Event

12 Μάρ 2020

POSTPONED - Lecture The Incredible Journey of Ali Bey el Abbassi

When: Thursday 12 March 2020 07:30pm - 08:30pm

CVAR welcomes Dr Fernando Escribano Martín for a lecture on the incredible journey of Ali Bey el Abbassi, a spy in Cyprus.

The life and journey of Domingo Badía, Ali Bey el Abbassi, is still little known. It is not clear whether he set off for a journey through Africa with the intention to carry out scientific research, or if this was just a pretense to enable him to prepare the conquest of Morocco. At one point, he says he was close to assuming power and soldiers and weapons were mobilized, but the plan was interrupted, and when it was planned again it was already too late.
The only way to flee from the dangerous situation was under the pretext of a pilgrimage to Mecca, and one thing we know for certain is that he did so under the name of Prince Abbassi and that he was the first European to describe this journey. On his travels through the Mediterranean to the Holy City, he also passed through Cyprus, and its capital Nicosia, which he described in detail. This testimony and description of Ali Bey el Abbassi’s impressions of Cyprus are especially interesting, and will be the main focus of this presentation.

Dr Fernando Escribano Martín is Assistant Professor at the Autonomous University of Madrid.
He has published several articles, participated in congresses and has conducted research on Spanish travellers to the East, and much more. He has also published four books related to this theme.

- In English
- Free Admission

We thank the Embassy of Spain for co-organising and sponsoring this event.