Yesterday, the English Wikipedia home page received an impressive 4.8 million visits. For 24 hours, visitors were greeted with an introductory paragraph about the “Empire of the Sultans” and a striking image of an Iznik flask prominently displayed at the top of the page. This spotlight led 33,500 visitors to explore the “Empire of the Sultans” article further, while 14,200 were drawn to the “Khalili Collection of Islamic Art“.
Additionally, there was a notable surge in views for related articles, including the “Khalili Collections“, “Ottoman Empire“, “Sultan“, and the article about Sir David Khalili.
Empire of the Sultans was a travelling exhibition of Ottoman art, drawn exclusively from the Khalili Collection of Islamic Art. It exhibited at various locations in Switzerland, Israel, the UK and the United States, drawing praise everywhere it went. Critics called it a “serenely gorgeous show” and a “magnificent blend of art and science as well as military and cultural history”.
In a wonderful collaborative effort, Wikipedia volunteers have translated the “Empire of the Sultans” article so it is now available in a total of five languages. As well as English, the complete article can be read in Urdu, in Western Punjabi and in Indonesian. Shorter summaries are available in Persian and in Turkish.
