Gift to America sign of friendship

A gilded marble tablet from Sultan Abdülmecid was among many international contributions to the construction of the Washington Monument. Â

The gift was placed on the obelisk in 1855 and referenced by the U.S. president during his address in Parliament on Monday. Among many international contributions to the Washington Monument, a gilded marble tablet from Sultan Abdülmecid was placed on the obelisk in 1855, a gift referenced by the U.S. president during his address in Parliament on Monday.

The 162.3-meter-tall monument, a large, sand-colored obelisk near the west end of the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was built to commemorate the first American president, George Washington. Construction of the Washington Monument began on July 4, 1848, but was not completed until 1884. Marble tablets bearing messages were requested from states around the world for the monument, which was said to symbolize freedom for all. The tablet sent by Abdülmecid included his official seal, or tuğra, and a message written in the Arabic letters that were then used by Turks. The message read, "So as to strengthen the friendship between the two countries, Abdülmecid Khan has also had his name written on the monument to Washington."

The writing later carved onto the marble tablet was done by one of the most famous calligraphy artists of the time, Kazasker Mustafa İzzet Efendi, who also did the script for the huge tablets placed in the Hagia Sofia Museum. The tablet measured 80 centimeters by 150 centimeters and was placed 57 meters high on the obelisk. It was sent to the United States in 1853 for a postal cost of 390 kuruş. Murat Bardakçıhad written about the tablet for daily Hürriyet in 2003.

A gift for good relations

In his speech to Parliament, U.S. President Barack Obama referred to the sultan’s gift as a way of showing the historically good relations between the two countries. "My country’s democracy has its own story. The general who led America in revolution and governed as our first president was George Washington. Like you, we built a grand monument to honor our founding father Ğ a towering obelisk that stands in the heart of the capital city that bears Washington’s name," Obama said. "It took decades to build. There were frequent delays. Over time, more and more people contributed to help make this monument the inspiring structure that still stands tall today.

 Among those who came to our aid were friends from all across the world, who offered their own tributes to Washington and the country he helped to found. One of those tributes came from Istanbul. Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid sent a marble plaque that helped to build the Washington Monument. Inscribed in the plaque was a poem that began with a few simple words, and I quote: ’So as to strengthen the friendship between the two countries.’ Over 150 years have passed since those words were carved into marble. Our nations have changed in many ways. But our friendship is strong, and our alliance endures."

Abdülmecid, the 31st Ottoman sultan, ruled between 1839 and 1861 and is known for the many reforms he tried to implement to better integrate and Westernize the society. Sultan Abdülmecid died in 1861 at the age of 39.