Living in Turkey - Tapa blanda

The Turkish home is a living tradition whose refinement has continued uninterrupted for over 10,000 years from the earliest recorded dwellings of Middle Anatolia to the modern Istanbul townhouse. During this time, the rise and fall of great empires - Hittite, Byzantine, Ottoman - has brought a mosaic of influences from as far afield as Africa and the Balkans. Certain felicitous principles have come to dominate Turkish domestic design: simplicity, economy and a respect for human needs. Living in Turkey draws aside the veil of privacy to lead us into these discreet, carefully hidden interiors. We see houses that have evolved to suit local conditions and needs, from the earthen buildings of Cappadocia and Kayseri and the whitewashed walls of the Aegean coast to the stone masonry of the Middle and Eastern Anatolia. At the heart of the Turkish experience is Istanbul: a twentieth-century metropolis still filled with beauty and mystery, tinged with the colours of ancient cultures and past times. Old wooden buildings dream in huge gardens along the Bosphorus; the angles of contemporary apartments are softened with accessories and kilims; in every house are Turkish coffee-pots, handmade embroideries and coloured glass. Throughout, spectacular colour photography invites us to share in the enjoyment of these decorative marvels, bringing us closer than ever before to the design, the architecture and the lifestyle of this entrancing culture.

Stephane Yerasimos was born in Istanbul but now teaches Urban History at the University of Paris, where he specializes in Ottoman architecture and the traditional buildings of the Balkans and the Near East. Ara Guler is an award-winning member of Magnum Photo Agency and his work is featured in many museums and private collections around the world. Samih Rifat is an architect, photographer, writer, critic and authority on Turkish monuments.