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The Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities and its role in the appropriation of İstanbul’s diverse heritage as national heritage (1939–1953)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 April 2020

Pınar Aykaç Open the ORCID record for Pınar Aykaç [Opens in a new window]
Pınar Aykaç*
Affiliation:
Middle East Technical University, Department of Architecture, e-mail: pinaraykac@gmail.com
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Abstract

This paper argues that the early Republican attempts to reintegrate the Ottoman past into nationalist narratives later found their reflections in discussions regarding the preservation of İstanbul’s diverse heritage, coinciding with the redefinition of Turkish nationalism in the 1940s, incorporating Islam and marking a departure from the foundation ideology of the Republic of Turkey. In 1939, the Republican authorities decided to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1953. The Commission for the Preservation of Antiquities (Muhafaza-ı Asar-ı Atika Encümeni)—the body responsible for the preservation of historic monuments in İstanbul—was tasked with conducting restoration and repair works for the celebrations. Although the celebrations did not receive much attention in the following years, the annual celebrations in the city have now become a significant aspect of present-day İstanbul, which glorify its Ottoman-Islamic past. By presenting its negotiations and contestations with other state actors in the context of these preparations, this paper explores the role of the Preservation Commission in appropriating the inherited remnants of İstanbul’s multifaceted past as “national monuments.”

Keywords

Historic preservationIstanbulearly Republican periodnational monuments
Type
Articles
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 62 , May 2020 , pp. 75 - 99
Copyright
© New Perspectives on Turkey and Cambridge University Press 2020

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Footnotes

Author’s Note: This paper is based on my doctoral thesis, completed in 2017, at the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture. I would like to thank Murray Fraser, my primary supervisor, and Sophia Psarra, my secondary supervisor for their immense contribution and generous help at every stage of my thesis. I was fortunate to receive a Junior Fellowship at Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations and a writing-up grant from the Foundation for Urban and Regional Studies. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the 51st annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association in Washington USA, November 2017.

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