Recently, three near-simultaneous exhibitions in Istanbul, displaying variegated representations of the city across centuries and all within walking distance of one other, summoned audiences to contemplate Istanbul’s urban plenitude, its blessed geography, multiple vantage points, vistas, and spots of repose, play, and splendor. Though developed separately, the three exhibitions were conceived by affiliated institutions (the Sadberk Hanım Museum, Meşher, and Pera Museum), curated by collaborative teams, and supported by members of the Koç family. Sadberk Hanım’s Cherished Istanbul, the first to go up, took place in the Galata Greek Primary School, an eerily beautiful neoclassical structure in Karaköy and a fixture in the Istanbul Biennial (Figure 1). The exhibition centered on enchanting silver and mother-of-pearl objects once used in Istanbul’s Greek Orthodox churches, whose context was provided by the contemporaneous Istanbul vistas enveloping them.1

Pera Museum’s On the Spot: Panoramic Gaze on Istanbul, a History was a...

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