Béla Rakovszky and the Import of Islamic Arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina

Szántó, Iván (2017) Béla Rakovszky and the Import of Islamic Arts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In: Islamic Art in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Bosniak Institute, Sarajevo. (In Press)

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Abstract

In parallel with the debates regarding the arts of Asia, loads of modern Islamic, chiefly Persian and Central Asian, artworks were acquired by various museums in Vienna and Budapest, especially during the 1890s, to be redistributed into regional centres between Prague and Sarajevo. In addition to theorists and antiquarians, there were more practical-minded participants of this discourse who set out for collecting expeditions to Iran and Central Asia to provide samples for craftspeople in the Balkans and enhance their crafts according to predetermined recommendations. In the context of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Central Asian mission of Baron Béla Rakovszky deserves attention. Fragmentary as they are, memories of his expedition may add to our picture of early Persian art scholarship in the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and, moreover, they may enrich our perceptions of the ideological uses of Islamic art in the historical context of South-East European colonialism. In addition to enquiries into the impact of this collecting tour, this essay will introduce some newly-emerged documents and objects which can help us viewing the expedition from a wider perspective.

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