The House of Sciences
This book examines the process of founding a Western institution, namely a university, in the Ottoman Empire, a cultural environment wholly different from its place of origin in Western Europe. This study sheds new light on an important and pioneering experiment involving both Islamic and Western cultures. It tracks the multifaceted transformation at work in İstanbul during the transition from classical to modern modes of scientific education. As well as explaining the origins of the Darülfünun and the motivations for its founding, this study also highlights the impact of the Ottoman University outside the Ottoman domain. To put this study in the right perspective, concise introductory information is given regarding the origin of the university in Europe, the modernization of the university in the nineteenth century, and the diffusion of the university as an institution of higher education outside Europe, specifically to the Muslim world.