A contribution to the topography of the 19th century Adrianople
Part of : Balkan studies : biannual publication of the Institute for Balkan Studies ; Vol.34, No.1, 1993, pages 49-72
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49-72
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Articles
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Abstract:
A new period opened for the Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empiresince the second third of the 19th century. New national states were graduallyformed and the territory of European Turkey was reduced considerably.The ‘westernization’ which took place modified profoundly the existingurban hierarchies. Major development occurred in cities along new railwaylines and in the coast, while traditional inland cities, especially the oneslocated near the newly traced frontier lines, declined rapidly.Until then Adrianople had been the most important city of EuropeanTurkey, the administration and trade centi e of an extended hinterland andhad lived in peace since its capture by the Turks, almost five centuries before.Although there is rich bibliography about the important monumentsof Ottoman architecture which made the city famous, on the contrary verylittle is known of the urban space of Adrianople in general and more specificallyof the intra muros city, which perished in a fire in 1905; and almostnothing is known of the everyday places where the various ethnic-religiousgroups lived and worked.In 1854-56, during the Crimean War, the French chef d’escadron Osmontprepared a detailed plan of the city. This beautiful manuscript, with an index of 200 buildings in a 1:10.000 scale, is a valuable document for the topographyof Adrianople in the middle of the 19th century. The Roman-Byzantinewalled city and its very regular street system (orthogonal grid) appear clearlydespite the distortions that have happened during long centuries of continuousurban life. Written almost at the same time, a report by the Greek consul in1858 is an important source of information about the buildings and the urbanstructure of Adrianople.With the help of these documents as well as of other sources, this articlewill trace the stages of urban development as well as the city’s evolutionafter the middle of the 19th century, when an era of major development,demographic and other, came to end.
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Τοπογραφία Αδριανούπολης, 19ος αιώνας
Notes:
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