Patricia Blessing

Patricia Blessing is an Assistant Professor of Art and Archaeology at Princeton University. Her research focuses on Ottoman architecture, material politics, and transregional cultural connections. She authored Architecture and Material Politics in the Fifteenth-century Ottoman Empire (Cambridge University Press, 2022), examining the empire's architectural developments from the 1380s to the early 16th century. Her work bridges gaps in scholarship on the late medieval to early modern transition, emphasizing continuities post-1453 Constantinople conquest.

Her earlier book, Rebuilding Anatolia after the Mongol Conquest: Islamic Architecture in the Lands of Rūm, 1240-1330 (2014), laid groundwork for her current interests. Current research explores interior design processes and object-building relationships, utilizing sensory art history methodologies. She is conducting fieldwork in Istanbul, analyzing extant buildings and dispersed artifacts.

Blessing’s work connects Ottoman architectural practices to broader networks linking Venice, Cairo, Damascus, and Central Asian cities like Samarqand. Her interdisciplinary approach integrates political economy, intellectual history, and material analysis to contextualize architectural developments within imperial expansion and cultural exchange.