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Turks: A
Journey of a Thousand Years Page 42 The
latest exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts is an ambitious look at
a millennium of Turkish civilisation. Isla
Rrosser-Owen finds the exhibition spectacular, but designed to
impress rather than educate. While most, if not all, of the artifacts on display are surely spectacular, many of which are being shown to the public for the first time (including those from the private collection of Topkapi Palace), there is a certain anti-climactic nature to the exhibition. Despite taking up a good ten rooms of London’s Royal Academy of Arts, it fails to present any real sense that these amazing objects span a thousand years. Also not adequately explained, but only hinted at in the objects themselves, is the immense geographical area that the history of the Turks covers, not to mention the mix of languages, cultures and peoples that were swallowed up under their banner. There are few visual aids to make any of the artifacts accessible to the layman, and terms which even experts in Islamic Art would have difficulty with are not clarified. Turks does inspire awe in the beholder. The intricacy and craftsmanship that many of the exhibits reveal is truly spell-bounding, and if only for this reason it is still worth the trip. The sheer affluence, cultural richness, skill and diversity of the various Turkic peoples, not to mention the Ottoman sultans, is possibly the main impression that punters will take away with them. However, this exhibition is intended to impress but not to educate, and unfortunately all too many of the thousands of visitors passing through will leave being none the wiser about such a vast and important piece of cultural history. If you are able to fork out money for the catalogue on top of the already hefty entrance fee, then further enlightenment might be found. Otherwise, this rush-job of something that should have been momentous will probably fail to leave any lasting mark. Turks: A Journey of a Thousand Years, 600 - 1600 is on at the Royal Academy of Arts, London until 12th April 2005. Facts and figures
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