Concept of Kiosk
Concept of Kiosk
If you’ve ever been
to a shopping centre or train station you’ve probably been to a kiosk.
But the kiosk as a building type is not a new invention. As a building type it
was first introduced by the Seljuqs (a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turkic descent
that ruled parts of Central Asia and the Middle East from the 11th to 14th centuries) and was a small building attached to the main mosque.
It consisted of a
domed hall with open arched sides, gradually evolved into a summer house used
by Ottoman sultans, perhaps the most famous of these kiosks are the Cinili
koshk (kiosk in Turkish) and Baghdad koshk. The first was built in 1473 by
Mohammad al-Fatih at the Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, and consists of a two storey
building topped with a dome and having open sides overlooking the gardens of
the palace. The Baghdad Koshk was also built at the Topkapi Palace in 1638-39,
by Sultan Murad IV. The building is again domed offering direct views onto the
gardens and park of the Palace as well as the architecture of the city of
Istanbul.
Sultan Ahemd III
(1703-1730) also built a glass room of the Sofa kiosk at the Topkapi Palace
incorporating some Western elements, such as the gilded brazier designed by the
elder John Claude Duplessis which was given to the Ottoman Ambassador by King
Louis 15th. The first English contact with Turkish Kiosk came through Lady
Wortley Montagu (1689-1762), the wife of the English ambassador to
Constantinople, who in a letter written in 1 April 1717 to Anne Thistlethwayte,
mentions a kiosk describing it as raised by 9 or 10 steps and enclosed with
gilded lattices” (Halsband, 1965 ed.).
Historic sources
confirm the transfer of these kiosks to European monarchs. The king of Poland,
and the father in law of Louis 15th, Stanilas of Lorraine built kiosks for
himself based on his memories of his captivity in Turkey. These kiosks were
used as garden pavilions serving coffee and beverages but later were converted
into band stands and tourist information stands decorating most European
gardens, parks and high streets.
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