Murat Bardakçı: Collect the books, this library is to be a mosque
Güncelleme Tarihi:
Whatever the Kasikci Diamond represents to Turkey and history at large, so does the Topkapı Palace Library known for its collection of worldly precious manuscripts. The number one Istanbul Regional committee of Culture and Natural Preservation, an affiliation of the Ministry of Culture, called for the “collection of all the books contained inside the library; it will be made into a mosque”. The most precious manuscript masterpieces in Turkey are currently hidden in the depths of the Topkapi Palace Library, which is renowned for being one of the most significant centres of manuscripts worldwide.
From Fatih’s childhood notebooks to books written for great leaders bound with jewels and pamphlets of which there exists only one example, this library contains precisely 18,500 manuscripts and rare-print masterpieces. There are albums of miniatures prepared for Sultans and exclusive collections of calligraphy not found elsewhere in the world. In other words, the Siyer-i Nebi -the miniatures that tell the life story of the Prophet Muhammed, and the Seyh Hamdullah Koran, as well as the book, Divan, in which poems by Kanuni Suleyman can be found, all represent whatever can be found in the famous Kasikci Diamond (otherwise known as the Spoon-maker’s Diamond), or the Topkapi Dagger, which are an extremely important part of the Imperial Treasury.
These ‘modest’ masterpieces contained in the library are going to be moved to another site, according to the decision of the committee.