When they came back, not only did they establish institutions in Turkey that were crucially needed, such as banks and factories, but they also brought with them some aspects of European culture. One of these students who went to Germany in this period, Kazım Taşkent, founded the Yapı Kredi Bank and began collecting coins that were used throughout the history of Anatolia. Now the third largest coin collection in the world, the bank's collection includes 55,000 coins, with a history stretching back to the Greco-Roman period and up to Turkey's republican era.A portion of this collection has been gathered into an exhibition titled “What the Coins Tell us? Symbols and Multicultural Aspects in Medieval Anatolian Coins.” Featuring 180 original coins, it is currently on view at the Yapı Kredi Vedat Nedim Tör Museum in İstanbul's Beyoğlu district.
Shedding light on the visual richness of the Anatolian heritage, the exhibition enables the audience to learn about the history of the region, explains the show's curator, Şennur Şentürk, who is also the director of the museum. “Each of these 55,000 coins has its own certificate, documenting the period and state in which they were used. This is perhaps one of the best categorized collections in the world. It starts from the fifth century and comes up to the 1970s. We have the best Seljuk and Ottoman period coin collection in the world,” she emphasizes.
The show begins with a large map of Anatolia in the Middle Ages and provides relevant historical background. “Turks migrated from Central Asia, and some of them migrated to the south and founded the great Seljuk Empire. They were very close with the Abbasids and Arab and Islamic culture in general. They did not have many figurative symbols on their coins like the ones used in Anatolia. Generally there is the name of the leader and the caliph written in Arabic letters and some prayers,” Şentürk explains.
Aside from the symbols and information displayed on their surface, the coins in the exhibition also provide valuable information about the culture, mythology and history of the land from which they originated. “The second part of these migrations from Central Asia were to Anatolia. They were founded on very rich cultures, such as the Urartians and the Hittites. Coins from this region and period feature images, unlike those in the southern regions. There were images of the sun, lions and cavaliers. They reflected both their own culture and the culture on which theirs was built. For example, when you look at a coin from the Artuqid period, you can see a figure of the leader imprinted on the coin that is very similar to sculptures made in the Greco-Roman style. The Danishmends had coins with one side written in Arabic and the other side written in Greek,” Şentürk notes, adding that there are even coins imprinted with portraits of two different leaders.
The show is open on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sundays from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. until Dec. 31.
Address: Yapı Kredi Kültür Merkezi, İstiklal Caddesi No. 161-161A, Beyoğlu, İstanbul, Web site: www.ykykultur.com.tr
