Reimagining Royal Space: The Qilij Arslan II Kiosk in Konya as a Case Study for the Digital Reconstruction of Islamic Architecture

This project examines the remains the royal kiosk, built for Seljuk sultan Qilij Arslan II (r. 1155-92) atop one of the northern towers of the wall around the citadel in Konya, Turkey. The structure was one the few medieval Islamic palatial structures to survive into the age of photography. The building was photographed extensively in the late 19th century, and throughout the 20th. Photographs taken before the upper structure collapsed in 1907 are the most valuable, as they show details that have been lost. This project aims to reimagine and reconstruct the original appearance of the kiosk, and a newly excavated structure to its west, using a combination of methodological and evidentiary approaches. The research is based on the close study of the earliest recorded drawings and photographs of the building, alongside the extant material remains in museums across the world, as well as the in-situ structural elements. Collection and study of all that material, including on-site research and visits to the relevant museum collections, was completed between 2020 and 2023. Preliminary drawings of the proposed reconstructions were created based on this research. Currently, the project is moving towards the creation of 3D modeling to suggest possible reconstructions and reflect further on the building’s decoration. In project so far has received funding from the British Academy, the British Institute at Ankara, Princeton University, and Stanford University.

Conference presentations
“Reimagining Royal Space: The Qilij Arslan II Kiosk in Konya and its Lost Interior,” Expanding Contexts, Historians of Islamic Art Association Biennial Symposium, Houston, TX, March 2023.
“Reconstructing a Pair of Largely Lost Monuments: The Kilij Arslan Kiosk Towers in Konya,” On Byzantine, Western, and Post-Byzantine Towers (10th-16th centuries), online conference organized by P. Androudis, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece, November 2022.
“Reimagining Royal Space: The Qilij Arslan II Kiosk in Konya and its Lost Interior,” online conference on the Saljuq citadel of Konya, organized by Konya Büyükşehir Belediyesi, Konya, Turkey, September 2021.
Publications
Patricia Blessing and Richard P. McClary, “Reimagining Royal Space: The Qilij Arslan II Kiosk in Konya and its Lost Interior,” special issue on digital humanities, edited by Nora E. Barakat, Yunus Uğur, and Ali Yaycıoğlu, Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association 9.2 (September, 2022 [published summer 2023]): 153-158, https://doi.org/10.2979/tur.2022.a902178