Istanbul’s Heritage at Risk: Case Study of the Galata District (2020)
Istanbul’s Galata district is a multicultural crossroad in the Mediterranean. Throughout Istanbul’s transformation into a modern metropolis Galata maintained its distinctive and cosmopolitan character due to the cultural diversity of its inhabitants. This aspect of Galata was perpetuated by the continuous arrival of foreigners, who brought their own culture, traditions, and religion.
This study demonstrates the architectural richness of the district by examining its coexisting civilizations, past and present. The district today faces the alarming possibility of disappearance due to neglect and lack of improvements. It is important to define Galata and its past layers as a historical and cultural asset and to preserve the richness and multicultural origins of this integral part of Istanbul’s identity.
As an example of multicultural heritage in the Mediterranean, this article focuses on the history and present-day status of the former Genoese colony in Istanbul’s Galata district. Throughout the ages, Galata maintained its distinctive and unique character getting populated by foreigners, or ‘Frenks’, who settled themselves in the area, bringing their own customs, traditions as well as religion.
This study point outs the architectural richness of the district, especially for what concerns its Genoese past. However, the district is presently at risk of disappearance, due to neglect and lack of enhancement and it seems important to define a precise asset in order to preserve the richness of this fragile tangible heritage
Perspectives for the enhancement of the Genoese architectural heritage in Istanbul’s Galata district (2020)
Skopje’s transitions and its struggle to preserve collective memories (2019)
Throughout the history, Skopje underwent many changes to its urban environment, caused by different factors both human and natural. The Ottoman conquest, the arrival of the Serbians, the constitution of Yugoslavia, the big earthquake in 1963, the proclamation of the Republic of Macedonia in 1991 and the latest “Skopje 2014” project.
Skopje still holds the memory of its previous eras, especially before the devastating earthquake from 1963. Even today, the city is struggling with its latest redefining trying to find an identity that could preserve the collective memories of the previous times. The urban and architectural “massacre” that happened recently affected, not just the core of the town but directly attacked the young generation’s reminiscence of the town that was “living” the ’90ies environment of the post-socialistic Yugoslavian times.
The earthquake in Skopje was not just a natural catastrophe but it was a catastrophe on many different levels. Families lost members, tragic human stories emerged, but also the earthquake left a space and a chance for a rise of a “new “town. The earthquake laid a nice ground for “cleaning” everything that resembled the power of the previous rulers, especially that from the pre world war times.
Reminiscences of Ottoman vernacular in Galata (2019)
The aim of this article is to present the lost heritage of the vernacular architecture in Galata district in Istanbul that existed during the Ottoman period. It presents the Ottoman vernacular houses that once existed in the area that were lost throughout the centuries due to the big fires and rapid reconstructions. This paper presents this rich vernacular architecture by detecting its existence and analysis from gravures, sketches and pictures from the past.
After the Ottoman conquest, Galata as well as the city of Constantinople was affected by the process of Ottomanization. The transformations were very much predominant in the urban layout and the texture of the area was improved by more domestic and traditional architecture in wood, remarking Galata into a typical Ottoman environment.
After the conquest, the former Genoese colony evolved, in architectural manner. This was achieved through the towns’ growth marked with arrival of foreigners, the so called ‘Frenks’ or Levantines, who were attracted to those lands by the new possibilities to expand trades and commerce from the European and Mediterranean coasts towards East. These populations settled in Galata area, bringing their own cultural assesses, customs, traditions as well as religion, “contaminating” the already existing and mixed local population, composed prevalently of Greeks, or better Rum, Armenians and Jews and later on of Moors, Arabs as well as Turks.
The Ottoman Galata was affected severely during the mid-nineteenth century and up until the proclamation of the Turkish Republic, when the rich vernacular built environment slowly disappeared leaving very little traces today, of what once used to be a typical example of an Ottoman vernacular in the capital.
Traveler’s descriptions on vernacular architecture in Istanbul (15th – 19th Century). (2018)
The aim of the paper is to focus on the impressions left by some travelers who visited the capital of the Ottoman Empire between 15th and late 19th Century in order to understand the urban space and the vernacular architecture throughout ages. Relations between the urban practice, the traditional architecture and the urban imagery in the Western minds will be discussed through case studies.
Using memories and accounts, such as drawings, journals, travelogues and descriptions left by the travelers it is possible to observe the architectural and urban changes that happened in Istanbul, underlining their effect to the Western visitors. The transformations and use of urban spaces in the new Ottoman capital as well as the architecture, both public and civic, can be seen as an important tool to understand the morphology and the topography of the urban environment. Considering the contribution of travelers within the framework of visual and literary studies, the imagery of the city has been perceived and recorded throughout the centuries giving us the opportunity to retrieve from the past those aspects of the Ottoman Istanbul that seem so far from our contemporary gaze.