Spanish writer Javier Sierra: Turkey is the heart of human history and this is of great interest to me

Javier Sierra is one of the leading writers of Spanish literature. Having achieved great success with his book The Secret Dinner, Sierra invites his readers to a world where history and mystery are intertwined. Using a fluent and gripping style in his literary language, the author encourages his readers to get lost in the pages, creating a remarkable line with his fictional narrative based on historical events, in-depth research, and historical facts. In this way, not only fiction but also knowledge and different perspectives are at the forefront of her works.

In The Secret Supper, Sierra explores the secrets behind Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting The Last Supper, skilfully exploring the mysterious connections between art and history. In this novel, as in his other works, historical and religious symbols, unknown truths, and conspiracies are frequently dealt with. Although his literary personality has led to comparisons with writers such as Dan Brown, Sierra’s style can be described more as that of a historical detective storyteller.

Other important works by Sierra include The Master of the Prado and The Flanders Panel. In these works, Sierra’s deep knowledge of history and art and the skillful language he uses to convey this knowledge to the reader are remarkable. With his literary language and literary personality, Javier Sierra continues to be one of the most important figures of contemporary Spanish literature.

‘Leonardo showed Jesus only as a human being’

Thank you very much for coming to Turkey and Istanbul…

Thank you very much.

I hope you have a great time here. I read your book and I was very impressed. What was your motivation for writing this book, which is translated into Turkish as The Secret Dinner?

I have always been interested in history since I was a child. Since I was little, I have always been interested in things that are not very clear, or not obvious in history. The unexplained stories about the pasts of great people, people who left their mark on history. I have always been fascinated by the politics of certain countries and the questions of why this path was followed. 

Eventually, I realized that these doubts and question marks are hidden in the background of art. What is constructed in the background of art history is the construction of what is seen. For example, dates are formed from the drawing of a work of art. Historians pay more attention to works of art, they take them as a basis. Why is that? They don’t have the answer to this question. Why did the artist create this work? I am curious about this reason.

This curiosity made me a novelist, not a historian or art historian. Because a novelist is someone who can find the reasons behind a work of art. Here I meet Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper. It is accepted in the whole history of Christianity that Da Vinci’s The Last Supper is an indication, an answer to the whole “evangelical” period. But this is not true. All the works of the Last Supper show Jesus blessing the bread and wine. But in this painting, in this artifact, Jesus was not blessing anything. We know from his notes and writings that Leonardo was inspired by part of the Gospel. In this passage, Jesus tells his followers that there is a messenger among them.  

We know him as a traitor.

The question is: who was this person? Even in Leonardo’s work, it is possible to see who it was. It was clear that there was only one person around Jesus who was not a halo. In Christianity, the saints have that light, that light. But Leonardo, for some reason, didn’t draw any of them. We don’t know why. There’s no light shining on Jesus in Da Vinci’s work. They’re not shown as good people or saints. They’re just shown as human beings. In the history of Christian art, the traitor was the only one who didn’t have the light. The fact that none of them had the light made it a question mark, because the person who saw the art, the audience, had to find out who he was. 

He turned it into a secret and opened people up.

It became like a game, a mixed message. And when I realized that, I wanted to solve it.

‘A great history is being built with small details’

How did you research the symbols and hidden messages in Leonardo Da Vinci’s The Last Supper?

I am in love with the history of Italy, I have visited this country many times and I have always been very interested in the birth of everything about Italy from the early ages. And at this point, it was impossible for me not to meet Leonardo Da Vinci and meet him. Leonardo has a special value. He is a historical personality and also a historian who left a lot of writings. He left 27 thousand written pages, and 14 thousand pages are still preserved. Everything is mentioned in these 14 thousand pages. 

One of the things that attracted my attention and surprised me the most in these pages is that Leonardo loves riddles and word games. And at the same time, his paintings are the same way… With this perspective, I tried to get into his head. I wanted to see how he created his riddles. When I understood this, I decided that I could write this book. But I had to travel for 3 years. I mean, I traveled to Milan for 3 years to see this work. 

Just seeing a photograph was not enough for me. For example, (showing a photograph) this is an old version of the photograph. There is a part at the last dinner, the left side is darker black, and we see the right side lighter. When I visited the place where this artifact is, the windows of the place where it exists are coming from this side, coming from the left. And the sun is hitting the right side of the artifact. If you don’t visit it in situ, you don’t understand why there is this contrast. These are small details. But a great history is being built with these small details.

As far as I understand the character of Augustin Leyre, the enlightenment that Leyre experiences throughout the story is the enlightenment that you want to tell your readers and that you want to transform your readers. Can we say that?      

Leyre is the Sherlock Holmes of the Renaissance. He puts the clues together, like pieces of a puzzle. If you put them wrong, they all end up wrong. If you put them together correctly, you are enlightened.

How was the feedback you received from readers?

This novel has been published in 45 countries. It was a bestseller in America. I received many different reactions, and feedback from all over the world. The thing that surprised the reader the most was that there was a message in The Last Supper and there was a message that could be read. It was not a visible message, it was a writing, hieroglyphics, created through pictures. This was also remarkable and intriguing.

This event attracted the attention of the team that restored the Last Supper. This is a specialized team that has been restoring it for 20 years.  There was a woman in charge of this team. When she read my novel, she wrote to me and said that she understood the meaning of the work. And that was very exciting for me. At the same time, she gave me the message that my novel is believable and that it is still in touch with reality.

I’m going to continue right here, with the feedback I can give, really your book is a work that maintains its connection with reality. How did you do this? How did you establish the balance between fiction and reality?

At the end of the book, there are pages where I explain which character is real and which character is created by imagination. When readers reach these pages, the feeling and the thought they get is that they imagine less than what is seen. Even if the events are not like this, this should be the closest scenario to reality.

‘I often change my swing’

You are also a journalist. So how did your journalism background contribute to your novelist background?

I became a novelist after I became a writer because I could not convey the hearts of the people I met in journalism. Journalism is very fast. You have neither space nor time to tell many things. It gave me the feeling that I was not doing my job well, that I was not enough. When I became a novelist, on the contrary, it was a field where I could do and show everything. 

In journalism, I can present an idea I have to a hypothesis. If I hypothesize, I am doing bad journalism because I am speculating. But in the novel, I can expand the volume of what I discover. I am not a journalist who became a novelist. There are examples like Mario Garcia Marquez in the Spanish and Latin world. 

I often change my swing, I am here and there, I am a novelist and sometimes a journalist.  But in the end, in summary, what I want to do is storytelling. Why should I give up one or the other? When you can have both perspectives.

I would like to turn to us a little bit, what do you think about Turkish novelism? Is there a Turkish author you read?

Unfortunately, not many Turkish authors are translated into Spain. Of course, this needs to be improved. Orhan Pamuk is my reference, but he is not the only representative. He is more of an Istanbul novelist, not the whole of Turkey. There is a lot of Turkey in Turkey. I would like to see many novelists from other parts of the country translated. The person who translated Pamuk’s Museum of Innocence is coming to Turkey. 

I got to know Ahmet Ümit years ago, I like his work very much, and I like him a lot, I like him more than Pamuk because he also focuses on mysteries and secrets. He is like the Turkish version of Javier Sierra. That’s why I keep in touch with them. I promoted his book when he was last in Spain. What he likes, I also like. Mysteries and history…

He wrote a book about Yavuz Sultan Selim and Shah Ismail in the 16th century.     

Yes, he did.

‘Istanbul has made good progress in culture’

When did you come to Istanbul before this?

I started to come in the 90s.

How do you see the difference between that period and this period?

There has been a rise after I started to come. It has turned into a very international city. Istanbul has gained good momentum in terms of culture as a transit center. I have seen many cities in Turkey mentioned in the Bible. Kayseri for example. Van, Ağrı. Canakkale at the same time. I found the original culture of the Sumerians here. The building of civilization. Göbeklitepe. Turkey is the heart of human history and that interests me a lot.

Would you sign my book?

The ambassador of Panama, Mariela Sagel: I had the opportunity to go to Milan with Javier. I had the opportunity to visit the Secret Supper in Milan. Although I had been to Milan, and I had seen the artifact, I could not see it from the same perspective. He took us to the places where the artifact was created. It was one of the most beautiful trips I have ever made.

Javier Sierra: My aim in every book I write is to achieve what the ambassador said. To change the reader’s perspective.