Exactly 555 years after the conquest as a
soldier in Sultan Mehmed II's army, an independent observer or a
foreign tourist you will witness the conquest of Istanbul in
person and experience the moment of the entrance to the city
just as it was in the past. You will be able to touch cannon
balls casted by Hungarian artillery expert Urban and witness
their explosion before they approach the waters of
Constantinople. You will listen to the unified call of thousands
of troops of Sultan Mehmed II and listen to Mehter March and may
be you will also join them, You will hear clicking of the hooves
of galloping horses, clanking sound of sabres of fighting troops
and feel the arrows passing just under your ear.
An open air museum named ISTANBUL 1453 Panoramic Museum with
characteristics with no equals in the world.
14 years ago this place was Trakya bus
station in Topkapi and now it is a place of location of Topkapi
City Park. On the left side there are ramparts in Edirnekapi, on
the opposite there are ramparts of Topkapi Palace namely the
gate of Constantinople the first Ottoman troops entered and on
the right side there are Silivrikapi ramparts. This is the place
where you will eye-witness how Mehmet II received the title of "Fatih"
(Conqueror) and where you will live through the conquest of
Istanbul.
Imagine a 360 degree picture with the area of 3000 m2
with no frame i.e. without borders. The main feature of the
picture is its 3D effect. To get the effect of three dimension a
spectator must look at the picture from the platform at the
distance of 14 m 650 m2 area of the picture has a
three dimensional appearance with imitations of cannonballs,
artillery carts and powder kegs used during surrounding. 2350 m2
two dimensional area of the picture starts right after the three
dimensional part of the image. The work depicts the scene in
details. It starts from fine one to one illustration of people
with all the specifics and diminishes towards the horizon.
Number of characters depicted in the work is about 10 thousand.
At present there are about 30 panoramic
museums in the world. Panoramic museums are generally created to
illustrate the historical events. The most significant ones are
Panorama of the battle of Waterloo. Panorama of the Crimean War
between Russian and Ottoman Empire, Panorama of Borodino Battle,
Plevne Panorama and Mesdag Panorama. Most of these panoramas
were created using oils painting technique of 1800’s on the
sites where the events occurred. Some museums are assembled
horizontally and others vertically and are half panoramic.
The feature that makes ISTANBUL 1453
Panoramic Museum different from existing 30 panoramic museums is
that it is completely panoramic in all ways, i.e. horizontally
and vertically. The term of complete panorama means that the
image is panoramic in all ways. The sky is depicted as a dome
with no segmentations and is finishing the upper part of the
picture. The picture has no frame or borders at all. No matter
if an image with a frame or borders gives the feeling of
deepness and effect of three dimensions. Just seeing its frame
or borders will make you understand at what distance the picture
is from you. In the work at ISTANBUL 1453 Panoramic Museum there
is no a starting or finishing point of the pictures and a person
with his/her optical habits will not be able to comprehend the
real dimension of the picture. When a spectator gets on the
platform for the first 10 seconds /he will be shocked. This
condition is caused by absence of references helping understand
the actuality and dimension of the image and inability to find
starting and finishing points. This place gives the feeling of
being in three dimensional outdoors while you are still in an
enclosed place.
I8 artists carried out intensive work on the
project that was started by Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality
in 2004. The idea belongs to Hasim Vatandas, an artist and
animation director, who is also coordinating given project The
museum, where Ramazan Erkut. Yaşar Zeynalov, Oksana Legka, Ahmet
Kaya, Hasan H. Dinçer, Atilla Tunca and Murat Efe are occupied,
serves as an evidence of what the Turkish artists are capable of
when the opportunity is given to them.
It appears that this type of lasting cultural
works befitting Istanbul that were started by Miniaturk and
followed by Istanbul Museum of Modern Arts and ISTANBUL 1453
Panoramic Museum will continue with more acceleration.
Advancement that contributed to the
announcement of Istanbul as a European Capital of Culture 2010
along with Essen (Germany) and Pecs (Hungary) will facilitate
the city in gaining numerous consistent benefits in cultural and
social terms. We wish that this process v/ill continue with the
"Museum of Musical Instruments" with analogues in a few
countries of the world.
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