Photos depict seminal events in İzmir’s past at an exhibition

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

The exhibition, featuring photos from the Orlando Carlo Calumeno Collection, is on display at Galatasaray’s Cezayir Restaurant.

Birzamanlar Publishing is hosting a new event designed to refresh memories about İzmir at the beginning of the Turkish Republic through the exhibition of historical postcards and photos from the Orlando Carlo Calumeno Collection.

The exhibition, which opened Oct. 12 at Galatasaray’s Cezayir Restaurant Meeting Hall, is titled “Once upon Time in İzmir: Postcards from Orlando Carlo Calumeno’s Collection” and consists of 60 historical photos. The exhibition will continue until Oct. 29.

“In this exhibition we would like people to stay alone with their thoughts,” Birzamanlar Publishing editor and exhibition curator Osman Köker told the Hürriyet Daily News. “I want viewers to be alone with the postcards and photographs, as they will refresh their memories about İzmir.”

Exhibitions of Orlando Carlo collection

Köker has conducted a number of exhibitions of the Orlando Carlo Calumeno Collection, including one that was titled “My Dear Brother,” which attracted a total of 10,000 people in Armenia, the United States and Europe with its depictions of Armenian life before 1915 that were drawn from the large collection of postcards owned by Calumeno.

“These exhibitions help Armenian people remember their countries,” said Köker. “With this exhibition, Turkish-Armenian dialogue improved.”

Köker said the new exhibition would exhibit the history of İzmir, as well as the important incidents that occurred in the Aegean city, including the Great Smyrna Fire.

“We will not only exhibit the Great Fire of Smyrna, but we will also make viewers refresh their memories about events in İzmir,” Köker said.

Explaining the beginnings of the fire, Köker said, “Turkish forces regained control of the city [from retreating Greek forces during the War of Independence] on Sept. 9, 1922. After that, the great fire started in the city.”

The fire, also known as the “Catastrophe of Smyrna” destroyed a large portion of İzmir, including its port.

The photographs in the exhibition ultimately depict the lives of non-Muslim people in Anatolia, he said, adding that they showed that there have been always Syriac Christians, Greeks and Armenians across the region.

Köker said his publishing house has previously published two books about İzmir, including Hervé Georgelin’s “The End of Smyrna” and “Once Upon a Time in İzmir: Postcards from Orlando Carlo Calumeno’s Collection,” which forms the basis of the present exhibition.