This exhibition looks at the Turkish tradition of shadow puppetry, with a special focus on the play Karagöz or Hacivat.
These shadow plays are thought to have originated in Southeast Asia and were brought over to Turkey with migrants from Central Asia to Anatolia.
The performances play out behind a white screen with puppets or "tasvir" appearing in silhouette. Each "tasvir" is made out of camel or water buffalo hide and are animated by rods.
More information.
TURKISH FILM FOCUS: POSTER ART
Film fans can get their fill of Turkish film history through this exciting exhibition of film posters. From its humble beginnings in 1908 through to today’s flourishing Turkish film industry, there’s an exciting array of art work on offer to satisfy every cinemagoer’s curiosity.
Visitors can peruse posters covering Turkey’s first film, shot in 1908 to the earliest Turkish film documentary, screened in 1914.
Though Turkish cinema experienced a lull during the War of independence, the later collaboration with Muhsin Ertuğrul and Kemal Film saw a flurry of activity. An array of posters publicising this period, from films such as Ateşten Gömlek, Halıcıkız, Ankara Postası, Ayastefanos'taki Rus Abidesinin Yıkılışı and Aysel Yahut Bataklı Damın Kızı, is also on offer.
Mor information.
MAKING THE MOST OF MANUSCRIPTS
Manuscripts make up the most important sources of our cultural heritage. The following are just some examples of the Turkish Libraries most treasured posessions. All examples are displayed in our dedicated manuscript museum.
Picture of Masnawi
Rumi, Mevlana Celaleddin, Masnawi
Mesnevi was written by the world-famed Mevlânâ Celâleddin Rûmî. This copy was produced in Herat in 18th century. It was inscribed on silk paper, in Nesih calligraphy, at Herat in the 18th century. The lacquered binding bears a medallion miniature of the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. The back cover is decorated with an engraving of Hz.Mevlana and Sems-i Tebriz. The Divan consist of six volumes.
Picture of The Koran
The Koran
Calligraphied in the nesih style of the Mullah Muhammad Cevâd b. Fazl Alî b. Cafer, this manuscript is written on silk paper in Arabic. It has silk paper leaves bearing exquisite deep blue illuminations, with Persian commentaries in the margins. Chapters, prostration marks, bordures, corner marks are illuminated in red and deep blue, while lines are separated in gold gilts. The binding is in velvet and it’s encased in an original binding.
Picture of Bible
Bible
This work called Ge’ez was written on parchment in Ethiopian. Subject headings are in red. It is an ancient and rare manuscript composed of 169 leaves. The text is about prayers and hymns of Prophet David. The binding is of wood and its condition is good. It can be said that the work belongs to the second half of the 19th century.
Picture of Marifet-name
Hakki Erzurumi, Ibrahim, Marifet-name
Mârifet-nâme was written by İbrahim Hakkı Erzurûmî; it includes both religious and scientific subjects, such as commentary, hadiths (saying of Prophet Muhammed), Islamic laws, physics, chemistry, mathematics and astronomy, all brought together as an encyclopedic work k. It has cardboard brown leather binding decorated with a rosette on the covers and chain-patterns all around. The text includes many figures, tables, maps and geometric drawings. The National Library owns a fine copy written in Arabic calligraphy.
Picture of Delailü'l-Hayrat
Ebû Abdullah Muhammed b. Süleyman el-Cuzûlî, Delâ’ilü’l-Hayrât
The full title of the work known as Delâ’il-i Serif written by Ebû Abdullah Muhammed b. Süleyman el-Cuzulî is "Delâ’ilü’l-Hayrât and Şevârikü’l-Envâr fî Zikri’s-Salât alâ’n-Nebiyyi’l-Muhtâr". It is a prayer book. This type of doducment were very much in demand in North Africa and Anatolia. The headline of Delâ’ilü’l-Hayrât, written in Arabic, has colour decorations. Miniatures of Mecca and Medina are painted between the pages of 13b and 14a. The binding has a rosette (şemse), with chain patterned decoration and is made of green leather.
More information.
IN DEPTH: Holding on to the NLT history and heritage
Gönül Büyüklimanlı - Deputy Director - outlines the importance of the NLT’s collections:
"The National Library of Turkey was established with the intention of becoming the focal point for a national network of knowledge and information. It’s hoped that its presence will prove pivotal in promoting cultural development and economic growth in our country.
The National Library currently maintains a collection of over 2,5 million materials, including books, periodicals, and non-book materials. The non-book collection contains audio-visual materials including posters, maps, sheet music, audio recordings (in CD and cassette), and paintings, etc. The collection has been available on the European library web page since the beginning of 2009. In return, the European library collection can be accessed within the Turkish interface.
Manuscripts
Manuscripts make up some of the most reliable research sources in the areas of science, the arts, and culture. The collection at the National Library contains 26,644 works produced on paper and parchment, including ones recently transferred from other libraries. These unique examples are compilations of manuscripts from Central and Eastern Anatolia regions, and cannot be found in conventional libraries.
Some of our most valuable manuscripts include such works as: "Murad-name", the very first known encyclopedic work of the Ottoman era, written in 1428 by Bedri Dilşad, grandson of Oruç Gazi; "Saltuk-name", written by Ebu’l-Hayr upon instruction from Cem Sultan and "Maceray-I Mah" written by Udî (one of only three copies that are known to exist in the world). These manuscripts are available online for researchers and are just a small part of the over 26.500 volumes of manuscripts that have already been digitised.
Sound Archive
Our library has a Sound Archive containing a collection of 4200 local and foreign gramophone discs, recorded between 1913 and 1960.
Talking Books Library
The National Library’s Section for Visually Impaired Persons was established in 1955 (its name was later changed to the Talking Books Library in 1986). This section of the Library offers a collection of 500 items in Braille, including books, magazines, and maps in Turkish and foreign languages, as well as sheet music. The Talking Books collection consists of 1,100 titles of cassette books, stored in about 10,000 master and copy cassettes.
Recording studios have also been set up and book recordings are now being offered for visually impaired persons over the Internet, via the web site http://www.mkutup.gov.tr/konusankitap/"
The Atatürk Archives
The Atatürk Archives holds a vast collection of printed and audio-visual materials relating to the War of Independence and the foundation of the Turkish Republic.
The collection was set up in honour of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic and its first President. It consists of over 36,000 items including print pastes, books, reproductions, magazines, posters, postcards, calendars, photographs, films, stamps, cassettes, CD rosters, medals and lottery tickets, all related to this charismatic and world renowned leader.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, is a towering figure in Turkish history and this collection serves as a monument to his enduring legacy of political, social, legal and economic reforms.
More information.
IN BRIEF - FUMAGABA and BnF
FUMAGABA project: backing the Balkans
The European Library’s FUMAGABA (2008-2009) project aims to integrate the collections of the national libraries of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Ukraine, Moldova, Albania, Georgia, Armenia, Bosnia Herzegovina and Azerbaijan with the help of the financial support of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. The project is currently coming to a very successful conclusion, with nearly 18 collections already integrated. The European Library interface has also added 7 languages to its front end.
The FUMAGABA project will end this summer when the national libraries involved will become active members of The European Library network. These partners will soon be promoting The European Library through a short video in their native language, marking their membership entry with an innovative promotional tool.
The French National Library provides content in Audio format
A new version of "Gallica" - the BnF digital library - was successfully launched a few weeks ago. The collection was expanded with more than 400,000 documents. Additionally ground-breaking functionalities have been added to the service.
Visitors can now listen to texts thanks to the text-to-speech technology, which means that all material digitised in text mode is available in audio format. All users and particularly visually impaired visitors can “listen” to documents, page after page. A private account can be set-up and RSS feeds keep BnF users informed about the latest documents available online.
Gallica provides access to over 820,000 digitised documents: manuscripts, sound material and music scores on top of the already accessible 100,000 books, 230,000 images and over 400,000 newspapers issues. These collections are all in the public domain.
Additionally Gallica gives access to digitised documents belonging to French partner libraries as well as a set of copyrighted documents within the framework of the experiment launched in 2008 with the French Publishers Association, some publishers and e-retailers.
BEYOND EUROPE - DIBRARY: South Korea’s Digital Doorway
The opening of the National Digital Library of Korea in May, 2009 has already proved pivotal in paving the way for improved on-line services. International users are now being offered unique access to its core services, with the arrival of the ‘Dibrary portal’
Dibrary was developed to improve Korean competitiveness in a knowledge-information driven society. By providing easily accessible information to the public and researchers, Dibrary is proving a digital doorway to South Korea’s national information resources.
Users can crack in to the Digital Library’s core services with the aid of ‘Productivity Computer Cluster’, ‘Laptop Zone’, ‘Multiplex’, ‘Seminar Rooms’, ‘Media Center’ and an ‘Accessibility Help Center’ . For the more creative, there’s even a space for filming, editing, producing and displaying User Created Contents, where visitors can have hands-on experiences.
For foreigners who have difficulties with the Korean language, multi-language (English, Japanese, Chinese, Vietnamese and French) supported computers, satellite broadcasting and digital newspapers are also available.
The Dibrary portal’s selection of services acts as a knowledge information distribution hub. And it’s organised in a way that data from public institutions and private organizations, both home and abroad, are all linked. On top of that, special portals such as ‘Policy information’, ‘Multicultural’, ‘Regional’ and ‘Portal for the Disabled’ are being serviced, with a total of 116 million knowledge information resources.
The European Library is hosted by the Koninklijke Bibliotheek - National Library of The Netherlands.
"The NLT is one of Turkey’s most influential bodies in education, science, culture and research. Its role is vital in gathering and preserving scientific and cultural works for present and future generations to enjoy." 
