Libraries were established through book waqfs in the Ottoman territory from the 15th century to the beginning of the 20th century. These libraries, which were established by the waqf’s ownership, have served the aspiring scholars for centuries and have ensured that the book heritage has been passed on to the next generations depending on their legal identity. Istanbul has the most prosperous city in terms of having waqf libraries in Ottoman period. In addition to the libraries founded in institutions such as mosques, madrasahs, schools, dervish lodges, the most outstanding examples of individual libraries were established in Istanbul. In this article, the waqf libraries being active in Istanbul within the framework of a census list prepared in 1869 are examined. The book donation culture, which is being in the background of the waqf library application in the Ottoman Empire, was explained and an introduction was made to the subject. Then, the distribution, characteristics and book statistics of the waqf libraries in Istanbul were evaluated. As a result, in this study, the general view of the waqf book accumulation of the Ottoman capital city in a certain period is presented.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Journal Section | Research Article |
Authors | |
Publication Date | June 15, 2022 |
Submission Date | February 19, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022 Volume: 58 Issue: 2 |
Diyanet İlmi Dergi is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY NC).