- 5W - 08 September 2014 - n.11.08 - Topkapı (turkish Topkapı, literally Gate of the Cannon), located on the promontory of the Seraglio, or sarayburnu, between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara, is a port of the Seraglio (sultanate palace) Ottoman Empire in Constantinople (now Istanbul), which between 1455 and 1458 grew by incorporating the site of the ancient Byzantine imperial palace compared to the menagerie was, however, less surface. The palatial building was protected - like so many other buildings from the same destinations - from a wall, and access was secured by several doors, entrusted to special bodies of armed guard. One of them looked at the point where the Golden Horn opens up the Sea of Marmara. Other ports were: The Gate of Peace (Bāb ul-Selam), the Porta di Mezzo (Orta Kapı), the Gate of the Majesty (Bab-ı Humayun), the Port of Automobiles (Arab Kapısı) and the Gate of Felicity (Bāb UL-Saādet). By a kind of synecdoche of architecture, in which a part is to describe the whole, the Gate of the Cannon identified, since the eighteenth century, all the Ottoman Sultans Palace (Topkapi Sarayi), which, in the Republican era, was intended to area museum. Currently the building is used as a museum and contains the beautiful artifacts that make up the treasure of the sultan. The Spoonmaker (in turkish Kasikci Elması) is a famous diamond teardrop-shaped, weighing 86 carats (17.2 g.) Housed in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul, Turkey. It is considered the fourth largest diamond of its kind and is preserved with maximum safety devices. Mounted on a gilded silver, is surrounded by a double row of smaller diamonds cut the old. How do you remember his name (spoonmaker means manufacturer of spoons), this large diamond, from the great purity and of inestimable value, according to its legendary origin, was found by a poor carver of wooden cutlery and after being passed from hand to hand eventually came to the treasures of the Ottoman Sultans. si.edu/ - Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (Paris, 1605 - Moscow, July 1689) was a French merchant traveler and pioneer of trade between France and India. It is estimated that in six trips over 40 years traveled over 200,000 km. I travel notebooks and drafts that cartographic reported in Europe proved to be of great importance for the complete understanding and mapping of the Indian sub-continent and the countries of East Asia. It is also known for having brought in Europe several large diamonds, including the Blue de France (which he sold to King Louis XIV), from which he was later awarded the famous Hope Diamond. The Hope diamond is a diamond of an unusual and deep blue color, weighing 44.5 carats (8.9 grams), is now preserved at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian) in Washington. It owes its fame not only to its exceptional beauty (although size is far exceeded by other famous diamonds), but also its sad reputation of portasfortuna of exception: except for a few owners - who, however, found themselves in all sorts of trouble - all those who have been able to boast the possession of the stone they all died within a short time and not a natural death but for illness, murder or suicide (according to others it was the same in Tavernier disincastonarlo eye of the statue of an Indian idol, Rama-Sitra, unleashing the wrath of the deity that cursed stone and all those who had owned). The Hope Diamond is in its case at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington. Folkways Records is a record label that documents the folk music, blues, jug and the world music genre. The catalog is controlled by the Smithsonian Institution under the name of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings. folkways.si.edu/index.aspx folkways.si.edu/woody-guthrie/this-land-is-your-land-the-asch-recordings-vol-1/american-folk-struggle-protest/music/album/smithsonian britishmuseum.org/ - An Italian map of 1682, in which he cites as one of the sources Tavernier. In 1630, through the efforts of François du Tremblay, confidant of Cardinal Richelieu, he sailed for the Levant in the retinue of servants of the king of France. Reached Constantinople at the beginning of 1631 and remained there nine months. Then he continued his journey through Armenia, reaching Persia. After visiting Isfahan returned to Europe touching Baghdad, Aleppo, Alexandretta, Malta and Italy. He arrived in Paris in 1633 is not known with certainty what he did for the next five years, but his French biographer believes that he became for a time the butler duke Gaston dOrléans. In September of 1638 he began a second trip, which lasted five years. He returned to Persia through Syria, then went to India. He visited the city of Agra and later reached the sultanate of Golconda. Was a guest of the court of the Great Mogul Shah Jahan and was able to visit the famous diamond mines in the surrounding area of the city. At the sight of so much wealth, he decided he would become a jewel merchant, with the idea of selling them to the kings and princes of the Middle East. Afterward, she made four more trips in Asia. In the third (1643-49) came to Java, returning to Europe via the Cape of Good Hope. His relations with the Dutch were, however, difficult, and to return to France he found himself involved in a lawsuit for transporting merchandise without the permission of the Dutch authorities. He made two other voyages to the East (1657-1662 and 1664-1668). The details of these journeys are not well known, but it is assumed that apart from India also visited China and some countries in South-East Asia. Upon returning to France in 1669 he was presented to King Louis XIV, who attributed to him a noble title. The following year he acquired the barony of Aubonne, near Geneva. Two days from Akbara is Baghdad, the two large cities of Calif Emir-al-Mumenin to Abassi, Amir al-muminin family of their prophet, is head of the Mohammedan religion. All the kings Mohammedans recognize , and he has the same authority over them that the pope has on Christians. palace of the caliph in Baghdad is three miles in extent. it contains a large park full of all kinds of trees, is useful both ornamental and every kind of beasts, as well as a pool of water flow across the river Tigris, and each time the caliph want to have fun with the sport and carouse, birds, animals and fish are prepared for him and his courtiers, whom he calls in his building. This is great Abbasid extremely kind towards the Jews, many of its officers are of the people, he knows all languages, is an expert in the Mosaic Law and reads and writes to the Hebrew language. Earn money with the work of their hands, and then produces blankets, which gives its seal, and his officers to sell in the public market. (Manuel Komroff - ed.), Contemporaries of Marco Polo, Consisting of the Travel Records to the Eastern Parts of the World of William of Rubruck (1253-1255); The Journey of John of Pian de Carpini (1245-1247); The journal of Friar Odoric (1318-1330) & The Oriental Travels of Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela (1160-1173), New York, Liveright Publishing Corp., 1928. (M.S.C.G.)
Posted on: Mon, 08 Sep 2014 12:22:46 +0000
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