As part of Berlin Yunus Emre Institute's "Cultural Meetings 2022" seminar series, a seminar entitled "Hans von Schiltberg:  Tir Bavarian" (Hans von Schiltberg:  Bayer unter Türken und Tataren) was held on June 20, 2022.

Making the opening speech of the seminar presented by two academicians from Augsburg University, Berlin Yunus Emre Institute Coordinator Feyzullah Bahçi mentioned the opportunities and contributions offered by the Institutes to the academic world and intercultural communication. The seminar, which deals with the observations of Schiltberger, who was captured during his childhood years, that he kept in his memories during his 30-year captivity, was presented to the audience with the joint presentation of Prof. Klaus Wolf and Dr. Ergün Özsoy.

HE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST GERMAN TRAVELERS TO WRITE ABOUT ISLAM

Pointing out that Schiltberger was probably a German traveler who wrote about Islam for the first time, the academics shared the cultural traces from Munich to Samarkand, as well as the city names that Schiltberger named in his travel book, but have reached today in a changed form.

FROM ISTANBUL TO SİNOP, ANTALYA TO SAMARKAND, ALL CITY NAMES ARE IN TRAVEL BOOK WITH THE OTTOMAN PRONUNCIATION

Emphasizing that it was very remarkable that he did not know the Latin or Greek names of the places he went to because he had no education, and therefore he quoted the names of regions and cities, including Istanbul, Antalya, Sinop, and Samarkand, as he heard them in Turkey, Wolf and Özsoy reported that the semi-phonetic interpretation of their names reflects the oldest pronunciation of Turkish place names and makes an important contribution to Turkology. Schiltberger's digital route, which was presented visually by the speakers, attracted great attention from the participants.