Timur In A Cage

Altar Modelling Military History Notes No 9, October 2009

St. Petersburg wax statutes exhibition and great

Timur displayed in Ankara in a glass cage

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here is a quite interesting at Ankara Armada mall nowadays. This exhibition is open until December and visitors can see life scale wax statutes of 48 important figures from history. Atatürk, Dostoyevski, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sultan Mehmet the Conqueror, Beatles, El Farabi, Napoleon, Leonardo da Vinci, Tsar Ivan, Tsar Great Petro, Hürrem Sultan, Osman Ghazi, Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent, Elvis Presley, Alparslan, Hun Emperor Attilla are some names that is currently in display.

View from the exhibition Photo: Altar Modelling

Except for some, all statutes are exhibited in one big room. Some of them are randomly located outside in various parts of the Armada mall to get attention of the visitors. Among these displayed outside, the one belonging to the great Turkish conqueror Timur (or as better known as Tamerlane in Europe) is the most striking one for a reason: he is put in a cage!

Timur statute displayed in glass cage Photo: Altar Modelling

For those familiar with Ottoman history, this would instinctively spark a rather interesting event. In one of the most important battles of world history, Timur defeated the armies of Ottoman Sultan Bayezid in 1402 near Ankara. The victories Timur managed to capture Bayezid alive. The mighty Ottoman Sultan Bayezid lost his live in captivity. There had been numerous speculations as to how Timur treated Bayezid, some argued he treated him with respect while many other argued he humiliated him in numerous occasions and in various ways. One of the best known of this bad treatment is the argument that Timur locked Bayezid in a cage and took him to every city he visited in the cage. When you stand in front of the St. Petersburg wax museum’s statute today, whether or not this was real or not becomes irrelevant. You cannot help yourself to stop thinking about this sad story.

Wax statute of Timur. Excellent work by Russian artists. Photo: Altar Modelling

For a moment, leaving aside scientific methods and historical accuracy, you are left with mixed emotions to see great Timur being displayed in a glass cage in Ankara after 407 years not very far from the actual battle field. Back to reality, certainly, this was not done delibaretely by the exhibition organisers. There are 4 statues located outside and two of them, the one belonging to Timur and Leonardo Da Vinci are put in glass cage, simply because they are made of wax and needs careful protection from external effects. The other two were made of more sturdy material of fiber.

One of the pictures at the roof decoration of Graz Eggenberg castle in Austria showing Bayezid put in a cage by Timur. Source: Caroline Finkel, Rüyadan İmparatorluğa Osmanlı, Timaş Yayınları, İstanbul 2007, picture between p 172 & p173

Sultan Bayezid “the Thunderbolt” Original gravure from the 1662 French translation of the book of 15th century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcondyle Source: Blaise de Vigenere, Histoire Generale Des Tvrcs: Contenant l'Histoire De Chalcondyle. Tradvite Par Blaise De Vigenaire, Auec les illustrations du mesme Autheur. Et Continvee Ivsqves en l'an MDCXII par Thomas Artus; Et en cette Edition, par le Sieur de Mezeray, iusques en l'annee 1661, Paris 1662 Middle East Technical University Library, Ankara Turkey (ML Rare Collection catalogue no DR485 .V673)

Amir Timur Timur literally meant “Iron”. Ottoman historians called Timur Timurlenk due to his disability in his foot. Timurlenk meant Timur the lame and this passed to other languages in such forms as “Tamarlane”, “Tamerlan”, “Tamerlanos”, “Tamerlanes” etc. Main motive of the Ottoman historians to call him by his disability was to insult him. It is not acceptable to use this name containing an insult to one of the greatest Turkish conquerors of history. We do need to show proper respect and call him Timur, Amir Timur, Timur Gurgan or Demir Original gravure from the 1662 French translation of the book of 15th century Byzantine historian Laonicus Chalcondyle Source: Blaise de Vigenere, Histoire Generale Des Tvrcs: Contenant l'Histoire De Chalcondyle. Tradvite Par Blaise De Vigenaire, Auec les illustrations du mesme Autheur. Et Continvee Ivsqves en l'an MDCXII par Thomas Artus; Et en cette Edition, par le Sieur de Mezeray, iusques en l'annee 1661, Paris 1662 Middle East Technical University Library, Ankara Turkey (ML Rare Collection catalogue no DR485 .V673)

For those who will be visiting Ankara, we strongly recommend to visit this exhibition which will be open until December at Armada shopping center. Timur statute is at the basement entrance in front of the market. Visit him if you can.

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