Cosmic Multicultural Bucharest in the Pandemic (12):
About the Ottoman Pathway
By Andrei Dorian Gheorghe (astro-photo-poem-essay) and Florin Alexandru Stancu (design)
Islamic culture came to Romania through the Ottoman pathway of an empire that had already conquered the Arab world and Southeast Europe, taking over the astronomical traditions of the Islamic golden age and Ulugh Beg’s great achievements in astronomy.
I must note that the Romanian states did not become “pashaliks”, but only tributary states to the Ottoman Empire (the Romanians could keep their official religion while the Muslims could not build mosques on the territories of these countries) for over 400 years due to the military resistance of Mircea cel Batran (the Elder) in Wallachia (in the 1390s) and Stefan cel Mare (the Great) in Moldova (in the 1470s).
But after the war for Romania’s independence (1877-1878), even King Carol of Romania showed much respect for the Ottoman Muslim culture and decided to build a mosque in Bucharest in the 1900s.
Looking at this cultural-religious edifice in the sunlight on October 21, 2020 I thought about:
-Taqi ad-Din’s astronomical observatory in Istanbul (16th century), one of the largest observatories in the world at that time;
-Piri Reis’ amazing map of the world (16th century);
-Islamic calendars based on the phases of the Moon;
-Muslim love for the Crescent Moon, their favorite symbol …
that is also a friendly
heavenly body
for everybody,
including you and me.
#poetry