Many a country has enjoyed its time in the sun -- a period of dominance when the world (often quite literally) seemed to be at its rulers' feet. It's a difficult trick to repeat, though. Italy's Renaissance, glorious though it was, never recaptured the heyday of the Roman Empire, and Mussolini's attempts to invoke the country's imperial past remained a dictator's delusion.
Enter Turkey, home to not one, not two, but (count 'em) three mighty empires that changed the world: the Hittite, the Byzantine and the Ottoman.
These cultures are the focus of a stunning display of exhibits currently showing at the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum before moving to Fukuoka and Osaka later this year. (Though "focus" may not be the right word -- this exhibition is essentially a survey of gorgeous artifacts produced through 3,500 years of Turkish history. We are not invited to analyze, merely to admire.)