Istanbul Visit

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by erlikhan

lol i know Greek friends don't like the name Istanbul and not to use it , they deform it when they have to write it. I met it thousand times before on internet. A very beneficiary! idea of protesting. If the names you wrote are not this way, then sorry I don't know any of the cities you ask for information about.

Erlikhan

I, sometimes, mispell Istanbul, but not in purpose!

I am used to write it in Greek "Konstantinopoli" or just "Poli" and when it comes to international name i mispell it, like i do with a lot of other words

Istabul comes from greek words "Is tin poli" that means "in the City". And it was only one City (with capital C) once

The name Constantinople was alive till 1920's when Orient Express was arriving there. Talking about swords, I have seen turkish military swords from beginning of 20th century marked with makers name and the address Constantinople.

My friend, I dont find any offence in the use of a term that is historical, but I dont mind to use the word Istanbul (with correct spelling), too

[ariel]

Eftihis,
Do not forget to meet Ms. Yasar!

[eftihis]

Just to say that only now, after Yiannis mail, i understood what Erlikhan meant in his mail...
My friend, i had no intention to mispell it, it was just because we do not use this name when we speak or write.
Ofcourse we use in Greek the word Konstantinopoli, but i think this is understandable, as i domt expect you to say Crete instead of Girit in your language.
By the way, i also want to say that the Byzantine theocratic regime didnt express me and i do not feel that represented Greeks.

[Radu Transylvanicus]

I must admit I am impacient ... Eftihis, many thanks again, I cant wait for you to post or send that (or those) picture(s) ...

The photo below is a gift for you , I hope your French is OK ... if not I am sure doesnt take much to figure whats up ...

[eftihis]

Here we are!
As soon as i find time i will send photos from Askeri Museum and from Top Kapi
Regards to all!

[Radu Transylvanicus]

Thank you so much Eftihis , I owe you big time ... On the other side, I am a little disapointed by theTopkapi curators who are generally more efficient on doing a better job on description labels (at least this is not the disastruos Bangkok museum we saw the other week).
On Stefan`s sword, the label shoud at least say : Sword of Stefan the Great, ruler of Moldavia 15th century (Romania) big difference between being Roman and being Romanian, nevermind common the heritage ... and this anarchic display next to Japanese swords and armor and the grotesque gigantic swords in the background mixed with the kilij stand is just not OK to my eye ... Bucharest is not next to Okinawa on the map and the yoroi is no match for the statuary bastard swords of Herculean size and the Indo-Persian shield unless this was meant to show the exact oposition and absolute differences in styles and dimesions of arms and armour... I dare to say that any member of the Forum would've had more common sense in composing a more apropriate panoply or is it just overly picky me that feels this is unforgiveably chaotic and not OK for one of the world class most finest museums... ?
Still, Eftihis you made my day by taking this images, I was longing for images of this sword for quite a while now ... There certainly are some amazing moments and breaktroughs in this Forum at times and I hope I put a smile on your face when I posted the image of the Cretans with their bitchaqs ...
P.S. I would love to see more pics from Askeri and Topkapi museums, I hope its on your soon ,, to do list,, ...
All the best , yours truely,
Radu .

[Yannis]

Originally Posted by Radu Transylvanicus

and this anarchic display next to Japanese swords and armor and the grotesque gigantic swords in the background mixed with the kilij stand is just not OK to my eye

Well you are quite polite, my friend. This is outrageous!

A sword of this importance deserves something better than this little corner of this variety display.

The reason that it is not turkish, ottoman or islamic is not enough for such a treatment.

Romanian people may protest via e-mail

[Rivkin]

Well, my experience is that 90% of expositions in world museums become very chaotic and unrepresentative when it comes to arms and armor. My local Chicago Art Institute would be a good example.

Cheapy Shinto Wakizashi, Wakizashi being displayed _in_ its scabbard, poor lighting that does not allow one to see steel patterns, tons of halbers with not a single spear head, good wootz kiliji (or was it shamshir ? I don't remember), with no inscirption commenting on wootz, general impression of a few gifts being tossed together into the room, with no desire to make something better of it.

Well, still beats the hell out of "modern" photography they display downstairs (photographs of red squares, photographs of black squares, frames without photographs, photographs of water taken with 0.5s interval 10 times etc.), but leaves quite a troublesome impression nevertheless.