Levantine Heritage Foundation

Upcoming Events - LHF

29 June 2017, 6-9 pm

1st Levantine Heritage Foundation social networking and bring and share family ephemera evening in London - flyer: - booking:

21 September 2017, 6-9 pm

26th Levantine Heritage Foundation dinner gathering in London, with guest speakers Dr Jonathan Conlin, senior lecturer in modern history at Southampton University on ‘Very Loyal Subjects and Friends of Our Country: The Gulbenkians and Ottoman/Turkish Economic Development, 1880-1935’ and Nicholas Pelham, author and Middle East correspondent of The Economist, on his Alexandrian and Levantine background - flyer: - booking:

TBC September 2017, 8.30 pm

2nd LHF-Istanbul talk and dinner social evening with guest speaker Prof İlber Ortaylı: Levantines of Istanbul - their lives and their contributions (in Turkish) - information: - flyer:

20-22 October 2017

LHF Second Beyoğlu Conference in Istanbul: ‘Levantines as pioneers of Modernization in Industry and Trade in the Ottoman Empire’ - call for papers - enquiries:

January 2018

27th Levantine Heritage Foundation dinner gathering in London, with guest speaker David Abulafia, author and pre-eminent historian of the Mediterrenean basin - details to be finalised soon.

We are sad to report the death of Nancy Cutcliffe, mother of contributor Belinda Levitan and grand-daughter of George Percival Baker of Istanbul who together with his brothers ran the carpet exporting business. Nancy Cutcliffe died on 13 April 2017, several weeks short of her 102nd birthday. May she rest in peace - Nancy’s Istanbul photo album:

Another sad death of late is that of author and professor John Freely who passed away on 20 April 2017 aged 90, an expert of Istanbul history and who attended our Istanbul conference as guest of honour in 2014 - Eulogy - external obituary: / from Cornucopia:

External Events

26 June 2017, 3-6 pm

Seminar: ‘Turks and Mahometans: Presence and Perception in Early Modern England’, by TIDE: Travel, Transculturality, and Identity in England, c. 1550-1700, The University of Liverpool in London, 33 Finsbury Square, London

27 June 2017

Seminer: Osmanlı İstanbulu’nun Levanten Yüzü: Galata-Pera, Prof. Dr. Namık Sinan Turan, Tarih Vakfı, Istanbul

29 June 2017, 5 pm

Lecture: John III Sobieski in the eyes of Ottoman historians, Dr. Günhan Börekçi, the Concert Hall, The Royal Castle in Warsaw, Poland

3 July 2017, 9 am - 5 pm

The European Association of Middle East Librarians, 39th Annual Conference, Runcie Room at the Faculty of Divinity of Cambridge, University of Cambridge, England - info:

3-5 July 2017

Christians and Jews in Ottoman Society: A Workshop, University of Oxford, England - info:

6-7 July 2017

Conference: ‘The Ottoman Conquest and Knowledge: A Transcultural History’, Newnham College, Cambridge, England

6-7 July 2017

Symposium: Imaging a ‘Middle East’, Institute for Cultural Enquiry, Christinenstr. 18/19, Haus 8, 10119 Berlin, Germany

10-12 July 2017

Conference: ‘Communities, Imaginations and Emotions in the Medieval Mediterranean’, Society for the Medieval Mediterranean Biennal Conference, Ghent University, Belgium

11-12 July 2017

Conference: Migration and Citizenship, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, Room 3002, John Galsworthy building, Kingston University, London

until 20 July 2017

Exhibition: ‘Harbor’, Istanbul Modern, Meclis-i Mebusan Cad., Liman İşletmeleri Sahası Antrepo no: 4, Karaköy, Istanbul

21-24 July 2017

Conference: Twelfth Biennial Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East, Norwich, England

24-28 July 2017

14th International Congress of Ottoman Social and Economic History (ICOSEH), Sofia University, Bulgaria

until 3 September 2017

Exhibition & Events: ‘Syria: A Conflict Explored’, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road, London

7-8 September 2017

Symposium: ‘Heinrich Friedrich von Diez (1751-1817) – Diplomat, Orientalist, and Collector’, State library Berlin, Germany

28-29 September 2017

Call for papers - Research Workshop: ‘Multiplicity of Divisions: Boundaries and Borders of the Habsburg, Ottoman, and Russian Empires in the 19th –early 20th Century’, History Faculty, Hryhoriy Skovoroda Kharkiv National Pedagogical University, Kharkiv, Ukraine - deadline: 10 July 2017

29-30 September 2017

Conference: ‘Knowledge Exchange. Europe and the Black Sea Region, ca. 1750 – 1850’, Southeast European History and Anthropology, University of Graz, Austria

4-6 October 2017

‘International Symposium on Turkey-Romania Relations: Past and Present’, Constanta, Romania

until 10 October 2017

Exhibition: Silver & Salt - Early Photographs from Ömer M. Koç Collection: 1843-1860 - Büyükdere Mahallesi, Büyükdere Piyasa Cad. No: 27- 29, Sarıyer, İstanbul

26-27 October 2017

Workshop: ‘Transcending boundaries? Solidarity in the pre-industrial period’, Bruges, Belgium

3-5 November 2017

Conference: ‘Economic transformation in Cyprus and the Levant, 1850-1939’. Nicosia - deadline 1 July 2017

17 November 2017

International Workshop: Politics and Sociability in a Transcultural Context: The Diplomatic Milieu in Istanbul during the Long Eighteenth Century - German Historical Institute, Hôtel Duret-de-Chevry, 8 rue du Parc-Royal, Paris - deadline: 14 July 2017

November 2017, TBC

Lecture: Intervention: an Eastern Mediterranean genealogy - Andrew Arsan (University Lecturer in Modern Middle Eastern History, University of Cambridge) - Hamilton 501, Columbia University, New York, USA - info:

24-25 November 2017

Call for papers: Conference on the Social, Cultural and Economic History of İzmir and the Region, The Hrant Dink Foundation - info: - deadline: 30 June 2017

4-5 January 2018

Call for papers: ICCHOE 2018: 20th International Conference on Culture and History of Ottoman Empire, Mercure Grand Hotel, Doha, Qatar - deadline: 26 May 2017

2-3 April 2018

Symposium: Migration and Cultural Interaction in Ottoman Empire and Turkey, Sabahattin Zaim University, Halkalı, Istanbul - deadline 17 December 2017.

13-17 May 2018

Maritime Networks as a Factor in European Integration, Fondazione Istituto Internazionale di Storia Economica ‘F. Datini’, Prato, Italy.

21-22 May 2018

Call for papers - ICCHOE 2018: 20th International Conference on Culture and History of Ottoman Empire, Hollywood Media Hotel, Berlin, Germany - deadline: 21 July 2017

25-26 May 2019

Call for papers - 21st International Conference on History and Culture of Ottoman Empire, Holiday Inn London – Wembley, Empire Way, Wembley, London - deadline: 25 July 2018

In Memoriam

Livio Missir de Lusignan has died

We are sad to report the death of the foremost scholar on Levantine studies Livio Missir de Lusignan on 16 October 2015. The scholar was born in Izmir 1931 and has published numerous papers and books on the story and genealogy of Levantines. May he rest in peace. Obituary:

Giovanni Scognamillo has died

We are sad to report the death of the Istanbul resident Levantine Giovanni Scognamillo on 8 October 2016, aged 87. He was an author, Turkish film historian, film critique and one of the last surviving symbols of Pera Levantines. In 2006 his book ‘A Levantine in Beyoğlu’ was filmed as a documentary. May he rest in peace. Obituary:

Padre Stefano has died

We are sad to report the death of one of the longest serving priests in Izmir, Padre Stefano Negro on 4 January 2017, who started his ministry in the city in 1976 and was the priest-in-charge of St Rosario Church in Alsancak. He was known by all the Catholics of the city and will be sorely missed. May he rest in peace. Obituary:

Our supporters

Catoni Group

Italian Cultural Institute, Istanbul.

Beyoğlu Municipality

Consolidated International Agencies

LHF Istanbul volunteer group