Welcome back to AL-MONITOR Istanbul.

Turkey is about to pause. Kurban Bayrami, or Eid al-Adha, falls on May 27-30 this year, and with the weekend before and after folded in, the country effectively stops for nine days. Half of Istanbul will be on the road: to family homes or the coast. The other half will discover, as they do every Bayram, that an emptied Istanbul is one of the finest versions of the city.

For those who stay in, here are our suggestions: Don’t miss the last opportunity this weekend to see Mesher’s “Ars Apodemica.” Casa Botter on Istiklal offers a rare chance to spend time with Ihsan Cemal Karaburcak’s purples. For those already packed, the 7th Mardin Biennial, “SKYground,” has just opened across the old city’s honey-colored limestone and wide Mesopotamian horizon.

Wherever this finds you: Iyi bayramlar.

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Nazlan (@NazlanEr on X)

P.S. Have tips on Istanbul’s culture scene? Send them my way at nertan@al-monitor.com.

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1. Leading the week: The art of going somewhere

“Ars Apodemica” at Mesher (Courtesy of Mesher)

There is a Latin term, “ars apodemica,” the art of travel, that Renaissance scholars used to describe the proper conduct of a journey: what to observe, how to record it, what to bring back. Mesher’s exhibition borrows the term and, thankfully, gives it a local touch.

Curated by Merve Uca, “Ars Apodemica” brings together more than 300 works spanning the late 15th century to the early 20th, all orbiting journeys to and through Ottoman territories. The organizing principle is not chronology but motivation: curiosity, faith, diplomacy, trade and war.

The works — from paintings to ceramics, rugs and kaftans — are remarkable, with the private collection of enigmatic art collector Omer Koc taking center stage. Some pieces are already familiar to art lovers: Durer’s “Rhinoceros,” displayed at Arter’s haunting “Suppose You Are Not,” and the leather letter wallets from the “For My Friend” exhibition at Sadberk Hanim Museum reappear here in good company: Jacopo Ligozzi, Louis-Francois Cassas, Istanbul panoramas, Portolan maps and travelogues that treat observation as a discipline, or a professional deformation.

The diplomatic paintings deserve particular attention and will feel familiar to........

© Al Monitor