Hungarian archaeology in Istanbul during the world war I: Hungarian Science Institute in Constantinople (1916–1918)

Abstract

The aim of this article is to reveal the main scope of the Hungarian Science Institute in Constantinople, which was established in 1916 and closed as a result of the Mudros Armistice (1918), and its activities in the Ottoman capital, with the aid of new archival sources that have never or insufficiently been studied in the past. The first part of the article will discuss the beginning of Hungarian research in Istanbul in the 1860s and bilateral negotiations and mutual visits aiming at establishing the institute. In the following sections, the profile of the institute after it opened its doors in Pera, along with its scholars and their studies, and their relations with the Ottoman and German scientific circles of the city will be examined. The last section provides information on the closure of the institute and the attempts to reopen it.