За културната дейност на независимия управител на видинския край Осман Пазвантоглу
Of the Cultural Activities of Osman Pazvantoğlu, Sovereign of the Region of Vidin

Summary/Abstract: The article is a comprehensive overview of the cultural activities of Osman Pazvantoğlu during his independent rule over Vidin. Despite the historically hard times of his government, he performed significant building activities. Osman Pazvantoğlu was highly educated with solid knowledge of the then modern social and political sciences. Almost next to nothing is extant of his endeavours, but these were of vast scope and vital to the perception of the processes ongoing within the Ottoman Empire at the turn of the nineteenth century. At the time, traditional models were interpreted in a new way due to the relations maintained actively with Europe. Using the experience of Austrian, Polish and French engineers, Osman Pazvantoğlu remoulded the fortress in European fashion. He was also involved in significant charitable activities. He built a state-of-the-art drinking fountain with a reservoir and ice cellar. He established waqfs (Islamic charitable foundations) to maintain public and religious buildings. The extant sites of his days – the Cruciform Barracks, the Library, and the Mosque of Osman Pazvantoğlu – feature a number of ingenious ideas. The Cruciform Barracks with its unusual design poses questions that have no answers for the time being. The Library built in the immediate vicinity of his mosque, has been state-of-the-art at the time. Changes in the mindset of Ottoman intelligentsia of the early nineteenth century, a period of transition from the then traditional to modern culture are evidenced by it along with the very well preserved Mosque of Osman Pazvantoğlu.

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