Özet:

As a result of the developing Ottoman-Hungarian relations at the end of the 19th century many Hungarians visited Ottoman lands with various duties. One of them is artist Kálmán Beszédes, the son of engineer József Beszédes staying in Istanbul for a while (1839-1893). With the call of the Hungarian Count Ödön Széchényi playing an important role in the modernization of the Turkish fire department, the artist Kálmán Beszédes came to Istanbul in the fall of 1878 to help Széchényi in the modernization of the fire department and spent the next 15 years in the Ottoman land. During this period, he travelled and painted many places from Istanbul to Athens, from Tekirdağ to Aegean islands. He visited the Aegean islands of Syra, Tinos and Chios. He first visited the Aegean island of Chios in 1881 and then Tinos and Syra in 1883. He witnessed the social, cultural and economic conditions of the Aegean islands in late 19th century. He presented detailed information about the religious beliefs, daily lives, professions and even physical features of the local people in these islands. He enriched his memoirs with his pencil drawings. Particularly the information he provided about the islands of Syra and Tinos is of great importance as a witness of an era. Beszédes wrote his impressions about the places he travelled in his memoirs called Tizenöt év keleten (Fifteen years in the East). Some of it was published in a newspaper called Fővárosi Lapok when he was alive. Some of it was never published. Inheritance of Beszédes registered in the Archive of Eötvös Lorand University in Hungary consists of these memoirs and drawings. The current study addresses the section about the Aegean islands in the memoirs of Beszédes published in the newspaper called Fővarosi Lapok; moreover, samples of his pencil drawings of the artist Beszédes are presented.

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