Sinking Empires / East of the Danube, West of the Euphrates, 2019
hand made tapestry, 120 x 185 cm, 2019
A handwoven carpet is one of the few remaining objects since the island of Ada-Kaleh disappeared underwater due to the construction of the Iron Gates I hydroelectric plant, situated between Romania and Serbia, on the Danube River.
Marking the Austro-Hungarian frontier on the Danube, Ada-Kaleh island had a troubled history due to its strategic location, consistently falling under either Ottoman or Habsburg rule. Even though the Ottomans lost the areas surrounding the island after the Russo-Turkish War, the once-crucial Ada Kaleh was totally (and inexplicably) forgotten during the peace talks at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, allowing it to remain in the possession of the Ottoman sultan. It remained a Turkish exclave until its disappearance.
Named by historians as "a small Gibraltar," Ada-Kaleh had a free port and served as a smuggler's nest and a secret tax haven during the inter-war period. It was a magnet for historical events and imperial wars for domination in the Balkan Peninsula. However, in literature, it appears as a symbol of peace, seclusion, and beauty, with a mild Mediterranean climate.
Until 1968, the island of Ada Kaleh was home to Romanian Turks until it was submerged. The residents were offered the choice to relocate to the nearby island of Simian, but the majority opted to move directly to Turkey or other parts of Romania, particularly Constanta, which has a significant population of Romanian Turks. The original carpet from the Ada Kaleh Mosque, gifted by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, was transferred to the mosque in Constanta in 1965, where it remains today.
In the same year that the Iron Gates was built on the Danube, leading to the sinking of the Turkish exclave Ada Kaleh, another dam was constructed on the Euphrates River, resulting in the flooding of the tomb of Süleyman Şah, whose name is connected to the founding of the Ottoman Empire. Tukey invaded Syria in 2015 (Operation Shah Euphrates) to evacuate the tomb's 38 guards and relocate the remains.
Departing from the carpet of the mosque in Ada Kaleh (the submerged island on the Danube), as well as carpets covering traditional Muslim tombs, this work weaves together histories of two locations linked to the beginning and the end of the Ottoman Empire: the disappeared island of Ada Kaleh and the Tomb of Suleyman Shah.
It depicts a merged hydrographic survey of the Danube and the Euphrates, drawing inspiration from the aesthetic of modern hydrographic surveys, such as SONAR, of the two riverbeds.
*the work was produced by tranzit.sk/Bratislava for the exhibition "Liquid Horizons"
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Island of Ada Kaleh toward
the end of the 19th century
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hand made tapestry, 120 x 185 cm, 2019
A handwoven carpet is one of the few remaining objects since the island of Ada-Kaleh disappeared underwater due to the construction of the Iron Gates I hydroelectric plant, situated between Romania and Serbia, on the Danube River.
Marking the Austro-Hungarian frontier on the Danube, Ada-Kaleh island had a troubled history due to its strategic location, consistently falling under either Ottoman or Habsburg rule. Even though the Ottomans lost the areas surrounding the island after the Russo-Turkish War, the once-crucial Ada Kaleh was totally (and inexplicably) forgotten during the peace talks at the Congress of Berlin in 1878, allowing it to remain in the possession of the Ottoman sultan. It remained a Turkish exclave until its disappearance.
Named by historians as "a small Gibraltar," Ada-Kaleh had a free port and served as a smuggler's nest and a secret tax haven during the inter-war period. It was a magnet for historical events and imperial wars for domination in the Balkan Peninsula. However, in literature, it appears as a symbol of peace, seclusion, and beauty, with a mild Mediterranean climate.
Until 1968, the island of Ada Kaleh was home to Romanian Turks until it was submerged. The residents were offered the choice to relocate to the nearby island of Simian, but the majority opted to move directly to Turkey or other parts of Romania, particularly Constanta, which has a significant population of Romanian Turks. The original carpet from the Ada Kaleh Mosque, gifted by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II, was transferred to the mosque in Constanta in 1965, where it remains today.
In the same year that the Iron Gates was built on the Danube, leading to the sinking of the Turkish exclave Ada Kaleh, another dam was constructed on the Euphrates River, resulting in the flooding of the tomb of Süleyman Şah, whose name is connected to the founding of the Ottoman Empire. Tukey invaded Syria in 2015 (Operation Shah Euphrates) to evacuate the tomb's 38 guards and relocate the remains.
Departing from the carpet of the mosque in Ada Kaleh (the submerged island on the Danube), as well as carpets covering traditional Muslim tombs, this work weaves together histories of two locations linked to the beginning and the end of the Ottoman Empire: the disappeared island of Ada Kaleh and the Tomb of Suleyman Shah.
It depicts a merged hydrographic survey of the Danube and the Euphrates, drawing inspiration from the aesthetic of modern hydrographic surveys, such as SONAR, of the two riverbeds.
*the work was produced by tranzit.sk/Bratislava for the exhibition "Liquid Horizons"
Island of Ada Kaleh toward
the end of the 19th century
Castle QAL’AT JA’BAR
submerged into the reservoir lake of the
The Tomb of Suleyman Shah
was relocated near to Aleppo
photo © Discover Islamic Art,
Museum With No Frontiers
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