Tintin Forums

Anyone know anything about the religious demography of Sylvia?
They keep St Vladimir's Day, but there seems to be a minaret in the village where Tintin falls into the straw?

Syldavia is in the Balkans which included many Muslims following the invasions of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle Ages. Muslim communities, which included settlers from Turkey and local converts, were established in many areas, so mosques which would have included minarets would not be unusual.

The brochure that Tintin reads about Syldavia mentions that it was invaded by the Turks in the 10th century but that the Syldavians (who would have been Christian) later fought back and slaughtered the Muslims settlers. However, it is not impossible that many of their mosques and other buildings survived and Herge may have come across examples of these while researching the Balkans.

Maybe there is a Muslim population in Syldavia, or like in Spain the mosques were turned into churches rather than being pulled down.