Spaces of Diplomatic Receptions: Ottoman Habsburg Relations 1500-1700

In an Early Modern European court, the power seems to be concentrated on the throne and creates a ‘myth’. The throne is placed in the reception/audience chambers which serve for the reception of guests. However, the event of reception is much more complex and exceeds the phenomenon of the throne and the rooms of its placement. Although it was differently designed according to each particular case, the reception was carried as a performance with an elaborate protocol of rituals inside and outside of the imposing spaces of the court and surrounded by pompous materials. Although the idea and representation of power were captured in the static objects as well, it was at its maximum level, in the very process of reception, when all these different aspects were combined and performed as a theatrical journey, in which the received parties were also included. The objective of this study is to analyze the concept of reception in accordance with the ceremonial route that integrates social, spatial, and material layers. Including the articulated roads leading to the palace, the courtyards, ceremonial staircases, and the antechambers that lead finally to the throne room, the ceremonial route functions in multiple scales of observation. Moreover, the character of the reception changes according to many factors including the rank, gender, nationality of the host(s) and guest(s); the type of the relationship (peace/conflict) between them; the place of the ceremony, the physical limitations of architecture and the status of that place within the political order. Via mapping these routes in a multi-scaler GIS tool, it is aimed to reach comparable data on the selected events of reception in a quantitative -in terms of (estimated) lengths, durations, and the number of change of spaces- and in a qualitative manner- through the complexity and hospitality/hostility of the ceremonies. Given the excessive exchange between the European and the Ottoman courts, the given scope by the project is expanded to include Central Eastern Europe and the European lands of the Ottoman Empire, yet focused on the exchange in-between (diplomatic, artistic, trade). Within this context, the twofold influences on the ceremonial, representation of power, and its reflections in the spatial structure of reception, as well as its representations are the supportive subjects of study. The given timeframe is altered to c. 1450-1700 to correspond to the climax of the interactions of these two sides. In line with the aims and context of the study, a combination of spatial, performative, and postcolonial approaches, as well as Actor-Network Theory is an indispensable part of the research. Both physical– building sites and towns- as well as the documentary evidence, visual -historical city maps, architectural drawings, paintings, etchings, prints, miniatures etc.- and textual -court ordinances, ambassadorial reports, letters, and correspondence - serve as primary sources for the study.