Levantine Architects of Istanbul

“The Levantine Architects of Istanbul” is a conversation that examines Istanbul on the threshold of the twentieth century through the works of Levantine architects who shaped its structural identity.

This video project, born from interviews complementing the Yunus Emre Institute’s exhibition “Stone, Space, Imagination: The Levantine Architects’ Istanbul,” brought together for the first time Associate Professor Hatice Adıgüzel, Associate Professor Luca Orlandi, and Associate Professor Seda Kula, all of whom have produced significant work in this field. The exhibition, featuring watercolor works by artist Bahar Yalçın, brought back into focus a topic that has received limited academic attention in recent years but retains important historical value in art history, through the figures of Raimondo D'Aronco, Alexandre Vallaury, and Giulio Mongeri. On the opening day of the exhibition, a discussion titled “The Levantine Architecture of Istanbul,” featuring Associate Professor Luca Orlandi, was held as part of the “Terra Art Conversations” program.

In this source-based video, Istanbul’s multicultural urban and architectural history is examined not only through Raimondo D'Aronco, Alexandre Vallaury, and Giulio Mongeri but also through Edoardo de Nari and Tito Lacchia. These five architects, spanning the transition from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic, blended Western architectural traditions with Istanbul’s layered urban fabric, reinterpreting eclectic, neoclassical, art nouveau, and modernist tendencies within the local context. Through this work, the Yunus Emre Institute draws attention to the significance of Levantine architects and reminds audiences that their architectural styles reflected not only aesthetic trends but also the cultural, social, and artistic mindset of their era.