The move to establish a European Architectural History Network (planned as a precursor to a Euro-version of the renowned Society of Architectural Historians in the US) is certainly one of the most noteworthy developments in that field in recent years (read more on the process). For now, the EAHN's main output is a regular newsletter, of which the newest (second) issue can now be downloaded (30MB or 1MB versions available/pdf). Perhaps as a step towards the publication of a journal, something that would be much welcomed, we now find there some themed texts as well, and not “just” organizational matters and infos on events. Whether the "virtual tour" (pp. 28-39) under the title Seljuk Architecture and Urbanism in Anatolia (it really deals with Konya; and with the Seljuks of Rum, not the Great Seljuks) fulfils the expectations raised by EAHN's outspoken desire to integrate "peripheral" regions of (European) architectural history - and this is indeed good and necessary - remains to be questioned. Rather than taking the chance to raise some questions about the relevance of Seljuk architecture in the context it is presented, we find what seems like a section pasted from a tourist booklet. Right at the beginning of the piece the author falls into the trap of confusing a dynasty with an ethnic group... Despite the questionable Seljuk excursion, EAHN should definitely keep us posted.

The new volume (10/2006) of Ethnologia Balkanica on Urban Life and Culture in Southeast Europe is out, featuring the 2nd round of proceedings from the conference of the same name held in Belgrade in May '05. For a table of contents, click here.

The Fall 2005 issue of TALID (Turkiye Arastirmalari Literatur Dergisi), "Turk Sehir Tarihi", focuses on Ottoman and Turkish Republican Urban History, thus covering a lot of material related to the Balkans. The bulk of articles are in Turkish, but English abstracts (which I linked from here directly for the sake of easier accessability) are available for all articles, including Urban History in the West, Urban Historiography in Turkey: Approaches, Issues and Sources (abstract), Urban History of the Ottoman Balkans: Cities in Bosnia,Hungary, and Greece (abstract), Urban Settlement and Demography in the Ottoman Empire (XVth- XVIIIth Centuries) (abstract), Ottoman Urban Spaces: An Evaluation of Literature on Coffeehouses (abstract), plus a few contributions on the study of sources, as well as portraits of scholars such as as Machiel Kiel, Halil Inalcik, Nikolai Todorov, and an interview with Suraiya Faroqi.