Turkish and Greek, reflecting the region’s linguistic and cultural diversity. Against the backdrop of the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the First World War, and the Greco-Turkish War, the novel examines the effects of nationalism, war, and political change on individuals and communities that had previously lived together with relative harmony. The novel also chronicles the rise of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the 'Father of the Turkish Nation'. The book's title is taken from a saying by one of the characters, Iskander the Potter, "Man is a bird without wings, and a bird is a man without sorrows." The boo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis De Bernières
Louis de Bernières (born 8 December 1954) is an English novelist. He is known for his 1994 Historical fiction, historical war novel ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin''. In 1993 de Bernières was selected as one of the "20 Best of Young British Novelists", part of a promotion (marketing), promotion in ''Granta'' magazine. ''Captain Corelli's Mandolin'' was published in the following year, winning the Commonwealth Writers Prize for Best Book. It was also shortlisted for the 1994 Sunday Express Book of the Year. It has been translated into at least 11 languages and is an international best-seller. In 2008, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by De Montfort University in Leicester, which he had attended when it was Leicester Polytechnic. Politically, he identifies himself as Euroscepticism, Eurosceptic and has voiced his support for the United Kingdom's Brexit, exit from the European Union. Biography Louis H. P. de Bernières-Smart was born near Woolwich in London in 1954 and grew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
