Bilkent Celebrates Evliya Çelebi Quadricentennial
The Ottoman travel writer and prose virtuoso Evliya Çelebi stands as one of the great figures of Turkish culture. Prof. Robert Dankoff, the foremost expert on Evliya Çelebi's phenomenal ten-volume work Seyahatname, has observed that this book of travels "occupies a unique place in the literature of travel. It is the probably the longest and most ambitious travel account by any writer in any language, and a key text for all aspects of the Ottoman Empire at the time of its greatest extension in the seventeenth century."
Evliya Çelebi was born 400 ago, on March 25, 1611. Bilkent's Center for Turkish Literature will celebrate this anniversary in a program featuring two short speeches by two prominent experts in Bilkent's Department of Turkish Literature, Prof. Semih Tezcan and Dr. Nuran Tezcan, followed by on exciting concert by the Turkish Classical Music Chorus of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
The Evliya Çelebi program, inaugurating the live performances of the Evliya Çelebi anniversary, will take place at Bilkent Concert Hall on Tuesday, March 22, 2011 at 8 p.m.
The event is free and open to everyone. To reserve seats, please phone ext. 1775.