The Istanbul Research Institute is holding another exhibition with a focus on city history and social history. "Four-Legged Municipality: Istanbul's Street Dogs," sheds light on street dogs, which have been an important part of daily life in almost every period and on their adventure, which is evolved by religious, political and sociological transformations. The curator of the exhibition is Ekrem Işın and the consultant is Catherine Pinguet."Four-Legged Municipality: Istanbul's Street Dogs" displays two consecutive periods of street dogs in Istanbul, which are among the essential parts of history of the city. This four-legged, crowded group shared the daily life with people for 400 years beginning from the conquest of Istanbul to Tanzimat Reform Era. In an inward-oriented neighborhood life style, they protected localized people from foreigners. With the modernization movements that began at the start of the 19th century, they were removed and exiled from the streets. This tragic story of the lonely figures of Istanbul, who regarded streets as their homes, lasted until the mass destruction.Ekrem Işın, the curator of the exhibition, said Istanbul's street dogs were part of the city and social life as much as people were, they were experts in management and security and they created a common life understanding peculiar to them. Işın emphasized that observers from the West's approach to this culture, which even socialized the street dogs, is full of curiosity. When we look at the resources of that period, it seems that perspective on the street dogs mostly focuses on municipal works. They were considered as members of the municipality, who were responsible for the cleaning of the city and also as the gatekeepers, who provided neighborhood security.Catherine Pinguet, the consultant of the exhibition, criticized the question "Why is an animal such a matter of debate?" "This question is generally asked to those who take animals seriously," she said and added that this is an ordinary approach that friends and guardians of Istanbul street dogs know very well. Pinguet also added that a compilation book by John Berger titled "Why look at Animals?" is like a call for people to care about animals and answered the book's namesake question by saying,‟Because their freedom is a guarantee of my freedom."The "Four-Legged Municipality: Istanbul's Street Dogs" exhibition sheds light on this period from the 19th to the 20th century through photographs, travel books, postcards, magazines and engravings.The exhibition will be open for visits at the Istanbul Research Center in Beyoğlu Tepebaşı every day, except Sundays, between 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. until March 11, 2017.