İstanbul Research Institute presents The Four-Legged Municipality: Street Dogs of İstanbul, an exhibition that sheds light upon the adventure of street dogs, an integral part of İstanbul’s daily life in almost every period of the city’s social history, which changed alongside political, religious, and sociological transformations.
A coachman feeding the street dogs.
Anonymous, Early 20th century
Glass negative, stereotype; 4 x 10.4 cm
Pierre de Gigord Collection.
Street dogs… They have been with us for centuries. They assumed an important role in the social adventure of İstanbul, established their independent rule, expanded their conventional values, and embraced the notion of coexistence with unfaltering faithfulness. Much like the people of İstanbul, they were strangers to privileged classes; they represented not a given standard, but a cultural blend. With people of all ages and backgrounds, everyone’s own “neighborhood” in İstanbul was their home. These small worlds or neighborhoods constituting the universe of what was the İstanbul, the city, spun the cocoon of our way of living around a common sense of compassion.
Street dogs at Seraglio Point.
Early 20th century, Postcard; 9 x 14 cm
Pierre de Gigord Collection.
“The Four-Legged Municipality: Street Dogs of İstanbul” exhibition can be visited at İstanbul Research Institute!