Evidence of the Artistic Presence of the Ottoman Empire in Hungary

Abstract

Taking Ottoman art into consideration, attention has been being paid to the greatest cultural centres and the most noteworthy Turkish constructions, which were built on the territory of the present Republic of Turkey. Although it has been forgotten that during the Middle Ages and the Modern Period the influence of the Ottoman Empire reached much farther, artistic evidence can be found even in Central Europe. On the continent of Europe, the Ottoman borders covered the whole of the Balkans, the northern cost of The Black Sea, most of Hungary and a part of Poland. These areas constituted merely one-fourth of the whole Ottoman Empire. Should one be interested in analysing the buildings in these territories, it is necessary to narrow one’s area of interests. In the face of innovativeness and the lack of sufficient references providing essential information about Ottoman works of art located in the territory of Europe, I had to choose the country which, in 2008, was going to be my research journey destination. Owing to its geographical and cultural proximity, I limited my choice to the territory of Catholic Central Europe. Specifically, I visited Hungary which was occupied for 158 years and the region of Podolia (27 years). During the Ottoman reign over these areas, the era of the greatest development of might and art of the Ottoman Empire took place (16th and 17th century). In addition to this, the subject of this article is not only connected with showing works of art resulting from the Osmanian Empire’s activities but also to try to investigate their artistic value against the constructions created in the territory of the “actual” Empire.