Galata Tower, Istanbul
In the last years of the nineteenth century the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876–1909) presented large-format albums of photographs of the Ottoman Empire to both the American and the British governments. Three Armenian brothers known collectively as the Abullah Frères—official court photographers since the 1860s—were commissioned by the sultan to demonstrate through their photography both the modernity and the historical richness of his empire. This photograph shows the Galata Tower, built in 1348 in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
In the last years of the nineteenth century the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (reigned 1876–1909) presented large-format albums of photographs of the Ottoman Empire to both the American and the British governments. Three Armenian brothers known collectively as the Abullah Frères—official court photographers since the 1860s—were commissioned by the sultan to demonstrate through their photography both the modernity and the historical richness of his empire. This photograph shows the Galata Tower, built in 1348 in Constantinople (now Istanbul).