“Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” Project is the third project initiated within the scope of the theme activites conducted to increase the visibility of the resources in Koç University Libraries (Suna Kıraç Library and branch libraries AKMED, ANAMED and VEKAM) collections focuing on the objectives as addressing informative and interesting topics and present them online to researchers.
The project performed by a team of 3, focused on 3 sub-categories: “architecture and public space” in October, “art and crafts” in November, and finally culture (cuisine, entertainment and music) in December. In this journey through history, we aimed to introduce you to the resources as rare books, archive materials and printed collections in Koç University Libraries related to daily life in Byzantine Istanbul.
Project Team
You may access the podcasts of “Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” here:
In the first session of the talk series of “Treasure” theme project “Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” the subjects of architecture and public space are focused. The first session of the talk series (realized on the 14th October, 2021, Thursday 17:00-19:00) included the presentations of Prof. Dr. Engin Akyürek “Hippodrome: Ceremony and Entertainment Space of Constantinople”, Merve Özkılıç “Istanbul’s City Walls” and Dr. Kerim Altuğ “Water Supply and Cisterns in Byzantine Constantinople”.
Conference Video (in Turkish):
In the second session of the talk series of “Treasure” theme project “Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” the subjects of art and crafts are focused. The second session of the talk series (realized on the 17th November, 2021, Wednesday 17:00-19:00) included the presentations of Meryem Acara Eser “Metal Objects in the Palace and Public’s Life in Constantinople”, Dilek Maktal Canko “Women in Byzantine Economy: Artisan, Artist and Patron”, Gülbahar Baran Çelik “With examples of the Archeological Finding of Yenikapı Excavation: Jewellery in Byzantium”.
Conference Video (in Turkish):
In the third session of the talk series of “Treasure” theme project “Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” the subjects of culture is focused. The third session of the talk series (realized on the 16th December, 2021, Thursday 17:00-19:00) included the presentations of Koray Durak “Trade in Constantinople: Merchants, Artisans and Commodity”, Siren Çelik “Sections from the Domestic Life in Byzantium”.
Conference Video (in Turkish):
In purpose of giving you more information and intruducing relevant resources about Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul, Byzantine Istanbul and Byzantine Architecture and Art, we prepared LibGuides based on Koç University Suna Kıraç Library collections, Koç University Libraries collections as well as including other alternative resources.
Please don’t forget to visit our guides where you can discover one of the long-lasting empires of history and find many resources about Byzantine history, government, law, economy, culture, daily life, religion, literature, medicine, textile, Byzantine cuisine, art and architecture!
Within the scope of the “Daily Life in Byzantine Istanbul” Project, lasted for 3 months, in order to reach wide range of audinces, we shared contents related to the theme through Suna Kıraç Librar social media accounts including excerpts from the books on Byzantine architecture, crafts & arts and culture in Koç University Libraries, archival materials in the digital collection, podcasts conducted with expert. Do not forget to visit our social media accounts to see our content!