Leonardo lecture at Yale — the Turkish connection — by Bulent Atalay

The following is from a lecture I gave at Yale University in the spring of 2009:

Leonardo had been working in Milan for 17 years as a military engineer when in 1499 the French overran the republic, then governed by the Sforza Family. For the next 2-3 years Leonardo and his entourage were 'on the road,' traveling to Pavia, Padua and Venice. In 1502-'03 Leonardo wrote a letter to Sultan Bayezid II, of the Turkish-Ottoman Empire, offering to build a 240 meter (790-ft) single-arch bridge spanning the Golden Horn, "Haliç," in Istanbul. With no one able to recognize the surpassing genius of Leonardo, the offer fell between the cracks. The letter itself was lost, and discovered only after 450 years in the Ottoman Archives (1952).

In our book, 'Leonardo's Universe' (National Geographic, 2009), my coauthor Keith Wamsley and I wrote about this seemingly tenuous connection between Leonardo and the Ottoman Empire. In 2001, after six years of toil, the gifted Norwegian artist, Vebjorn Sand, constructed a scaled down replica of Leonardo's Bridge, but not in Istanbul, for which Leonardo had originally designed it, but in Ås, Norway. There are said to be plans afoot to build Leonardo's Bridge in Istanbul. What is clear is that Leonardo had designed a structure that was a masterpiece of form and function.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Leonardo's
• Universe

[318lrw]

Like the letter of Leonardo's which offers bridge building, painting and numerous talents Professor Atalay's continue unlimited as well. HIs intense knowledge of the subject and his ability to draw an audience into an otherwise unknown world is one of many of his truest and deepest talents. He continues to instruct and inspire far beyond the classroom I left many years ago.

[hardyms]

Mary Washington's own Renaissance Man, Bulent Atalay! He teaches me something new even now--what a beautiful bridge!

[HalloweenAndCostumes]

This stuff is very interesting, but most of it flew right over my head.

[87365458]

This lecture is too easy to understand, I mention.

[bwjones1002]

I had no idea that Leonardo, with all that talent, could ever have been unemployed, and would have sought a position in the distant Ottoman lands.