The mosque represents the core identity of Islamic architecture, a building dedicated to God. Built under the patronage of a royal woman in the old commercial centre of the city, the site also attracted business and trade activities between Muslim and non-Muslim merchants, representing another important layer in the identity of Istanbul.

The image depicts the daily life of an Arab city-dweller to illustrate Arab culture and handicrafts to the reader of Charles Lallemand’s Tunis et ses environs. The “Eastern” style had a huge impact on European arts and crafts.

An aquatint depicting the famous Café du Marabout, a vestige of the many that once furnished Arab and Ottoman cities, and which step-by-step Europeans embraced, turning them into fashionable venues for the elite. Cafés are important social spaces in the Arab and Ottoman world that are mainly frequented by men.

A main site of traditional city life that manifests national identity through its form and style.

The image of the “East”, seen in intimate interiors such as this, was one circulated throughout Europe. It inspired not only European art and fashion, but also the tradition of identifying cultures through architecture, ornament, decoration and costume or fashion.

Built in the Ottoman style, the design and structure of the Citadel of Cairo symbolises Ottoman power and the new ruler.

The engraving focuses on some of the most important identifying factors of Damascus: the mosque complex represents piety, Islam as the basis of an individual’s life as well as the community’s; the merchants symbolise a strong global presence in trade and economics; the Ottoman-style buildings represent the power of the Empire; and the new French-built road signifies the city’s modern era.

Depicting one of the oldest and most important universities of the Islamic world, this painting illustrates some salient features of Cairene identity: local history, tradition and lifestyle.

The style of this building represents the rediscovery of Portugal’s Arabian past and also hosts one of the country’s most significant social events and traditions, the bullfight.

The square, which is an important meeting point for the local population in the centre of Tunis, holds an important transnational monument.

The monument can be considered as an expression of the symbolic interconnections between the three main pillars of Syrian society in the era: political identity (Ottoman Sultan ‘Abd al-Hamid presenting Islam as a unifying factor); modernity (the telegraph system); and religious values (the Islamic hajj and the Holy Cities of Mecca and Medina).