Bridging the gap between the specialist scholar and the educated general reader, the history of the city is discussed, from the conquest of Constantinople by the Ottomans in 1453 up to the beginning of the twentieth century when the Ottoman Empire was finally dismantled following the First World War.

This historical background appears alongside descriptions and illustrations of Ottoman architecture, regalia, textiles, books, ceramics, calligraphy and painting. Throughout, Yeomans presents the exhilarating alternative of Ottoman art, with its meaning expressed through non-figurative form rather than through the symbol systems and narrative of Western art.

Richard Yeomans was formerly the Coordinator for Art and Design at the Institute of Education, University of Warwick. The author of The Story of Islamic Architecture (Garnet Publishing, 1999) and The Art and Architecture of Islamic Cairo (Garnet Publishing, 2006), he is also a painter who has regularly exhibited his work in solo and mixed exhibitions in London and the Midlands.