Travellers in Ottoman Lands seminar in Thessaloniki invites 20-minute papers by 15 November

Proposals are open for the fourth Travellers in Ottoman Lands seminar (TIOL4), to be held in Thessaloniki from 21 to 24 April 2027, with three days of presentations followed by a day of excursions. Abstracts are due by 15 November 2026.

Travellers in Ottoman Lands and the Levantine Heritage Foundation organise the meeting with the University of Macedonia. Three associate partners are named: the British School at Athens, the Egypt Exploration Society and Cornucopia. After the 2025 seminar in Istanbul, the British Institute at Ankara is supporting this one and published the call on 6 October.

Papers may cover any aspect of travel to and from Thessaloniki and the wider Ottoman world in the Ottoman period. The organisers suggest themes ranging from early photographers, botanists and women travellers to consuls, dragomans and merchants, ports and cemeteries, and visitors to classical and archaeological sites. Ottoman Cyprus had such visitors too: Giovanni Mariti, a Florentine merchant who became chancellor of the British consulate at Larnaca, spent six years on the island in the 1760s and watched the ruins of ancient Kition being taken apart for the growing town.

Talks last 20 minutes, given singly or in panels of three or four speakers, and the seminar runs in English. A proposal needs a title, a 200-word abstract and a biography of no more than 200 words, submitted through the seminar's ConfTool site after creating an account; questions go to travellersinottomanlands@gmail.com. Proposals are peer reviewed, with decisions expected by mid-January 2027.

Registration opens on 31 January 2027, when the draft programme, the fees and details of six student bursaries paid for by the EES/ASTENE fund are also due. Speakers book their own accommodation.