ARCHITECTURE & ENGINEERING BUILDINGS SPEAK. LAW ENDURES — September 10

AR­CHI­TECT­URE & EN­GI­NEER­ING
Did You Know? Law, Mar­ble, and Mod­ern Sov­er­eign­ty
Ot­to­man ar­chi­tect­ure ex­pressed law and or­der in stone, from gate­ways and min­is­tries to cus­toms hous­es and schools. Pub­lic build­ings made sov­er­eign­ty vis­i­ble. On this day in 1914, the Ot­to­man gov­ern­ment abol­ished the Ca­pit­u­la­tions, seek­ing to end the long For­eign Priv­i­leges that lim­it­ed im­pe­ri­al con­trol. The de­ci­sion was le­gal and po­lit­i­cal, but it al­so be­longed to a lar­ger sto­ry: mod­ern sta­tes re­shap­ing their in­sti­tu­tions, fin­an­ces, and ur­ban au­thor­i­ty in a time of war.
CIV­IC DE­SIGN
Go­vern­ment build­ings, schools, bar­racks, and posts gave late Ot­to­man re­form a phy­si­cal face in the ci­ty.
TO­DAY IN HIS­TO­RY – 1914
On Sep­tem­ber 10, the Ot­to­man gov­ern­ment abol­ished the Ca­pit­u­la­tions, as­sert­ing grea­ter sov­er­eign­ty dur­ing World War I.
⁕ BUILD­INGS SPEAK. LAW EN­DURES. ⁕