Info is given by TurkeyTPS.com company – fast and convenient way of searching hotels in Istanbul!. The main feature of Turkish culture is the mixture of different styles. Eclecticism and Turkey – they are synonyms…
Culture “boiler”
It may seem really amazing, but the mixture of cultures on the territory of modern Turkey began… in the late Stone Age. According to scientists, it happened when the tribes which went to Asia Minor from Europe and the aborigines who lived near the shores of the Bosphorus met for the first time. This is how the first culture appeared in Turkey, opened by archaeologists. Since then tens of thousands of years have passed. Everything has changed, except the principle of Turkish culture beginnings – eclecticism.
Music
What distinguishes Turkish music from the rest? Its melody, of course. Turkish melody influenced the music of the Balkans and Eastern Europe. But the most important contribution made by the Turkish music in the world is… the orchestras. Thanks to the Ottoman Empire the orchestral music appeared. The first bands appeared at the court of the sultans, they played various marches during the battles. Without any exaggeration, Turkey is the birthplace of the military march. But classical music is not very common in Turkey, because the Turks are not quite accustomed to it…
Art
Undeniable influence on art in Turkey had exerted Islam, which prohibits to paint humans or animals to avoid idolatry. All this led to the fact that Turkish artists have surpassed everyone in the world in the art of calligraphy and ornamental design. Unbelievable, but they could simply show different shades of the soul by painting letters! In the Ottoman Empire the calligrapher could learn dozens of handwriting and use each of them. Now the ban on images of faces and figures is not actual any more, but the Turkish art is still more inclined to ornament.
Architecture
Strictly speaking, there’s no Turkish architecture existing. There is Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman architecture. But the Turkish – which is not more than eighty years – is still very young. It’s too early to talk about it as something complete. A characteristic feature of the architecture of Turkey and Istanbul is the usage of eastern (Egyptian) and western (Greek) styles. Ottoman architecture may seem a little bit heavy and bulky, but the modern Turkish architecture tries to get rid of it.
Cinema
Contemporary Turkish cinema is now very popular. As a rule, Turkish films enjoy great attention at the festival in Berlin. But it mostly concerns the author’s cinema. In Turkey itself serials are mostly popular. The Turks are obsessed with soap operas! They even have a movie studio, which specializes in such serials – Yesilcam.
Literature
The main representative of Turkish literature today is certainly the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk. Such representatives of avant-garde movements in Turkish literature as Nazim Hikmet and Yasar Kemal are also well-known. The literature of the Ottoman period is more of a religious nature, which is associated with restrictions established by Islam…