Appropriating Islamic Art: The First Century in Post-Ottoman Hungary

In the historiography of Islamic art in Post-Ottoman Central Europe the period which followed the Christian re-conquest (corresponding mainly to the late seventeenth century) but preceded the rise of modern scholarly interest (over the course of the nineteenth century) has received little attention. Until the nineteenth century, local vestiges from the Ottoman period were subject to a universalist narrative of Muslim defeat and Christian victory which was inherited from the 1680s and 90s. However, a careful look at the period can show that eighteenth-century attitudes towards Ottoman heritage are more varied than they would appear at first sight and this local heritage often proved to be inspirational for people who were living close to these sites and visitors who examined them. In conjunction with the exhibition, entitled Fruits of Discord, this paper will  introduce selected case-studies to invite discussion about their diverse aspects, and trace their impact in different sources, as well as their relation to parallel developments in other times and places of the history of Muslim conquests and Christian re-conquests.