STUDY ROOM | 15.11.2018 – 17.02.2019

TRAVEL.PICTURES

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In 1551, at the behest of the French King Henry II, Nicolas de Nicolay (1517–1583) travelled to the Ottoman Empire to study the habits and customs there and bring this knowledge back with him. De Nicolay’s report was first published in 1567. The text, with sixty-one typecast illustrations of traditional Ottoman costumes was translated into four languages and printed in large print runs. 

The cabinet exhibition puts this ‘bestseller’ in dialogue with selected books and Ottoman textiles of the early modern period and consequently shows the great significance of this travel report for the European idea of people living in the Ottoman Empire.
TRAVEL.PICTURES | © Draiflessen Collection