The project is dedicated to Arab travelogues of the 17th and 18th centuries, which focus not on the Ottoman capital of Istanbul as the seat of imperial power, but rather on the urban landscape and everyday life. By exploring how the capital was perceived and represented by travelers from the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire, the project aims to highlight translocal perspectives as well as knowledge movements beyond the local sphere. Through their detailed descriptions, travelogues - literary fictions and cognitive tools - document the widening horizons of the learned inhabitants of Arabic Ottoman cities on the eve of modernity.