Thursday, December 13, 2007

Camondo Stairs & Camondo Family


 Camondo Stairs

Camondo stairs (also known as Kamondo stairs ) is a very special architectural project from the 19th century.Built in 1860 , by Camondo family , a very important and influent family by time, they are a special example of baroque and art nouveau styles.
These very special stairs have a hexagonal shape.It is said that this shape was arranged this way, so that if a child would slip while climbing down, the other bevel would prevent them from falling.These stairs were built to facilitate the transport of Camondo's children to reach school and to cut down Camondos way to the Banks Avenue , built by them as well.


Camondo family has a very interesting, fascinating and tragic history as well.
Camondos were of spanish-portuguese origine . They firstly moved to Venice escaping from the inquistion movement.
Their second destination would be Istanbul where they'd soonly ascuqire fame as one of moneychangers, bankers,financers,entrepreneurs in different investment areas.They were financers of the state during wars and banker of the state before the Ottoman Bank foundation.They were also one of the most important real estate companies of that time.Because of their influence on Ottoman Empire they are known as the very first foreigners to achive the priviledge of possesing real estates.
But above all, their positive influence at the modernizing and urbanizing of Istanbul city is ineffable.They have donated Istanbul city many , beautiful and very special buildings and khans.I'd especially note Camondo's Khan here, where different artists such as Abidin Dino (famous turkish painter), Orhan Veli (famous turkish writer/poet) , Yasar Kemal (famous turkish writer/poet) , etc.
Camondos were very well known as art partizans and supporters.After they left Istanbul , they passed to Paris where they kept on with their art passion becoming very well known collectors of fine art works.
But the end was not that brilliant for this family, very well known for their charitable nature.Sadly, the son of Camondos , Nissim was killed during first World War .A very special art museum with superb fine art works was constructed honouring Nissim in Paris.
Nissim's sister,Betrice wasn't much luckier , she was exiled with her family to Auschwitz camps, where they could never return anymore.Their mother , Irene was the last person belonging to Camondos .With her death, the dinasty of Camondos came to an end.
Photobucket


To return to Camondo stairs, everybody that has visited them, has a special memory there.Is it because of their unique shape, or their atmosphere , that I can't tell.For an unknown reason it is also told that these stairs are commonly called as "love stairs" by folk.
Henri Bresson Cartier, a french photographer, very well known for his reportage work has also a very fine photo of these unforgettable stairs.

click here to have a look at my whole Camondo Stairs Photo Collection:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/eni/tags/camondostairs/
To have a look at Henri Bresson Cartier's "Camondo Stairs" picture click here:http://www.artfacts.net/exhibpics/16896.jpg
for more info on Camondos: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camondo

16 comments:

belle_fleur said...

Very interesting story about the Camondos family and their artistic contribution in Turkey and other places. I am thankful that you bring such insightful details about Turkey and the people that have paved that country.

Thanks girlie!

eni said...

glad you enjoyed dear..hugs

ELAIS said...

Nice to have some history to go with the picture of the stairs you had put on Flickr.
Have a wonderful day :)

eni said...

glad you enjoyed dear.have a bright day you too! kisses!

belle_fleur said...

Nice touch in the blog. I love the red! Did you change template too, apo po me bejne syte:PP

I think you should give me some tips cuz i have no clue on certain things about blogging:)

Have a great weekend!

hugs&kisses

eni said...

thanks chicha! yes I did change the template too.futu tek templatet lal , zgjidh ate qe do, me pas futu tek fonts & colors dhe zgjidh ngjyren qe deshiron per blogun:)puçi

eni said...

se harrova te them: nese do te vesh foto ne hyrje te blogut futu tek edit page elements , aty futu tek edit header dhe mund te ngarkosh nje foto qe do ti pastaj beje save..

belle_fleur said...

you rock girl! i have thought to change it, especially the picture. in fact, i did try it once, and i didn't like it, so i deleted. i will try again.

thanks for the tips:)

muah

Lily said...

A little offtopic, but congratulations on being published Eni. Saw about 10 of your recipes on AlbanianMail, UK's albanian newspaper.

I recognised they were yours from
the pictures, although they don't look as pretty and vivid in grainy black and white.

Oh, and now I look back mami had taken a soup recipe from the paper last month, though I didn't know it was yours at the time. Lovely it was too, so you should have some credit for that.:D

eni said...

belle: you're very wellcomed lovely!

lily: i'm so very happy to hear that:) thanks darling i didn't have any idea:)

belle_fleur said...

Congratulation!

eni said...

thanks dear:)

LOER KUME said...

o eno, e shijova shume kete punen e shkalleve, shume interesante, dergo sa me shume infermacione te tille ne blog, une germoj shume ne blogun tend dhe gjej gjera interesante gjithmone. thanks...
madje madje, per falenderim po te dergoj nje perle te vockel, larg nga bota turke, por me sharm tmerrsisht magnetik sidoqofte... :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wLePwZgW_A

eni said...

loer: shume flm mik! gezohem qe te paska pelqyer.do perpiqem te sjell elemente interesante nga Stambolli.flm shume per perlen:) kalofsh mire!

L.S. Alves said...

Really great post. Istambul have things interesting to know and see. Thanks for share this history with us. I thinking the beautiful film this history can become.
Hugs to you.

eni said...

l.s.alves: yeah , the film idea thrilled me too:) thanks pal.glad you enjoyed! best!

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