THE COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL MADE FOR THE ENGLAND (LONDON) VISIT OF SULTAN ABDüLAZ Z: A VISUAL SUMMATION OF PERCEPTION OF THE WESTERN- EASTERN IDENTITY IN THE 19th CENTURY

Sultan Abdülaziz went down in the Ottoman history as the first sultan traveling to Europe in 1897. The medal prepared by England in memory of Sultan Abdülaziz's London visit is an important visual document. The depictions on the obverse and reverse sides of the medal refer to Ottoman Empire's identity and also summarize England's attitude towards Ottoman. Ottoman and England as two different identities not diverging from each other but never merging at a same plane are observed on the diverse sides of the medal. The images on the medal prepared in memory of Sultan Abdülaziz's visit to England (London) is going to be examined in terms of European (Western) and Ottoman (Eastern) identity with its political, cultural and social, historical data in the centre of art history.