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| THE OTTOMAN PAVILION - It was officially
announced by Ibrahim Hakki Bey, the chief commissioner, that for the
first time in the history of all international expositions the
Ottoman Empire, a land of three continents, consented to make a
national display among the foreign powers in Jackson Park. For this
purpose there were carved in Damascus, and transported to Chicago,
the panels and sections of the highly wrought pavilion which is
represented in the engraving. The model chosen by the imperial
architect was a fountain near the Babi-Humagoon, in Constantinople.
"A landmark," says Hakki Bey, "of splendor and magnificence in the
reign of Ahmet III, from 1703 to 1730." The characteristics of the
pavilion were its outreaching roof, and its outside walls of wood
called mucharabian, which were thickly carved with arabesque texts
and traceries. These panels at the end of the Fair were shipped back
to Syria. The edifice was formally opened on the 26th of June, 1893,
by Director Charles Henrotin, Consul-General for the Ottoman Empire,
in the name of Hakki Bey and the Sultan. In this, the main pavilion,
were displayed the most delicate and expensive manufactures of the
Turkish countries, very largely silk and needle work, gold and silver
embroidery, pipes, jewelry, soaps and perfumes. A smaller and
similar pavilion, near by, contained a carpeted, tapestried and
tufted chamber, enriched with divans that might have surprised even
Edgar Poe with the sense of its elegance and luxury. |
