Hafız Ahmed Agha
_{(ca. 1740 – 1801)}

Hafiz Ahmed Agha of Rhodes was born probably in the 1740s. He is the child of a wealthy Ottoman family settled in the village of Asgourou, 4 km South of the Old City of Rhodes. His father was Hasan Ağa, and his mother Ayşe Hatun. After being taken to Topkapi Palace at an early age and following his education at the elite Enderûn-i Hümâyun, he started his career in the Palace bureaucracy during the reign of Sultan Mustafa III (1757 - 1774) and was appointed to the position of Rikâbdar-ı Hazret-i Şehriyârî, the chief equerry, one of the highest positions in the Sultan's close circle, during the reign of Abdulhamid I (1774 - 1789). He continued this duty until his retirement during the early Selim III period (1789 - 1807). He was later reappointed as Kaftanağası. Hafız Ahmed Agha died in 1801, while returning from an expedition where he was carrying the kaftans sent by the Sultan to the Sharif of Mecca. The cause of his death and his burial place are uncertain. When Hafız Ahmet Agha died, his wife Saliha Hanım was pregnant with his son Ahmed Fethi.

Hafız Ahmed Agha established his Foundation on February 26, 1792 in Istanbul. The Hafız Ahmed Agha Library was inaugurated in his place of birth, Rhodes, in 1793. The Library was a dedicated educational library containing manuscripts from all branches of Islamic science and a public education center for the Muslim community of Rhodes in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. For this reason, it was stipulated in the Hafız Ahmed Agha Foundation Charter that teachers be appointed to ensure that free Arabic language and Quran education are provided to the children of the Rhodes Muslim community. Hafız Ahmed Agha Library also has valuable manuscripts in the fields of literature, history, medicine and astronomy; works that were considered important at the time. Some of these works were donated to the library after the death of Hafız Ahmed by his son Ahmed Fethi Pasha, and some by Ahmed Fethi Pasha's son-in-law, Said Pasha who was an engineer and astronomy aficionado and the author of numerous books on engineering and technology.

_{For more information on the Hafız Ahmed Agha Library in Rhodes please visit
www.hafizahmedaga.com}

Ahmed Fethi Pasha
_{(1801 – 1858)}

in May 1842, he became again a member of the Meclis-i Vâlâ, and on 8 November 1843, he was appointed president of the Meclis-i Vâlâ. He became the Minister of Warfare on 20 March 1845 and additionally the Marshal of Tophane on 10 August. On February 26, 1853, he was appointed as the Minister of Commerce for the second time, and then he was appointed as the Marshal of Tophane again. He was appointed as Tophane marshal for the last time on October 22, 1857 and remained at this duty until his death. In June 1850, he participated in Sultan Abdülmecid's Mediterranean trip, which included Rhodes and Crete. When Fethi Pasha stopped in Rhodes with the Sultan on this journey, he had the opportunity to show the library built by his father Hafız Ahmed Agha in 1793 as well as the muvakkithane (office of the timekeeper, an officer in charge to maintain the correct times of prayer), the clock tower, and junior high school that were in initial stages of construction. Following the arrival of Suleiman the Magnificent in Rhodes in 1522, the first and last Ottoman Sultan to come to Rhodes was Abdulmecit I in 1850.

In January 1853, Ahmed Fethi Pasha was awarded the Mecîdî medal of the first rank. He died on February 14, 1858. His tomb is in Divanyolu, in the monument of Sultan Mahmud II.

Ahmed Fethi Pasha is also the pioneer of Turkish museology. The first Imperial Museum was founded in early 1846 by Ahmed Fethi Pasha under the name Mecma-i Asar-ı Atika (Ancient Works Collection). The museum had collections of weapons and antiques and also Roman and Byzantine artifacts sent from various regions were exhibited. Ahmed Fethi Pasha also had a glass and crystal factory established in Beykoz Paşabahçe, upon the order of Abdülmecid I, and contributed greatly to the development of the Turkish glass industry and to the art of glass with Beykoz glasses and Çeşmibülbül.