Book Talk: Building Local Support: Architectural Patronage for Multiconfessional Communities in Ottoman Greece and Albania

In the early nineteenth century, some of the most consequential developments in Ottoman architecture unfolded not in Istanbul but on the empire’s frontier. This talk explores the ambitious building program of Ali Pasha of Ioannina (r. 1788–1822), the renegade governor of Greece and Albania whose architectural patronage ranged from mosques to dervish lodges and even Orthodox Christian monasteries. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and archival sources, we will explore how Ali Pasha’s constructions redefined the sociopolitical order by challenging imperial norms of patronage and consolidating regional authority. His unprecedented support for multiple faith traditions reveals how architecture became a powerful tool of negotiation in a diverse, contested landscape.