Gardens of Istanbul in persian hajj travelogues

Abstract

Writing travelogues, safarnāmahs, about general expeditions and for hajj journeys, became popular among Persian intellectuals and statesmen in the Qajar era (1795-1925). This chapter, dealing with various hajj travelogues from that period, will focus on conveying the impressions of Persian pilgrims who chose the Istanbul route, on the city’s gardens, including palace, house, and public gardens and promenades. In general, pilgrims narrated their visits to these gardens with detailed descriptions of their architecture, flora, and social and cultural uses. This chapter also aims to reach some conclusions about how they saw and perceived Istanbul and the Ottoman Empire through the medium of their narratives about gardens, by taking into consideration the relationship between place and culture as one of the elements in which individual and collective identities were constructed. It will aim to demonstrate that Ottoman gardens were seen by Persian pilgrims as a sign of ‘progress’ during the second half of the nineteenth and at the beginning of the twentieth century. © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2018.