Meydan (park)

The meydan is a public space, usually associated with the Ottoman Empire, a space that can be seen today wherever the Ottomans once ruled. A nice example of a meydan can be seen in Ohrid, Macedonia.

On two sides of the meydan in Ohrid, there are two mosques. In the centre of the meydan there is a çinar (plane tree) to shade one from the heat. There are places to sit and water to drink. It would have been unusal to find a woman in the meydan unless accompanied and the reason for her being (there) was special.

To be of the Americano-Anglican (formerly Anglo-American) Culture and to want to understand the Meydan then there is the extraordinary sensitive text "Birds Without Wings" by Englishman Louis De Bernières. It is as you would expect! People were executed there. People needed to go there to understand the rulings of the authorities. There was a Meydan everywhere in all places and at all times before mass communication. --Mihal Orel