Collections | Travelling | Exploration and research | Scientific expeditions [20 Objects, 1 Monuments]

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Introduction to the Chapter

Illustrations from Voyage en Nubie et en Abyssinie entrepris pour découvrir les sources du Nil

1790

National Library of France

Paris, France

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 Justification for this item

Geographic and geopolitical exploration was of great interest to European powers in their quest to effectively penetrate the region in search of raw materials and new markets for trade. Finding the source of the Nile held a fascination for many explorers, for whoever managed to discover it was guaranteed fame and fortune.

Kaftan

19th century

National Museum of Anthropology

Madrid, Spain

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 Justification for this item

This kaftan belonged to the Spanish naturalist and zoologist Manuel Martínez de la Escalera (1867–1949), who undertook scientific expeditions throughout the Middle East in the 1890s. He subsequently established important collections of zoological and other natural specimens, antiquities and folkloric items.

Kaftan

19th century

National Museum of Anthropology

Madrid, Spain

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Waistcoat (Yelek)

19th century

Cerralbo Museum

Madrid, Spain

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 Justification for this item

This waistcoat was collected by Enrique de Aguilera y Gamboa (1845–1922), 17th Marquis of Cerralbo. A Spanish aristocrat, Cerralbo was a highly respected archaeologist and historian, who built up important collections during his travels in the East.

Waistcoat (Yelek)

19th century

Cerralbo Museum

Madrid, Spain

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The Victoria Nile - At Rionga's Island

19th century

National Library of France

Paris, France

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 Justification for this item

It is disputed as to whether it was British explorer John Hanning Speke or his commander Captain Richard Burton who discovered the source of the Nile in 1858. In any case, their quest combined the thirst for knowledge with the imperialist conviction and personal ambitions typical of many 19th-century European explorers.

The Victoria Nile - At Rionga's Island

19th century

National Library of France

Paris, France

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Anatolian Railways

19th century

Istanbul University, Nadir Eserler Kütüphanesi (Rare Books Library)

Istanbul, Turkey

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Anatolian Railways

19th century

Istanbul University, Nadir Eserler Kütüphanesi (Rare Books Library)

Istanbul, Turkey

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The Dinner held at Delphi in Honour of the Painter by the Elder of the Village at Chryso

Early 19th century

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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 Justification for this item

Artists conveyed a large amount of valuable scholarly information back to Europe too. The dinner seen here was held in honour of the Irish artist and archaeological writer Edward Dodwell (1767–1832) to mark his return from a journey across Ottoman Greece in search of its ancient roots. Dodwell’s influential books on Ottoman Greece include A Classical and Topographical Tour through Greece (1819) and Views in Greece (1821).

Ali Bey (Domingo Badia y Leblich), Traveller

c. 1816

National Museum of Romanticism

Madrid, Spain

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 Justification for this item

Many scientists, scholars and explorers also secretly gathered information for their governments while in the East. ‘Ali Bey (a pseudonym for Domingo Badia; 1767–1818), was a Spanish explorer and spy who travelled across the Ottoman Empire and North Africa disguised as a Syrian prince.

Ali Bey (Domingo Badia y Leblich), Traveller

c. 1816

National Museum of Romanticism

Madrid, Spain

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Athenian Bride

1825

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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 Justification for this item

In this scene, the French painter Louis Dupré conveys fascinating details about the traditional rituals at an Athenian wedding: the bride is waiting while the groom is ritually shaved. Dupré, like many of his contemporaries contributed to increasing “knowledge” about the Orient in Europe, but unfortunately not all of this contribution was accurate.

Athenian Bride

1825

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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Portrait of a Greek Wearing a Fustanela

c. 1830

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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 Justification for this item

Louis Dupré (1798–1837) was famous in France for his philhellene and Orientalist artworks that, at the time, were perceived to convey accurate ethnographic detail. Travelling in Greece and the Ottoman Empire in the early 1820s, like many, he had set out in search of antiquity but merely by chance had discovered instead the “living” Orient.

Jeita Grotto

1836 (year of discovery)

Je'ita, Keserwan, Lebanon

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Jeita Grotto

1836 (year of discovery)

Je'ita, Keserwan, Lebanon

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Coat of a bedouin collected during the Expedition of the Austrian Ship Pola under the command of Paul von Pott to explore the Red Sea

1839

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum

Vienna, Austria

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 Justification for this item

In 1897/8, the Austrian Academy of Science dispatched a scientific expedition under Captain Paul Edler von Pott to explore the Red Sea and its shores. A lot of scientific data was gathered, but in addition ethnographically and artistically intriguing items such as this Bedouin coat were collected.

Aegilops ovata L

1840

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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 Justification for this item

Many European scientists focused on the flora and fauna of the region. This sheet, a Herbarium, shows three fruiting specimens of Aegilops ovate, collected in Algeria in May 1840 by the Scientific Commission of Argelia (Algeria) under the supervision of the French naturalist M. Durieu.

Aegilops ovata L

1840

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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Vanadinite

c. 1839

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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Vanadinite

c. 1839

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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Thymus ciliatus Benth. Presently: Thymus munbyanus subsp. coloratus (Boiss. & Reut.) Greuter & Burdet

1850

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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Thymus ciliatus Benth. Presently: Thymus munbyanus subsp. coloratus (Boiss. & Reut.) Greuter & Burdet

1850

National Museum of Natural History and Science (MUHNAC) / Museums of the University of Lisbon

Lisbon, Portugal

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Map of the Network of Caravans

1856

Austrian State Archives

Vienna, Austria

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 Justification for this item

The Austro-Hungarian Empire, like her European competitors, was keen to advance her economic and commercial interests in the Arab and Ottoman world. Knowledge of established regional transport networks as well as intelligence concerning local industries was of vital importance in this endeavour.

Map of the Network of Caravans

1856

Austrian State Archives

Vienna, Austria

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Lamp from a mosque

1896

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum

Vienna, Austria

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 Justification for this item

Karl Alexander Anselm Freiherr von Hügel, the owner of this lamp, was an Austrian naturalist and botanist as well as being a diplomat who gathered information for his government. He visited Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine in 1831 and, like many of his contemporaries collected information outside his field of expertise.

Lamp from a mosque

1896

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Weltmuseum

Vienna, Austria

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Kusejr Amra

1907

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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 Justification for this item

It was not only ancient Egypt that fascinated European scholars. Qusayr ‘Amra, an early Islamic desert palace in present-day Jordan with a bathhouse complex, was first published by Alois Musil (1868–1944), an Austro-Hungarian polymath – Catholic theologian, explorer, writer and spy.

Kusejr Amra

1907

Benaki Museum

Athens, Greece

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Photo documenting the discovery of the Tutankhamun tomb

1922

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Alexandria, Egypt

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 Justification for this item

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many European scholars visited Egypt in search of an ancient past that was recounted in the Bible and through the Christian education system. The Tomb of Tutankhamun was discovered by the British Egyptologist Howard Carter in the Valley of the Kings in Upper Egypt in 1922.

The objects found in the tomb of Tutankhamun

1922

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Alexandria, Egypt

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 Justification for this item

The archaeology of ancient Egypt had fascinated Europeans ever since the French invasion in the late 18th century. Artists such as the Scottish painter David Roberts further popularised the topic with paintings and lithographs. The discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun in 1922 led to a global craze that was fed by the recent availability of mass media.

The objects found in the tomb of Tutankhamun

1922

Bibliotheca Alexandrina

Alexandria, Egypt

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Introduction to the Chapter

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