Istanbul 2026

Conference venue: The old mosque Otağ-ı Hümayun at the Yildiz Technical University campus.

The conference was held in a beautiful room in the mosque Otağ-ı Hümayun.

Monday 27th April. Introductions to the conference by Dr. Nick Campion and Dr. Özer Çınar from the Yildiz university

Özer Çınar and Nick Campion

Presentation by A. Tunç Şen on What is in a Name? Munajjims as Astral Experts

Presenters at the conference

Coffee break. Fabio Silva is being served by Burhan from the Academic Lounge at the university. Those who enjoyed breakfast at the lounge will clearly remember Burhan's great service

Dallin Evans from Rice University. Evans did a talk titled Astronomers and Astrologers in the Caliph’s Court: Mathematical developments in tenth-century al-Andalus

Luis Ribeiro enjoying the coffee break. Ribeiro did a talk titled Comparing astrological practices: between Persia and Europe

Anupam Suman and Nick Campion

Nick Campion and A. Tunç Şen

Ulla Koch from the Copenhagen University having a cup of hot coffee at Burhan's coffee stand

Naser Dumairieh on Astronomy in the Ottoman Hijaz: Texts, Figures, and Practices

Hakan Kırkoğlu on Astrology as an institutionalized science at the Ottoman Court: Musazâde Mehmed Ubeydullah Efendi and the Horoscope of an Ottoman Prince

Time for questions from the audience at the Q & A each time three speakers have completed their presentations

A group photo in front of the conference venue, the old Otağ-ı Hümayun mosk

Queing up for lunch at the Guesthouse dining hall

Lunch and dinner at the Guesthouse dining hall

Lunch and dinner at the Guesthouse dining hall

Organizers Karine Dilanian, Nick Campion and Frances Clynes at coffee break

Hakan Kırkoğlu with Fabio Silva and Dragana Van de Moortel-Ilić

Hee Sook Lee-Niinioja on Star and Constellation Myths as Symbolic Stories in Celestial Patterns in Medieval Sacred Spaces: Church/Mosque/Temple

Dragana Van de Moortel-Ilić on The Narthex of the Lesnovo Monastery: Rulership, Dress, and Celestial Imagery

Fabio Silva on At a crossroads in space and time: the archaeoastronomy of the Upper Iron Gates

Tuesday 28th April. John Steele on The Astral Sciences under the Achaemenid Persian Empire

The medias at work during John Steele's presentation

Dallin Evans on Astronomers and Astrologers in the Caliph’s Court: Mathematical developments in tenth-century al-Andalus

Florence Somer and Gaye Danışan

Q & A after presentations by Ulla Koch, Dorian Greenbaum and Orhan Güneş

Wednesday 29th April. Q & A after presentations by Hamid Bohloul, Robert Morrison and Luis Ribeiro

Meltem Ersoy after her presentation on Perspectives on Sufi Cosmology in the Rasāʾil of the Ikhwan al-Safa

Anupam Suman on “From Bhārata to Baghdad to Byzantium”: Interactions and Interconnections of Jyotiḥśāstra among Indian, Islamic, and European Astrologers

Aleksey Arapov on The Sacred «Book» of the Cosmos as a Subject of Timurid Empire and Renaissance

Nick Campion receiving The Sacred "Book" of the Cosmos from Aleksey Arapov

Organizers of the conference, from left: Mai Lootah, Alejo Lopez, Karine Dilanian, Nick Campion and Frances Clynes