Dutch merchants and Ottoman sultans at the Amsterdam Museum

The Chamber of Levantine Trade  

Dutch merchants and Ottoman sultans at the Amsterdam Museum

In the context of 400 years of trade relations between the Netherlands and Turkey in 2012, the Amsterdam Museum will be presenting the exhibition De Kamer van de Levantse Handel (The Chamber of Levantine Trade) from 20 April to 26 August 2012 inclusive. Dutch merchants and Ottoman sultans. In this presentation the museum will show a reconstruction of the office of the "Directorate of Levantine Trade and Navigation in the Mediterranean". From 1665 onwards, this room was to be found at the Amsterdam city hall, situated on Dam Square, and was filled with countless maps, charts and paintings providing an impression of the Ottoman world. Today, that office serves as one of Queen Beatrix's private rooms in the Royal Palace. The basis for De Kamer van de Levantse Handel is made up of works from the Amsterdam Museum and the Rijksmuseum, supplemented with various items on loan from elsewhere in the Netherlands and from abroad. The presentation will be on display at the Pera Museum in Istanbul in a modified form from 21 January to 1 April 2012 inclusive.

Dutch merchants and Ottoman sultans

In March 1612, Cornelis Haga set foot ashore in Constantinople (as Istanbul was then known). He became the first Dutch ambassador at the royal household of the Sultan, who at that time was Sultan Ahmed the First. From the fifteenth century onwards, the Ottoman Empire was one of the most powerful empires in the world. At its height, the empire covered an enormous area of over five million square kilometres in Northern Africa, Asia and Europe. In terms of size, it was incomparable with the tiny Dutch Republic that had only just come into existence. Nevertheless, in 1612 this small, young state gained a trading privilege from the sultan; a document measuring three metres in length. This gave the Dutch the right to trade with the Ottoman Empire. This kind of trading privilege had previously only been granted to the Venetians, the English and the French. The Dutch traded in Levantine goods such as silk, angora wool and currants as well as the famed Turkish carpets. In turn, they sold all kinds of things to the Near East, from broadcloth produced in Leiden to Delft pottery, as well as Oriental spices and coffee. The Dutch Leeuwendaalder - a silver coin bearing the image of a lion - became a popular currency within the Ottoman Empire.

The Chamber of Levantine Trade

The journey to the Ottoman Empire was a hazardous one due to the risk of piracy and of being shipwrecked. In order to arm Dutch ships and to encourage trade, a special organisation was set up in 1625: the Directie der Levantse Handel en Navigatie in de Middellandse Zee (Directorate of Levantine Trade and Navigation in the Mediterranean). From 1665 onwards, this organisation was housed in the prestigious new city hall on Dam Square (now the Royal Palace). Merchants went there to discuss their transactions, and problems with pirates and privateering were discussed. The countless paintings, charts and maps hanging on the walls gave visitors an impression of far-away and exotic parts of the world with which trade took place. A reconstruction of this room is to be displayed at the Amsterdam Museum as a symbol of the first trading contact between the people of Amsterdam and the Levant, with Constantinople - today's Istanbul - as its most important city.

Cooperation

The exhibitions in Istanbul and Amsterdam have been made possible thanks to the cooperation of Eveline Sint Nicolaas, a curator at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, and the Pera Museum in Istanbul. Financial support has been provided by bodies including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Municipality of Amsterdam, the Mondriaan Foundation and the Turkish government.

400 years of Dutch-Turkish relations

The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs has set up a project group to coordinate the many initiatives of governments and third parties being organised to mark the 400th anniversary of trade relations between the Netherlands and Turkey. The objective is to offer a programme in 2012 featuring a range of activities and event in the Netherlands and Turkey. The emphasis will lie on cooperation and exchange. In this connection, the Dutch diplomatic service in Turkey, ministries, municipalities and cultural and social organisations such as the Turkey Institute and the SICA all play important roles. The anniversary celebrations firmly focus attention on the future and aim to give the bilateral relations a new impulse.

About the Amsterdam Museum

The Amsterdam Museum tells the story of the city of Amsterdam; the past, the present day and the future. The Amsterdam Museum aims to be not only a museum about Amsterdam but also the museum of and for all residents of Amsterdam. Every year, the Amsterdam Museum, including Museum Willet-Holthuysen, welcomes around 250,000 paying visitors, both from within the Netherlands and from abroad. The Amsterdam Museum is supported by the BankGiro Loterij, the Netherlands' cultural lottery.