‘Missing Ottoman globe’ not original: Experts

ISTANBUL

The original globe is on the right.

The marble globe in the middle of Istanbul’s historic peninsula that went missing last month was not the original, 174-year-old piece, daily Radikal has reported, quoting an expert association.

The Association for the Conservation of Shrines, Fountains and Cultural Assets also stated that it was currently looking after the replica in its storage, which was recently broken.

The globe had been reported to have come from a shrine, ordered to be built by Ottoman Sultan Abdülmecid for his father Mahmud II in the Çemberlitaş neighborhood in 1840. The Ottoman-Armenian royal architects Ohannes and Bogos Dadyan completed the shrine in imperial style, including a 2.5-meter high drinking fountain on one of its corners, which was also decorated with a 70 cm-wide marble globe.

Daily Milliyet reported on April 22 that the “historic globe” was lost last month and officials from the Directorate of Shrines could not explain how it happened. “We bear responsibility only for the shrine’s maintenance, not the fountain’s,” an official from the directorate told Milliyet.

However, the Association for the Conservation of Shrines, Fountains and Cultural Assets announced on April 23 that the globe was not missing and it was not the original one anyway.

“We have no information regarding the date that the original globe was stolen. A quasi-replica, which is not exactly the same as the original, was recently broken into two pieces and is now being protected in our storage,” read a statement from the association, quoted by daily Radikal.

The association also said it would soon place a “more accurate replica” on the fountain, while the original globe is still being searched for by the authorities.

As seen in the photos published by daily Radikal, the original globe (right) had meridians and parallels unlike the broken “replica” (left).