Living Worlds
An Istanbul coffeehouse about 1555, men of many communities on low benches, the Süleymaniye under construction on the hill.

1490–1560 · Istanbul, about 1555

The First Coffeehouse

A cup of coffee is a reason to stay.

The law of The First Coffeehouse

A cup of coffee is a reason to stay.

Istanbul, about 1555: a capital of Muslims, Greek Orthodox Christians, Armenians and Jews. Sinan's Süleymaniye is rising on the hill, and the city's first coffeehouses have just opened.

A coffeehouse assistant pouring coffee from a long-handled pot beside a brazier.

A life in The First Coffeehouse · composite, based on the record

A coffee maker, twenty-five

He came from Aleppo with the trade. Every afternoon the same men argue in the same corner.

Meanwhile, in the same age

Five cities at once

A double-hulled voyaging canoe with pandanus sails on the open Pacific at dusk.

Which world will you live in?