Besiktas culture and art association is non-profit organization
whose purpose is to develop, promote, and coordinate the arts,
thereby preserving the cultural heritage of Besiktas,and it’s
environs and sustaining its cultural life.
About
European
Capital Of Culture 2010
Definition of Ecoc
The idea of having a European Capital of Culture was first put forward in 1985 when Melina Mercouri was Greek Minister for Culture. In the same year the European Union Council of Ministers determined the scope of the project and put it into implementation. From 1985 to 2000 one city from the countries which were members of the European Union was selected each year as European Capital of Culture. To mark the start of the new millennium, from 2000 onwards the title of European Capital of Culture began to be given both to more than one city each year and to cities in countries which were candidates for EU membership.
What will happen in the year 2010 in Istanbul?
- From 2006 onwards the name of Istanbul will be associated with culture and the arts all over the world.
- As Turkey moves ahead with the process of its candidacy for the European Union, the projects that will be realized will demonstrate that Istanbul, the symbol of the country, has been interacting with European culture for hundreds of years.
- The city’s cultural heritage will be managed in a sustainable manner and it will become even more of a magnet than ever.
- Istanbul will achieve lasting gains in the fields of urban renewal, urban living and environmental and social development.
- New museums will be established to protect and display our cultural assets and historical buildings will be renovated, given new roles and opened to the public.
- Istanbullites will embrace new artistic disciplines. Young talented people will have the opportunity to become more closely involved in artistic creativity.
- Jobs will be created for a large number of people ranging from communications to organization, education, design, management and creative fields.
- Those who come to Istanbul for cultural and artistic projects will visit the city’s cultural riches, mosques, churches, palaces and museums.
- Cultural tourism will be invigorated and develop. (Educated, cultured tourists spend three times as much as normal tourists. This means that, as a European Capital of Culture, Istanbul will have a great tourism potential.)
- Many people from the world of culture and the arts, together with members of the print and visual media, will come to Istanbul from Europe and different countries all around the world.
- This will make a positive contribution to the promotion and branding of Istanbul.
- Being selected as a European Capital of Culture will give a boost to the city’s economic relations with Europe as well as contributing to its cultural relations.
- With the renovation that will take place, the administrators and administered will join together, hand in hand, sharing their knowledge and experience, to develop a long-term sustainable model for the future.
- Through discovering the beauty of their city, Istanbullites
will be proud to live in such a city.
Tourism and Publicity
About
With a view to promoting Istanbul as a destination for culture tourism through culture and arts events and cultural diversity, besides relying on the city’s existing wealth of history, a concept of promoting Istanbul through culture and art is being developed and events to this end are being organized. The aim is to reinforce and enhance the existing perception along this direction both within Turkey and abroad; increasing the number of visitors to Istanbul and enabling the city to gain further economic benefits from this process.
The following are done within this framework,
- Events in Turkey and abroad are being utilized for promoting the Istanbul 2010 project,
- Participation in international tourism, book, art and design fairs and exhibitions that can be linked with the 2010 European Capital of Culture (ECoC) project,
- Istanbul 2010 is promoted among the congress participants in international conferences and congresses held in Istanbul,
- Work is undertaken in coordination with public bodies and relevant sector establishments to follow up international events and to plan joint events.
for more www.istanbul2010.org/en/
Beşiktaş
The Bosphorus has been settled for a long, long time and there are many places of historical interest. This stretch of the Bosphorus shore is slightly sheltered from the strong north-easterly winds that bring storms to Istanbul and thus ships have always been moored here. Indeed in Greek and Byzantine times the area was called Diplokionion, meaning 'double pillar' in Greek.
In ancient times the villages on the Bosphorus shore were
isolated communities in the forest that lined the water-side. The
Bosphorus however was prominent in the history and mythology of the
ancient Greeks, and villages like Beşiktaş would have had their
place in traditional tales such as
Jason and the Argonauts. In the
Byzantine era churches and a monastery were built and the
tradition of having a summer palace on the Bosphorus was begun by
the Byzantines with their Ayios Mamas palace complex. The Bosphorus
settlements however, being outside the city walls, were vulnerable
to raiders from the
Black Sea coasts and little of this architecture or the statuary
that would have decorated it so gloriously has survived.
In the Ottoman period, once the emperors had established control of the Black Sea coasts the Ottoman navy was docked in the Bosphorus and the Bosphorus villages became safe and attractive again. One man in particular, the legendary sailor Barbarossa, built his palace and mosque in Beşiktaş, making it his home. By now Beşiktaş was an established Bosphorus crossing for caravans trading across Anatolia and along the Silk Road, and of course for the great Ottoman armies.
This coast was of course very attractive to the Ottoman rulers, who built hunting lodges and then great palaces in the area, and the Beşiktaş district contains some of the most important and attractive Ottoman buildings. The area was thus the scene of great intrigues of the late Ottoman period such as the dethronement of Sultan Abdulaziz at Dolmabahçe Palace in a coup in 1876 and the announcement of the founding of the Ottoman parliament in 1908, and the deposal of Sultan Abdul Hamid II at Yıldız Palace in 1909.
Following the foundation of the Turkish Republic in 1924, the Ottoman ruling family was deported and the palaces and mansions along the coast were emptied out. Some were given to new government ministries, some used as schools and other public buildings, other were pulled down.
*to quote from wikipedia