The so-called Turkish coffeehouse (Türkisches Café) was one of the five buildings commissioned by the Ottoman Empire for the world’s fair in Vienna in 1873. It was a commercial pavilion that served as a place where visitors could drink Turkish coffee and smoke a water or tobacco pipe. The Turkish coffeehouse was furthermore intended to be representative of Ottoman architecture and coffeehouse culture. Like the other Ottoman pavilions at the Vienna world’s fair, it was planned by the architect Pietro Montani and built by craftsmen who came from the Ottoman Empire to Vienna in 1872.

Bern, M. (1873, June 15). Café Turc. Allgemeine Illustrierte Weltausstellungs-Zeitung, 100–101.

Ersoy, A. (2015). Architecture and the Late Ottoman Historical Imaginary. Reconfiguring the Architectural Past in a Modernizing Empire. Farnham–Burlington: Ashgate.

Sax, C. (1873). Türkei. Gruppe XIV, Section 4. (General-Direction der Weltausstellung 1873 (Ed.), Officieller Ausstellungs-Bericht, Carl T. Richter), Wien.