THE ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN TURKEY; SOME VIEWS AND PROPOSALS OF BIOPOLITICS
Mehmet TuncerArchitect and Urban PlannerGazi UniversityTurkey
Demet ErolArchitect and Urban PlannerGazi UniversityTurkey
Introduction:
The role of education in conservation and in addressing the rapidly increasing environmental problems, while improving the environment, is well-known today. According to the Turkish constitution: Everyone has the right to live in a healthy and balanced environment. Protection of environmental health, prevention of environmental pollutions and development of the environment are the State's and every citizen's duty. (Constitution, Article 56.)
Education for the environment is not only a task of formal educational institutions, but also of civic organizations, mass media and local municipalities, which play a large role in increasing public awareness. Environmental problems recognize no artificial boundaries based on geography or ideology.1,2 For this reason, every nation must be assigned an international task for increasing public consciousness through mass media and education.
In this paper, education for the environment in the Turkish national education system will be summarized and discussed, as well as how the principles and ideas of biopolitics would be incorporated into the educational system at each stage. A Short Overview of Today's Education; Definition and ContentsGenerally, people are affected by education through the lifestyle resulting from the values of modern civilization. We should educate people to be able to add something to every field of art and science, building private values as well as global ones. The basic principle for the realization of these aims is that people must think rationally and positively. Teachers should not only teach but also educate people. To apply these two concepts, teachers must use the potentials of schools and their proficiency to realize the aims of national education.3
The word education comes from the Latin word educere which means feeding. Educere is to direct something, to breed, to grow up. Education is an association that has its own structure and rules of operation. Education prepares young people for real life. The word education deals with a time period, but exceeds a frame of time in school and prevails at every age and stage of life. Basic Characteristics of Today's Education in TurkeyToday's education is static instead of being dynamic. Its methods are not permitted to create a dialogue between students or between teachers and students. The educational system today, is based on memorization rather than research and discovery. The aim of education is to educate a person with a cultural knowledge that is not intellectually developed. A general approach to today's education reveals that it is not entirely, but only partially comprehensive. As a result, today's educational level is archaic and rough.4
In Turkey, the disciplines dealing with the environment are generally architectural planning, some branches of engineering (construction, chemistry, physics etc.), sociology, economics, biology and geography. During the recent years, due to the foundation of the Department of Environmental Engineering, a new professional branch named environmental engineering has emerged. In the faculty of medicines, there are such branches as Environmental Health, Public Health and Medicine. Contents of Education for the EnvironmentThere is no systematic approach to environmental education. Environmental education needs a generally accepted definition, since there are different definitions and interpretations. A systemic approach to education on environmental needs must contain the following:
environmental education must be comprehensive;
it must include the inter-relations of parts and elements of natural life and global structure;5 and
the problems and causes of pollution must be approached from the point of view of the aforementioned relations.4
Environmental EducationEnvironmental Education is a new way of learning about human relations with the environment. The object of environmental education is focused on the relationship and impact of humanity on the environment. It is the type of education stressing an integrated way of structuring human nature and natural and physical resources. This kind of education must be interdisciplinary, lying social, cultural, economic and scientific studies. It has to provide an understanding of the basis of life, while living in a man-made urban environment, and the development of public life. This education aims to create self-confident, responsible and environmentally conscious people.5 It promotes new, intelligent ways to conserve and develop the quality of life. Environmental education is not a kind of new conservatism. It is a futurism. Historical Backgrounds of Environmental EducationThere is no identified historical origin of environmental education. We can assume the first teachers of the the environment to have been the ancient Greek philosophers. During the long history of humanity, in every age there has been some interest and interpretations of "the environment." The relationship of humankind to the environment is closely integrated with science, technology and the level of development.
Understanding the environment depends on different geographical characteristics and social differentiations. Basic explanations for the environmental aspects like the sun, soil, water in primary communal communities, was left to a concept of 'God' in the Middle Ages. There is an interesting point that there were philosophical struggles between 'physical and metaphysical' concepts thousands of years ago, and these subjects were maintained in science and religion throughout history.
Parallel to the development of science, the evaluation of the environment tends to change in a more rational way. Philosophic and theological thoughts and religion have lost their importance since then. This trend may have cost Galileo his life, but changes in thinking and philosophy have established today's contemporary community. In the Middle Ages, the failure of environmental approaches was due to the inability to see the environment as a whole and not as separate parts. Biopolitics and Education: Some Views and Proposals of Education for The Environment and BiopoliticsIt is difficult to separate education and research from one another. Developing countries cannot devote enough attention to research and education on environmental problems. Factors such as the inadequacy of general education, as well as the low and unequal distribution of national income per capita must be taken into consideration.6
The more developed countries entered a new way of thinking much earlier. They had a period of renaissance and reform that helped them not only in solving environmental problems but also in finding solutions to crises of every aspect. Education about environmental problems must be applied everywhere. Various educational foundations are doing this piece by piece, without giving it a name. Doing this in a more regular way and having the needed awareness is necessary to prevent waste of time, energy and material.6Nursery School Education for the EnvironmentModern education is for every stage of human life from birth to death. Pre-school education for those under the age of 6 is provided in many countries. Teaching love and awareness of nature must start at a very early age. The concept of bios, life, the relations between humanity and the environment must start being taught at this young age. The qualities and programs of this kind of education can be determined with the contributions of psychoanalysts, psychologists, biologists and sociologists. Today, there is no formal education for the environment in nursery schools in Turkey. If teachers have a developed environmental awareness, they can promote consciousness to students through lessons about natural events and seasons. Primary School Education for the EnvironmentIt would be possible for the primary school child (ages 6-12) to learn and to be conscious of biopolitical relations, with some regulations, through the content of the provided courses. The concepts of the natural environment, the bases of life, the interaction between human structure, nature and the environment, environmental pollution could also be incorporated into subjects on environmental problems caused by production and consumption.5 Waste material and recycling must be specially emphasized. It will make future education easier, stressing that human life is biological life on earth, and that people must act emotionally with this biological life, starting from the early years of childhood.
I. The Aims of Primary School Education5
to introduce the bio-environment to students, to make them able to establish contact with living things around them and be aware of them;
to teach the relationships between all living things in the ecosystem and the effects of the economic structure on these relationships; and,
to establish moral judgments.
II. The Methods of Education5
While teaching biopolitics to primary school children, to make them sensitive towards nature and its rhythms, methods that stimulate sensory organs into action must be applied. The senses of sound, smell, touch, taste and sight can be used in different aspects of education:
imparting expressions and explanations;
personal research methods;
works that will improve the abilities of deciding and judging must be used.
"Teachers should encourage the students to ask questions about morality, ethics, religion, politics, or the economy at this level".5 The child gets a lot of stimuli from the environment he or she lives in. However, the school is mostly abstracted from the real world. The mass media, as well as the everyday experiences are means which educate in a certain way.
III. Primary School Education: Turkey
Some serious studies about education for the environment at the primary level have taken place during the last few years in Turkey. At this level, education for the environment based on the Agreement on Project for Environmental Education was signed between UNESCO and the Ministry of National Education, Directorate of Primary Education (29.03.1990/02.28/337.197). The Ministry of National Education has prepared a handbook for primary school teachers. Teachers can increase the awareness of children on issues such as life, bios, health and the environment with the aid of this handbook. The concepts of environmental education, ways of learning subjects, dealing with problems, and referring to activities in target plans would play a large role in the changing of expected behavior in children. These concepts are very important for the realization of environmental educational aims. In Turkey, today, at the primary level educational institutions, `life knowledge courses' are taken in the first term and `social knowledge courses' in the second terms which are called central courses.
Other courses are called performance courses and intelligence courses (e.g. Turkish, mathematics, music, ethics, moral courses, etc.). These are based on central courses. The secondary educational system is a continuation of primary education and, at this stage, the curricula of classes six, seven and eight deal with subjects related to the environment.
Environmental subjects in the central courses are structured in such a manner that, in dealing with the environment, courses on life, social and scientific knowledge were planned to cover environmental problems. According to the level of classes, subjects would be selected from the following:
protection of soil, water, air;
solutions to pollution;
ways of giving guarantees for living without risks;
conservation of natural resources.
With respect to environmental subjects in the performance and cleverness courses, students should be informed through brochures, newspapers, pictures, films, slides and seminars, according to their level of classes, about which species are endangered and which have been taken under protection. Secondary School Education for the Environment: Secondary school education is a time when personalities become shaped, which includes the significant years between childhood and adolescence. In this time, education must be given which will contribute to the children's general knowledge about biopolitics and improve their abilities to think, making it possible for them to improve their moral and social responsibilities towards nature and life itself and to be a helpful members of society. Education at this stage has an important place in society, protecting and continuing culture, promoting justice and virtue for a nicer life and training honest people to modernize their life and state. Biopolitical concepts must be added to such branches as literature, biology, physics, chemistry, mathematics, geology, and astronomy. Lessons on humanistic or social sciences (history, geography, music) must also increase the sensibility and interest of the student in ecological subjects.5
I. Aims of Secondary School Education5
improving on the abilities to investigate and examine life (bios)1 which are gained in primary school;
exploring ways of defining, analyzing, seeing and thinking the effects on bios and the bio-environment; and,
showing, from action and behavior, that economic production, consumption and other activities change according to a culture and judgments, and that, in the end, environmental problems are formed due to these actions.
II. Methods of Education5
Secondary education programs must be regularized in a way that will impart environmental concern and consciousness, by using the methods given below:
field work: visiting factories that emit wastes, refineries, waste factories and canalization treatments; meeting and talking to authorities and various social surveys; learning the opinion of the native and local people's thoughts and suggestions about environmental problems;
supporting education with visual material such as television, video, slides; forming an archive in every secondary educational foundation, collecting sources on ecology (books, magazines etc.) systematically and using the necessary ones in courses;
laboratory experiments: adaptation of the content of biology, chemistry and physics courses, which exist in the current educational system, to experiments and research subjects about life and biology, analyzing and teaching about pollution;
regulated argument and speeches: in making the student participate in seminars, arguments, panels and conferences on the above subjects.
III. Content of Education5
chemical bases of life: water, air and soil pollution, the effect of extreme production and consumption and species extinction;
structure and functions of cells, in heredity and genetics;
viruses and their roles in diseases, the effects of overpopulation on the environment, the economic cost of healthy environment;
evolution, explanation with comparison of the biological evolution with the social and economic evolutions of people;
biological structure of humans, vertebrates and invertebrate animals: reptiles, mammals, birds, fish, plants and their natural relationship;
biotic and abiotic factors in an ecosystem: the use of resources, water, air and soil; examination of these from the point of view of economical usage and benefits; and
basic principles of economy, examination of the relations between ecology and biopolitics.
IV. Secondary School Education: Turkey
The General Directorate of Secondary Education of the Turkish Ministry of National Education continues to study the implementation of environmental education at this level. They plan to develop environmental subjects in biology, geography and philosophy courses. The outline of an environmental curriculum will encourage specific action. Students must be able to identify their living natural resources, and be capable of consciously exploiting them for the most appropriate purposes within the framework of the new curriculum.Education in Universities for the EnvironmentPutting theory and practice, scientific knowledge, thought and behavior together is possible only if necessary reforms are made within university education.7 These should aim at:
preparing people to be members and founders of a new society;5
improving students overall in physical and mental abilities;
training people as producers;
improving creativity and imposing new societies' moral judgments and behavior principles;5
equipping a person with the necessary technical knowledge that will be the most beneficial for nature and society; and,
improving political consciousness, preparing people to participate in the direction of society.5
A better understanding of bio-ecology, through scientific research on ecology-to-human relationships is possible at the university level. Since university students are potential leaders and designers of society, education and consciousness building is very important at this level. Universities must include lectures related to life and biopolitics in their programs, also at the graduate level5:
for science, mathematics and engineering students: `life and bio-design';5 In delineating the borders of economic production and consumption, the aim must be related to ecology and biopolitics, to input the necessary knowledge and induce the student to abandon the principle of "smallest cost and largest profit" and make the fittest design and appliance for the bio-environment;
for trade, accounting and economic graduate students: `production and biological generation related to production'; the aims are: correcting the different production destinations, tools and techniques; laying down production borders that not only create consumption, but lead to a reduction in the amount of wastes to a minimum with no harm to the bio-ecology; teaching methods to protect and repair the environment;5
for law students, `usage of laws for science and technology as a controlling device' or `sociology of law';5
a professional course on `bio-technology';5
ecology courses and science courses related to ecology;
in the field of humanity and social studies, `principles and behavior in the protection and management of bio-systems; 5
The leading principles of university education are:
research must be carried out to develop non-polluting technologies;
sources must be used sensibly and equally;
biological diversity must be maximized with sensible and intelligent strategies; and,
population growth must be controlled for the best application of economic and bio-ecological plans.
In university education, field work in different disciplines, research and examinations are most important. Students in law, politics and moral sciences must learn to be sensitive towards the many dimensions of life.
University education for the environment in Turkey is beginning to establish itself. Today, there are 28 universities and 22 environmental research centers in Turkey. There are 11 environmental engineering departments which began 15 years ago. There are more than 2000 environmental engineers in Turkey.8 These departments are in the following universities:
Istanbul Technical University (Istanbul)
Middle East Technical University (Ankara)
9 Eylul University (Izmir)
Yildiz University (Istanbul)
Marmara University (Istanbul)
Istanbul University (Istanbul)
Ondokuz Mayis University (Samsun)
Ataturk University (Erzurum)
The Bosphorus University (Istanbul, only level in Msc)
Firat University (Elazig)
Cumhuriyet University (Sivas)
There are Masters Programs on the environment at these universities. The only Biopolitics course is in the Urban and Environmental Sciences Ph.D. Program as a two-semester seminar at Ankara University. In this Ph.D. program participate students of different professions such as urban planners, architects, biologists, lawyers and social scientists. Many other university departments deal with environmental sciences, conservation planning, and threshold analysis, while other departments such as architecture, landscape design, chemistry, construction engineering, physics and medicine offer environmental courses.
The Teaching of Biopolitics and Environmental concepts and Relations in Post-University Education
In new education, the concept of continuous education is spreading. This education is addressed to adults and starts appearing with `third term' education. In this way, education is continued during all stages of life.7 Among the potential education mass are:
directors and determiners of industry foundations and companies;
public directors;
bio-ecology activists;
people with a low level of education;
It is possible to reach these people and groups directly through mass media tools. Public interest and attention must be drawn to biopolitics.
References
Vlavianos-Arvanitis, A., Biopolitics – The Bios Theory, Biopolitics International Organisation, Athens, 1988.
Vlavianos-Arvanitis, A., (1987) `Biopolitics - Dimensions of Biology' in Biopolitics – The Bio-Environment – Volume I, A. Vlavianos-Arvanitis, ed. Biopolitics International Organisation , Athens, Greece.
Istanbul 3. Court of Administration, 7.6. 1988 dated and 1988/26 Numbered decision.
Gurel, S., "Systems Approach to Environmental Education" course notes, June, 1973, pp.5-14.
Biopolitics – Curriculum Revision – Bio-Syllabus, Resolutions of the Third B.I.O. International Conference, Biopolitics International Organisation, Athens, 1989.
Yavuz, F., (1975) "Cevre Sorunlari", A.U.SBF Yay, No.385, pp.166-168.
Tanilli, S., (1988) "Nasil Bir Egitim Istiyoruz", Amac Pub.
Gurel, O., Filibeli, A., (1992) "Cevre Muhendisligi Egitiminde Karsilasilan Problemler", Cevre ve Muhendis, No. 5. March 1992, p.6.
Bahro, R., (1989) "Nasil Sosyalizm, Hangi Yesil, Ne icin Sanayi", Tanil Bora, Ayrinti Pub.
Bumont, R., (1976) "Ucurumun Kiyisindaki Dunyamiz", Translated by Semih Tiryakioglu, Varlik Pub.
Geray, C., (1991) "Dunya Cevre Gununde: Cevre Duyarliligi icin Halk Egitimi Bildirgesi", A. University, SBF.
Keles, R., (1984) "Kentleseme ve Konut Politikasi", A. Univ., SBF Pub. No.540, Ank. 1984.
Poritt, J., "Yesil Politika", Trans. Alev Turker, Ayrinti Pub. Research, 1988.
Simonis, U.E. (1988), `Ecology and Economic Policy' in Biopolitics – The Bio-Environment – Volume I, Biopolitics International Organisation, Athens, Greece.
Mehmet Tuncer, an urban/regional and conservation planner, is currently an instructor of the Department of City Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Engineering, Gazi University. Holder of an M.S. degree, he is a doctoral student at the Faculty of Political Sciences, Ankara University. In addition to his involvement in several conservation and urban planning projects, he has participated in numerous conferences and workshops.
Demet Erol received her graduate degree in City and Regional Planning from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara and her Master's degree in the same subject from Yildiz University, Istanbul, in 1987. She is a student of Urban and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ankara. She is presently instructor on City and Regional Planning at Gazi University and has written numerous articles on varied aspects of city planning.
11 Şubat 2007 Pazar
9 Şubat 2007 Cuma
PERGE ANTIQUE CITY: PRESERVING THE CITY OF CULTURE and ART
PERGE ANTIQUE CITY: PRESERVING THE CITY OF CULTURE and ART
Mehmet TUNÇER [1]
I. Perge in History
Perge is one of the oldest cities of the Pamphylia Region, whose name means “Land of All Tribes”. The name of the city, which is not in Greek but rather, probably, in Hittite or Latin, and her first-goddess “Artemis Pergaia”, whose cult reaches far back into time in Anatolia, prove this (1).
It is not possible to put down an independent and uninterrupted history for the “City of Perge” from its establishment. For the fate of the city is linked with that of the Pamphylia Region, in which she is located. Pamphylia has always been a focus of attention for neighbouring countries for its strategic position in seafaring and in that respect has played an important role in Antique History (Figure 1). By virtue of its fertile soil and mild climate, this region has been the birthplace of many civilisations.
Figure 1. PAMPHYLIA REGION
Excavations in Perge have revealed important monumental buildings and sculptures that had remained underground for about 800 years. About thirty partially embossed and written monumental graves were found on both sides of a graveyard road that leads to the western city gates in the excavations conducted by Prof. Dr. Arif Müfid Mansel in the city metropolis in the year 1946. Excavations held in the city Acropolis and in the yard of a church on the west sides of İyilik Tepe (Hill) to uncover the Artemis Pergaia Temple were unfruitful. In the years 1953-1957, the Hellenistic period gates for the city, the yard behind that, the arc with three passages and one-thirds of the road with columns were unearthed. Work was continued on the road with columns between the years 1967-1969, and the square between the Hellenistic gates and the late-antique period gates and the buildings surrounding it were completely uncovered (Figure 2).
Figure 2. HELLENISTIC GATE (RECONSTRUCTION)
In excavations led by Prof. Jale İnan, the 3-metre-long body of the Great Alexander statue (1985), the magnificent statue of the Wine God Dionysos (1987), and about 300 statues of gods and kings were found. In the theatre excavation, a 65-metre long embossing (frieze) that depicts the events following the birth of god Dionysos, a 4-metre high statue of the God Hermes and the statue of Emperor Heraclis. All these findings are indications that Perge was the most important centre of art and culture of her period after the first half of the second century, AD. Today, many works exhibited in the Antalya Museum come from the Perge excavations (Figure 3).
Figure 3. SCULPTURE OF DANCER FROM PERGE EXCAVATIONS
Architecture, sculpture and the art of decoration were well developed in Perge. For instance, the Italian Baroque style is dominant in the embossments in the theatre. This is an indication that this style was present and in use in Anatolia long before.
Since the year 1988, former excavations were continued in the downtown excavations led by Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu, and formerly unexplored residences and shops are still being excavated.
Perge has gone through three significant periods:
1. The First Period is in the Hellenistic Era, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. It is demonstrated by magnificent walls and towers, which are only partly standing today.
2. The Second Period belongs to the Era of the Roman Empire, 2nd and 3rd centuries AD; it is illustrated by many monuments (theatre, stadium, columned streets, bathhouses, monumental fountains, gymnasium and the agora) which are still standing (Figure 4) .
Figure 4. SOUTH NYMPHEUM (MONUMENTAL FOUNTAIN)
3. In fact, these show that Perge was an important town in the 3rd century, which was, in general, a period of chaos and decline in Anatolia, that she had been made the “metropolis”, that is, a state centre where Roman prefects and officers resided, in the time of Emperor Tacitus. Side was that centre prior to Perge.
4. The last period of plenty falls into the Christian period (5th and 6th centuries AD). In that period the town was once again a “metropolis”, but this time a “metropolitan” centre within the church establishment; along with repairing her walls and extending them southwards, she was decorated with many churches, their extensions and new districts forming around them. However, the raids by mountain tribes on one side and Arabs on the other, coupled with the development of Antalya (Attalia), neighbour and rival to Perge, and Antalya becoming the capital of a Byzantine Theme in the 8th century have caused Perge to decline (Figure 5).
Figure 5. ANTALYA AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Perge was ruined during the Selçuk and Arab raids that continued on from the 12th century and was deserted by her people. Some historians suggest that the people retired to the Acropolis and lived there for some time, mingling with the Turkish wains, and that the Acropolis corresponds to the Karahisarı Teke mentioned by Evliya Çelebi.
The Acropolis of Perge rises in the north; the main city is placed in the flatlands south of that hill. In the Hellenistic Period, the city was surrounded by walls, which were reinforced by towers. Since the Roman territories reached up to the Britannia Islands all the way from Mesopotamia, thus Anatolia was in total security brought about by “pax romana”, the walls had lost their importance and some of those were destroyed to extent the city southwards. Large bathhouses, the Agora, the square between the two gates and its surrounding buildings were placed in this part (2) (Figure 6). However, when the tribes living in northern mountainous regions started coming down to the plain and gradually started making more frequent raids, defensive structures were reconsidered, old walls were repaired, and new walls built in the south to defend the buildings in that region.
Figure 6 . PERGE MAIN MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS
Perge is divided into four parts or districts by two large columned streets, one lying in a north-south, the other in a east-west direction. These streets, which are formed by a pavement part and wide water channel in the middle and columned galleries and shops behind them alongside, are not perfectly straight lines but they curve at certain points (Figure 7).
Figure 7. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CITY FROM SOUTH
Thus, like in some other Pamphylia towns, a regular “Hippodamos” plan could not be constructed in Perge, either. The main temples and the famous “Artemis Pergaia Temple” were positioned out of town. The top of the main entrance was in the shape of a rectangular room covered by three separate arcs, round towers up to 15 m. in height were to the either side and behind it was an oval yard.
Since these “town gates with yards” are also present in Side and Sillyon, it might be said of them that they are characteristic of the Panphylian towns. In the Roman Empire period, this part has been transformed to an honour yard with a religious character. In that respect, it resembles the Hadrianus gates in Antalya and Athens closely. Right in front of the western round tower of the square, there are three cells containing a statue each and a monumental door (propylon) leading to the great bathhouse beyond, and slightly ahead is positioned a monumental fountain belonging to the time of Emperor Septimus Severus. The nymphaeum, another of which is placed on the outskirts of the Acropolis, contains a large rectangular pool, and two semicircular basins for facilitating the people getting water in front of a fasad wall decorated by a two-story column architecture.
II. The Byzantine Period and Afterwards
The Early Christian and Byzantine Period history of Perge between the 7th and the 10th centuries is dark, when the preceding periods are considered. Although there exists a great body of knowledge for the pre-Byzantine period, especially the archaeological researches are insufficient on the subject of Byzantine works. Perge met Christianity in the 1st century AD. Paulos, of the Apostles of Jesus, passed through Perge in the first of his four journeys to spread this new faith. It is unthinkable that Christianity spread quickly in Perge, which had assimilated the Artemis culture for long centuries. Considering that the Christian buildings found until today date back to the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries AD, it can be assumed that this religion gathered power earliest in the 6th century. Attalia (Antalya), which had been gaining significance starting from 6th century AD, became the metropolis; along with that, Perge, joining her close neighbour Sillyon (Yarköy) to the west, took the title “bishop metropolitan”. The western travellers and scientists who saw the region in the 19th century (Texier, Hirchfelt, Lancoronski and Rot) provided the first pieces of information about the Christian era buildings in Perge.
While the pre-Christian Era is being systemically researched in Perge archaeological excavations, a detailed study of Byzantine period works has not been done to date. Of the most important buildings that prove the Byzantine settlement in Perge are two basilicas which are located within the city walls and which are designated Church A and Church B (or bishop church) in publications. Apart from these two buildings, there is a church on the hill named Eyilik Belen to the south of the town, Byzantine vaults in the Acropolis, chapels carved into stone and wall remains whose identity remain indeterminate. Moreover, Byzantine ceramics were recovered, in however small amounts they may be, within the Acropolis; and this has given rise to the idea that the Acropolis might have been the main residential area in the late Byzantine period. It is stated that there are many vaults belonging to the Byzantine period around and within the Acropolis. Small chapels are carved into the rocks overlooking the Ağlar Brook behind the Acropolis.
Byzantine remains are also located on and around the hill known as İyilik Belen, which is placed southeast of the main settlement. Starting with a church found in Akşıdil Akarcabeli and pottery recovered on western and southern foothills, it can be maintained that this was an important district in the Byzantine period. The Byzantine works outside the city walls consist of the vaults within and around the Acropolis, of wall remains, of rock chapels, of a church on İyilik Belen and of Byzantine graves, and a satisfying investigation of those is yet to be conducted. There is insufficient data about the Turkish period in Perge. There is no data belonging to the Turkish period, save some Selçuklu and Ottoman porcelain tiles recovered in researches and excavations conducted in Perge.
Pamphylian towns, including Perge, were open to the Moslem raids coming from the southeast beginning in the 7th century AD; and their importance was lost with the Byzantine Empire waning in power in the eastern and southern borders. Perge was included in the Selçuklu land by I. Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev (1027); she was put under the rule of Hamidoğulları Barony in 1299.
III. Perge Today, Preservation Problems and Suggestions
Perge is 18 km. away from Antalya and 2 km. north of the Aksu settlement (Figure 8 / Plan of PERGE). It was suggested that Perge be included in the municipality area borders of the town and be preserved and utilised as an “Archaeological Park” in the Antalya 2015 Master Plan. Visitors to Aspendos, Sillyon and Perge mostly stay in Antalya and the tourism centres around (Belek, Side, Kumköy, Bingeţik, Manavgat, Alanya etc.) and in the Southern Antalya Tourism Centre, and they come to Perge for daily tours. According to 1992 data, Southern Antalya has beds for about 35000. This capacity will increase up to 180 000 until the year 2010. Therefore, forecasts exceeding 100% are possible for the number of visitors to Perge.
Aksu has gone through almost no development towards tourism. There are no tourism-inclined establishments save for a few restaurants lying on the Alanya-Antalya road. Perge being 2 km away, the tours from outside make almost no contribution to the economy of Aksu (and that of Çalkaya). However, it is foreseen that hotels, pensions, restaurants and units for the sale of tourism-gift shops would choose locations around the Municipality and around the entrance gate to Perge.
The road connecting Aksu with the villages in the north go through Perge; a dense traffic right in front of the antique theatre and the stadium, especially the heavy sand-truck traffic, cause great security problems. The stage of the Theatre has collapsed due to the damage done by vibrations in time. To prevent further damage to the Theatre and to the stadium, this road has to be removed urgently, as was suggested in the Perge Preservation Plan (5).
Figure 8. PLAN OF PERGE
The entrance to the Antique Town is in the part which is now in front of the Hellenistic Late Period entrance. With the parking lot, ticket booths, gift shop unit and open-air café built in the years 1989-1990, this part was arranged and the aim was to meet the demand. This entrance is problematic in terms of security and tour routes; when the historical development of the city is examined and the monumental buildings (theatre, hippodrome) was considered, it can be understood that this area is almost in the middle of the City, in the town centre for the antique city. Therefore, the main entrance establishments for the Antique City should be moved to the part where there is a possibility that the colonnaded road will continue, near the I. Degree Archaeological Site Border in the south. Today, there is absolutely no control in the Perge ruins and its proximity. Control should be provided by, at least, a metal-net fence; the free movements of sheep and cattle within the Antique City should be restricted. Unregistered and unlawful buildings are becoming denser, especially on the fertile agricultural land in the III. Degree Archaeological Site. An unlawful district has formed, complete with its school and mosque, to the east of the Acropolis and to the north of the Moslem graveyard. These unlawful buildings should be prevented; they should be frozen and evacuated in time. In these regions, healthy scientific investigations in the future require minimal, if possible no, building activities.
Seasonal agriculture could be carried out in this area. However, hothousing should be avoided on account of security and visual pollution. Irrigated agriculture should be forbidden to protect possible works underground; dry agriculture could be allowed on condition that the works that might be unearthed during tilling be turned in to the nearest Administrative Unit (District Managers and Museum Managers).
The greatest silhouette and visual pollution problems for the Perge Antique City are created by the Aksu Antbirlik Strand Factory, with its water reservoir, transformer and energy transfer lines (the posts and the cables) (Figure 9).
Figure 9. ANTIQUE STADIUM AND AKSU ANTBIRLIK STRAND FACTORY, WITH ITS WATER RESERVOIR, TRANSFORMER AND ENERGY TRANSFER LINES
Therefore, firstly the water reservoir should be carried to another, visually ineffective area and be rebuilt buried underground. The removal/transfer of the transformer and the energy lines are also needful for the preservation of the quality of Perge (6).
This part (Koca Belen Hill) has been designated III. Degree Archaeological Site during the preservation plan studies. Visitors should be enabled to watch this extraordinary sight by the creation of panoramic sight-watch terraces, seating places and observation points, especially in the yard of the Teachers’ School and the parts of the Strand Factory yards that face Perge. The İyilik Belen Hill also provides a panoramic scene of Perge and the Acropolis. This part has also been designated a I. Degree Archaeological Site because of the existence of a possible Byzantine settlement.
A great part of Perge lies underground, unexplored (Figure 10).
Figure 10. PERGE ANTIQUE CITY TODAY
Especially, data and documents related to the Byzantine Period are scant to the point of nonexistence. Therefore, first priority archaeological excavations and researches should be conducted in the Acropolis and its foothills, and in the eastern and western necropolices.
The Museum Management of Antalya and The Council of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Values of Antalya should form a “Perge Preservation-Development Unit” to direct the applications in Perge and to be able to support the Municipality of Aksu. The Aksu Municipality should also form a “Department of Preservation and Development of the Perge Archaeological Site”, which would especially be related to controlling and directing the applications in the III. Degree Site, and to the arrangement and maintenance of the entrance and resting points of the Antique City.
Towards the goal of preserving Perge, which is a World Architectural Heritage, and of the healthy application of planning decisions, the applications by the Aksu Municipality should be provided with financial resources, project support and advising services by the Department of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Valuables of the Ministry of Culture. An active “Perge Preservation and Development Unit” should be formed within the Department itself.
These units would strive for material and technical aid in the form of aids, loans, donations and the like from domestic and international establishments and organisations related to environment arrangements, maintenance, excavations and preservation for scientific researches (UNESCO, ICCROM, the World Bank, TAÇ Foundation, Turing Organisation etc.). Moreover, civilian society organisations such as banks, private sector establishments, companies, groups and the like should be encouraged to support the work on the preservation-aimed environmental arrangements by means of campaigns; a fund should be formed to obtain the involvement and contributions of the people.
Incomes from museums and ruins are gathered by the Rotating-Capital Management of the Ministry of Culture, and 40% of museum incomes are given to the municipalities (7). The law requires that the Municipality should be given a share in “museum entrance fees”; the entrances to ruins are excluded from the mentioned law coverage. The entrance fees to the Perge Antique City should be given in part to the Aksu Municipality for the sole aims of utilisation in the maintenance, repair and environmental arrangements. Moreover, in the parts which are within the I. Degree Archaeological Site, which is to be publicised, the III. Degree Archaeological Site, and the parts to be arranged into the Antique City gates should be publicised according to the “Exchange Directives” and the application should thus be hastened (8).
Some funds should be set aside primarily from the budget of the Ministry of Culture for the arrangement of the new entrance gates to the Perge Antique City. The Aksu Municipality would financially and technically participate in this arrangement; an effective application would be obtained with tool and personnel support during the work.
The Antalya Province Culture Department is planning educational efforts in districts and villages on the subject of “The Prevention of Smuggling and Damaging of Old Works.” The efforts to awareness are being held in the villages and towns close to ruins and their surroundings. The subject is being announced to the people of the region by village leaders, elementary school students and teachers, and mosque imams; and meetings are being held.
The awareness of preserving the historical environment of the people of the settlements around the Perge Antique Town should be nurtured, especially by the Aksu Municipality, by supporting the efforts mentioned above by activities such as exhibitions, contests, seminars, panels etc.
SOURCES
1. PEKMAN, A., 1989, “History of Perge In the Light of Recent Excavations and Researches”, Premium Council of Atatürk Culture, Language and History, Turkish History Council Publications, VII.
2. İDİL, V., 1992, “History of Antique City of Perge”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co., s. 27-39.
3. PEKAK, S., 1992, “Christianity (Byzantine) Period Monuments In Perge”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co., s. 40-51.
4. Antalya Master Plan Research Report (1/25000-1/5000 Scales), April 1996, UTTA Planning and Project and Consulting Co., Ank.
5. Council of Antalya Preservation of Historical and Natural Assets, A.K.T.K.K.K.07.00.1.1. Numbered and 18.05.1992 Dated Official Paper.
6. TUNÇER, M., 1992, “Perge Conservation Plan Report”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co.
7. Ministry of Culture, 2252 Numbered Law.
8. 08.02.1990 Dated and 20427 Numbered Governmental Paper, “Kesin İnşaat Yasağı Getirilen Korunması Gerekli Taşınmaz Kültür ve Tabiat Varlıklarının Bulunduğu Sit Alanlarındaki Taşınmaz Malların Hazineye Ait Taşınmaz Mallar İle Değiştirilmesi Hakkındaki Yönetmelik”
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY. This article pubpished at “ADA Kentliyim” Monthly review as “KÜLTÜR VE SANAT ŞEHRİ PERGE’Yİ KORUMAK”. 1997, Haz.-Ağ., 97/2.
Mehmet TUNÇER [1]
I. Perge in History
Perge is one of the oldest cities of the Pamphylia Region, whose name means “Land of All Tribes”. The name of the city, which is not in Greek but rather, probably, in Hittite or Latin, and her first-goddess “Artemis Pergaia”, whose cult reaches far back into time in Anatolia, prove this (1).
It is not possible to put down an independent and uninterrupted history for the “City of Perge” from its establishment. For the fate of the city is linked with that of the Pamphylia Region, in which she is located. Pamphylia has always been a focus of attention for neighbouring countries for its strategic position in seafaring and in that respect has played an important role in Antique History (Figure 1). By virtue of its fertile soil and mild climate, this region has been the birthplace of many civilisations.
Figure 1. PAMPHYLIA REGION
Excavations in Perge have revealed important monumental buildings and sculptures that had remained underground for about 800 years. About thirty partially embossed and written monumental graves were found on both sides of a graveyard road that leads to the western city gates in the excavations conducted by Prof. Dr. Arif Müfid Mansel in the city metropolis in the year 1946. Excavations held in the city Acropolis and in the yard of a church on the west sides of İyilik Tepe (Hill) to uncover the Artemis Pergaia Temple were unfruitful. In the years 1953-1957, the Hellenistic period gates for the city, the yard behind that, the arc with three passages and one-thirds of the road with columns were unearthed. Work was continued on the road with columns between the years 1967-1969, and the square between the Hellenistic gates and the late-antique period gates and the buildings surrounding it were completely uncovered (Figure 2).
Figure 2. HELLENISTIC GATE (RECONSTRUCTION)
In excavations led by Prof. Jale İnan, the 3-metre-long body of the Great Alexander statue (1985), the magnificent statue of the Wine God Dionysos (1987), and about 300 statues of gods and kings were found. In the theatre excavation, a 65-metre long embossing (frieze) that depicts the events following the birth of god Dionysos, a 4-metre high statue of the God Hermes and the statue of Emperor Heraclis. All these findings are indications that Perge was the most important centre of art and culture of her period after the first half of the second century, AD. Today, many works exhibited in the Antalya Museum come from the Perge excavations (Figure 3).
Figure 3. SCULPTURE OF DANCER FROM PERGE EXCAVATIONS
Architecture, sculpture and the art of decoration were well developed in Perge. For instance, the Italian Baroque style is dominant in the embossments in the theatre. This is an indication that this style was present and in use in Anatolia long before.
Since the year 1988, former excavations were continued in the downtown excavations led by Prof. Dr. Haluk Abbasoğlu, and formerly unexplored residences and shops are still being excavated.
Perge has gone through three significant periods:
1. The First Period is in the Hellenistic Era, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. It is demonstrated by magnificent walls and towers, which are only partly standing today.
2. The Second Period belongs to the Era of the Roman Empire, 2nd and 3rd centuries AD; it is illustrated by many monuments (theatre, stadium, columned streets, bathhouses, monumental fountains, gymnasium and the agora) which are still standing (Figure 4) .
Figure 4. SOUTH NYMPHEUM (MONUMENTAL FOUNTAIN)
3. In fact, these show that Perge was an important town in the 3rd century, which was, in general, a period of chaos and decline in Anatolia, that she had been made the “metropolis”, that is, a state centre where Roman prefects and officers resided, in the time of Emperor Tacitus. Side was that centre prior to Perge.
4. The last period of plenty falls into the Christian period (5th and 6th centuries AD). In that period the town was once again a “metropolis”, but this time a “metropolitan” centre within the church establishment; along with repairing her walls and extending them southwards, she was decorated with many churches, their extensions and new districts forming around them. However, the raids by mountain tribes on one side and Arabs on the other, coupled with the development of Antalya (Attalia), neighbour and rival to Perge, and Antalya becoming the capital of a Byzantine Theme in the 8th century have caused Perge to decline (Figure 5).
Figure 5. ANTALYA AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
Perge was ruined during the Selçuk and Arab raids that continued on from the 12th century and was deserted by her people. Some historians suggest that the people retired to the Acropolis and lived there for some time, mingling with the Turkish wains, and that the Acropolis corresponds to the Karahisarı Teke mentioned by Evliya Çelebi.
The Acropolis of Perge rises in the north; the main city is placed in the flatlands south of that hill. In the Hellenistic Period, the city was surrounded by walls, which were reinforced by towers. Since the Roman territories reached up to the Britannia Islands all the way from Mesopotamia, thus Anatolia was in total security brought about by “pax romana”, the walls had lost their importance and some of those were destroyed to extent the city southwards. Large bathhouses, the Agora, the square between the two gates and its surrounding buildings were placed in this part (2) (Figure 6). However, when the tribes living in northern mountainous regions started coming down to the plain and gradually started making more frequent raids, defensive structures were reconsidered, old walls were repaired, and new walls built in the south to defend the buildings in that region.
Figure 6 . PERGE MAIN MONUMENTAL BUILDINGS
Perge is divided into four parts or districts by two large columned streets, one lying in a north-south, the other in a east-west direction. These streets, which are formed by a pavement part and wide water channel in the middle and columned galleries and shops behind them alongside, are not perfectly straight lines but they curve at certain points (Figure 7).
Figure 7. GENERAL VIEW OF THE CITY FROM SOUTH
Thus, like in some other Pamphylia towns, a regular “Hippodamos” plan could not be constructed in Perge, either. The main temples and the famous “Artemis Pergaia Temple” were positioned out of town. The top of the main entrance was in the shape of a rectangular room covered by three separate arcs, round towers up to 15 m. in height were to the either side and behind it was an oval yard.
Since these “town gates with yards” are also present in Side and Sillyon, it might be said of them that they are characteristic of the Panphylian towns. In the Roman Empire period, this part has been transformed to an honour yard with a religious character. In that respect, it resembles the Hadrianus gates in Antalya and Athens closely. Right in front of the western round tower of the square, there are three cells containing a statue each and a monumental door (propylon) leading to the great bathhouse beyond, and slightly ahead is positioned a monumental fountain belonging to the time of Emperor Septimus Severus. The nymphaeum, another of which is placed on the outskirts of the Acropolis, contains a large rectangular pool, and two semicircular basins for facilitating the people getting water in front of a fasad wall decorated by a two-story column architecture.
II. The Byzantine Period and Afterwards
The Early Christian and Byzantine Period history of Perge between the 7th and the 10th centuries is dark, when the preceding periods are considered. Although there exists a great body of knowledge for the pre-Byzantine period, especially the archaeological researches are insufficient on the subject of Byzantine works. Perge met Christianity in the 1st century AD. Paulos, of the Apostles of Jesus, passed through Perge in the first of his four journeys to spread this new faith. It is unthinkable that Christianity spread quickly in Perge, which had assimilated the Artemis culture for long centuries. Considering that the Christian buildings found until today date back to the 4th, 5th and 6th centuries AD, it can be assumed that this religion gathered power earliest in the 6th century. Attalia (Antalya), which had been gaining significance starting from 6th century AD, became the metropolis; along with that, Perge, joining her close neighbour Sillyon (Yarköy) to the west, took the title “bishop metropolitan”. The western travellers and scientists who saw the region in the 19th century (Texier, Hirchfelt, Lancoronski and Rot) provided the first pieces of information about the Christian era buildings in Perge.
While the pre-Christian Era is being systemically researched in Perge archaeological excavations, a detailed study of Byzantine period works has not been done to date. Of the most important buildings that prove the Byzantine settlement in Perge are two basilicas which are located within the city walls and which are designated Church A and Church B (or bishop church) in publications. Apart from these two buildings, there is a church on the hill named Eyilik Belen to the south of the town, Byzantine vaults in the Acropolis, chapels carved into stone and wall remains whose identity remain indeterminate. Moreover, Byzantine ceramics were recovered, in however small amounts they may be, within the Acropolis; and this has given rise to the idea that the Acropolis might have been the main residential area in the late Byzantine period. It is stated that there are many vaults belonging to the Byzantine period around and within the Acropolis. Small chapels are carved into the rocks overlooking the Ağlar Brook behind the Acropolis.
Byzantine remains are also located on and around the hill known as İyilik Belen, which is placed southeast of the main settlement. Starting with a church found in Akşıdil Akarcabeli and pottery recovered on western and southern foothills, it can be maintained that this was an important district in the Byzantine period. The Byzantine works outside the city walls consist of the vaults within and around the Acropolis, of wall remains, of rock chapels, of a church on İyilik Belen and of Byzantine graves, and a satisfying investigation of those is yet to be conducted. There is insufficient data about the Turkish period in Perge. There is no data belonging to the Turkish period, save some Selçuklu and Ottoman porcelain tiles recovered in researches and excavations conducted in Perge.
Pamphylian towns, including Perge, were open to the Moslem raids coming from the southeast beginning in the 7th century AD; and their importance was lost with the Byzantine Empire waning in power in the eastern and southern borders. Perge was included in the Selçuklu land by I. Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev (1027); she was put under the rule of Hamidoğulları Barony in 1299.
III. Perge Today, Preservation Problems and Suggestions
Perge is 18 km. away from Antalya and 2 km. north of the Aksu settlement (Figure 8 / Plan of PERGE). It was suggested that Perge be included in the municipality area borders of the town and be preserved and utilised as an “Archaeological Park” in the Antalya 2015 Master Plan. Visitors to Aspendos, Sillyon and Perge mostly stay in Antalya and the tourism centres around (Belek, Side, Kumköy, Bingeţik, Manavgat, Alanya etc.) and in the Southern Antalya Tourism Centre, and they come to Perge for daily tours. According to 1992 data, Southern Antalya has beds for about 35000. This capacity will increase up to 180 000 until the year 2010. Therefore, forecasts exceeding 100% are possible for the number of visitors to Perge.
Aksu has gone through almost no development towards tourism. There are no tourism-inclined establishments save for a few restaurants lying on the Alanya-Antalya road. Perge being 2 km away, the tours from outside make almost no contribution to the economy of Aksu (and that of Çalkaya). However, it is foreseen that hotels, pensions, restaurants and units for the sale of tourism-gift shops would choose locations around the Municipality and around the entrance gate to Perge.
The road connecting Aksu with the villages in the north go through Perge; a dense traffic right in front of the antique theatre and the stadium, especially the heavy sand-truck traffic, cause great security problems. The stage of the Theatre has collapsed due to the damage done by vibrations in time. To prevent further damage to the Theatre and to the stadium, this road has to be removed urgently, as was suggested in the Perge Preservation Plan (5).
Figure 8. PLAN OF PERGE
The entrance to the Antique Town is in the part which is now in front of the Hellenistic Late Period entrance. With the parking lot, ticket booths, gift shop unit and open-air café built in the years 1989-1990, this part was arranged and the aim was to meet the demand. This entrance is problematic in terms of security and tour routes; when the historical development of the city is examined and the monumental buildings (theatre, hippodrome) was considered, it can be understood that this area is almost in the middle of the City, in the town centre for the antique city. Therefore, the main entrance establishments for the Antique City should be moved to the part where there is a possibility that the colonnaded road will continue, near the I. Degree Archaeological Site Border in the south. Today, there is absolutely no control in the Perge ruins and its proximity. Control should be provided by, at least, a metal-net fence; the free movements of sheep and cattle within the Antique City should be restricted. Unregistered and unlawful buildings are becoming denser, especially on the fertile agricultural land in the III. Degree Archaeological Site. An unlawful district has formed, complete with its school and mosque, to the east of the Acropolis and to the north of the Moslem graveyard. These unlawful buildings should be prevented; they should be frozen and evacuated in time. In these regions, healthy scientific investigations in the future require minimal, if possible no, building activities.
Seasonal agriculture could be carried out in this area. However, hothousing should be avoided on account of security and visual pollution. Irrigated agriculture should be forbidden to protect possible works underground; dry agriculture could be allowed on condition that the works that might be unearthed during tilling be turned in to the nearest Administrative Unit (District Managers and Museum Managers).
The greatest silhouette and visual pollution problems for the Perge Antique City are created by the Aksu Antbirlik Strand Factory, with its water reservoir, transformer and energy transfer lines (the posts and the cables) (Figure 9).
Figure 9. ANTIQUE STADIUM AND AKSU ANTBIRLIK STRAND FACTORY, WITH ITS WATER RESERVOIR, TRANSFORMER AND ENERGY TRANSFER LINES
Therefore, firstly the water reservoir should be carried to another, visually ineffective area and be rebuilt buried underground. The removal/transfer of the transformer and the energy lines are also needful for the preservation of the quality of Perge (6).
This part (Koca Belen Hill) has been designated III. Degree Archaeological Site during the preservation plan studies. Visitors should be enabled to watch this extraordinary sight by the creation of panoramic sight-watch terraces, seating places and observation points, especially in the yard of the Teachers’ School and the parts of the Strand Factory yards that face Perge. The İyilik Belen Hill also provides a panoramic scene of Perge and the Acropolis. This part has also been designated a I. Degree Archaeological Site because of the existence of a possible Byzantine settlement.
A great part of Perge lies underground, unexplored (Figure 10).
Figure 10. PERGE ANTIQUE CITY TODAY
Especially, data and documents related to the Byzantine Period are scant to the point of nonexistence. Therefore, first priority archaeological excavations and researches should be conducted in the Acropolis and its foothills, and in the eastern and western necropolices.
The Museum Management of Antalya and The Council of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Values of Antalya should form a “Perge Preservation-Development Unit” to direct the applications in Perge and to be able to support the Municipality of Aksu. The Aksu Municipality should also form a “Department of Preservation and Development of the Perge Archaeological Site”, which would especially be related to controlling and directing the applications in the III. Degree Site, and to the arrangement and maintenance of the entrance and resting points of the Antique City.
Towards the goal of preserving Perge, which is a World Architectural Heritage, and of the healthy application of planning decisions, the applications by the Aksu Municipality should be provided with financial resources, project support and advising services by the Department of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Valuables of the Ministry of Culture. An active “Perge Preservation and Development Unit” should be formed within the Department itself.
These units would strive for material and technical aid in the form of aids, loans, donations and the like from domestic and international establishments and organisations related to environment arrangements, maintenance, excavations and preservation for scientific researches (UNESCO, ICCROM, the World Bank, TAÇ Foundation, Turing Organisation etc.). Moreover, civilian society organisations such as banks, private sector establishments, companies, groups and the like should be encouraged to support the work on the preservation-aimed environmental arrangements by means of campaigns; a fund should be formed to obtain the involvement and contributions of the people.
Incomes from museums and ruins are gathered by the Rotating-Capital Management of the Ministry of Culture, and 40% of museum incomes are given to the municipalities (7). The law requires that the Municipality should be given a share in “museum entrance fees”; the entrances to ruins are excluded from the mentioned law coverage. The entrance fees to the Perge Antique City should be given in part to the Aksu Municipality for the sole aims of utilisation in the maintenance, repair and environmental arrangements. Moreover, in the parts which are within the I. Degree Archaeological Site, which is to be publicised, the III. Degree Archaeological Site, and the parts to be arranged into the Antique City gates should be publicised according to the “Exchange Directives” and the application should thus be hastened (8).
Some funds should be set aside primarily from the budget of the Ministry of Culture for the arrangement of the new entrance gates to the Perge Antique City. The Aksu Municipality would financially and technically participate in this arrangement; an effective application would be obtained with tool and personnel support during the work.
The Antalya Province Culture Department is planning educational efforts in districts and villages on the subject of “The Prevention of Smuggling and Damaging of Old Works.” The efforts to awareness are being held in the villages and towns close to ruins and their surroundings. The subject is being announced to the people of the region by village leaders, elementary school students and teachers, and mosque imams; and meetings are being held.
The awareness of preserving the historical environment of the people of the settlements around the Perge Antique Town should be nurtured, especially by the Aksu Municipality, by supporting the efforts mentioned above by activities such as exhibitions, contests, seminars, panels etc.
SOURCES
1. PEKMAN, A., 1989, “History of Perge In the Light of Recent Excavations and Researches”, Premium Council of Atatürk Culture, Language and History, Turkish History Council Publications, VII.
2. İDİL, V., 1992, “History of Antique City of Perge”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co., s. 27-39.
3. PEKAK, S., 1992, “Christianity (Byzantine) Period Monuments In Perge”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co., s. 40-51.
4. Antalya Master Plan Research Report (1/25000-1/5000 Scales), April 1996, UTTA Planning and Project and Consulting Co., Ank.
5. Council of Antalya Preservation of Historical and Natural Assets, A.K.T.K.K.K.07.00.1.1. Numbered and 18.05.1992 Dated Official Paper.
6. TUNÇER, M., 1992, “Perge Conservation Plan Report”, Perge Conservation Plan Research Report, Akman Project Co.
7. Ministry of Culture, 2252 Numbered Law.
8. 08.02.1990 Dated and 20427 Numbered Governmental Paper, “Kesin İnşaat Yasağı Getirilen Korunması Gerekli Taşınmaz Kültür ve Tabiat Varlıklarının Bulunduğu Sit Alanlarındaki Taşınmaz Malların Hazineye Ait Taşınmaz Mallar İle Değiştirilmesi Hakkındaki Yönetmelik”
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY. This article pubpished at “ADA Kentliyim” Monthly review as “KÜLTÜR VE SANAT ŞEHRİ PERGE’Yİ KORUMAK”. 1997, Haz.-Ağ., 97/2.
BERGAMA (PERGAMON) ANTIQUE CITY: PRESERVING THE CITY OF CULTURE, ART AND SCIENCE
BERGAMA (PERGAMON) ANTIQUE CITY:
PRESERVING THE CITY OF CULTURE, ART AND SCIENCE
PRESERVING THE CITY OF CULTURE, ART AND SCIENCE
Mehmet TUNÇER [1]
Ankara, Turkey,
February 2002
I. AIM OF THE PAPER
The Altar of Pergamon, Turkey (today called as Bergama), its kidnapping to Berlin at Ottoman time and the struggle for its return, the former Mayor of Bergama, Sefa Taskin spending the night in front of the Museum, is known to almost everyone who have a concern in the matter (Figure 1. The Zeus Altar).
Figure 1. THE ZEUS ALTAR OF PERGAMON (RECONSTRUCTION MODEL)
Indeed, even today, a lot of valuable archaeological pieces are being used as collected material in buildings in Bergama. A small museum could be filled with the pieces that a keen eye would notice in Bergama streets. The traditional pattern and new developments are intermingled today in Bergama, and the antique period remains are all but vanished (Figure 2) .
Figure 2. Bergama (Pergamon) Antique City Settlement Plan
The urban and archaeological sites of Bergama, that is, the historical city that has been mentioned with admiration, researched and put into writing, and praised by scientists, archaeologists, architectures, art historians, city planners, sculptors and the like for more than two thousand years, faces the threat of destruction today in places… (View 1. The Panoramic Reconstruction of Bergama)
Especially,
· The extraction of part of the town center, which was initially in the historical site, from the site and the preparation of a new implementation plan, with a trend of denser building in that parts,
· The illegal buildings in the archaeological sites merged with the town, especially around the Musalla Hill,
· And the military land standing over archaeological remains,
have brought the Selçuklu and Ottoman Period traditional urban patterns and the two most important Roman Period theatres to the fringe of annihilation.
One of these theatres has been built in a form rarely encountered in Anatolia; like those theatres in Side and Aspendos, it has been built on a completely artificial basis with no natural supports. Another feature of this theatre is that it has been built on vaults set upon a stream and that, in times, the stream had been stopped and used for water sports and shows.
The other theatre has been named Viran Kapı[2]; olive trees have taken root in its caveat and it is struggling to protect its form from the shantytown buildings. The land surrounding these theatres have completely come under the reign of illegal building, urban infrastructure services like roads, water and electricity have been provided and the path to implementation reform title-deeds being issued has been opened. (Figure 3. The Antique Theatre)
Figure 3. PERGAMONS’ ANTIQUE THEATRE
The gravest danger to Bergama arises from the implementation plan currently in force, which has been prepared for the renovation of the town and which also contains the greater part of the traditional pattern (Figure 4. The Bergama Revised Implementation Plan (1/1000). In this plan, the Selçuk and Ottoman Period historical urban pattern of Bergama being completely disregarded, new roads unfitting the pattern have been proposed and some have been built, and large plots of land in conflict with the traditional plot and building order, plus high (4-5 story) buildings have been proposed as well. In accordance with the decisions of this plan, an important street has been built in the town center, and tearing down old Bergaman houses, permits have been given for new buildings. Within the town, especially around the traditional city center, buildings fitting this plan have started climbing high and the impressive Acropolis panorama from the İzmir road have been partially obscured. And when the city is viewed from the Acropolis, unfortunately, what is seen is that, the panorama and silhouette of the 2000-year-old town has been disfigured by ugly concrete blocks and the city identity has begun to be partially lost.
Figure 4. The Bergama Revised Implementation Plan (1/1000)
Since the urban historical site has been narrowed down to the boundaries of the historical city center, the implementation plan which is being applied in the areas outside this region will cause the Bergama historical town pattern and town identity to be gradually lost. The “Protection Plan”, which is being prepared in Bergama by the Ministry of Culture but not in force yet could check only some part of this implementation plan, and the number of allowed stories have been lowered. However, the remaining parts should be reconsidered as well, in a way so as to preserve and improve the city pattern and keeping the silhouettes in mind.
Another danger is for the Serapis Temple (Kızıl Avlu[3]), one of the greatest temples of Anatolia, considered to be one of the most important symbols of the Pax Romana Period in Anatolia, which has been built for Egyptian gods and been converted to a Basilica in the Byzantian Period, and for the vault (tunnel) that the temple is built on. The Bergama Stream (Selinus) have been diverted to a tunnel approximately 200 m. to the east with the use of the temple and the social and religious buildings surrounding it; and a harmony has been created with downtown (Figure 5 . Kızıl Avlu (Serapis Temple at The end of 19Th Century). This part of Bergama has been standing for centuries and is known as the “Ne Yerde, Ne Gökte[4] District”. However, the Kozak-Bergama-Soma Road going next to the Kızıl Avlu upon this vault-tunnel and the load and the vibrations caused by the recently-increased heavy-vehicle traffic is damaging this building, which has stood for 2000 years, significantly. It can even be remarked that the vault-tunnel is in danger of caving in. It is required that this route be shifted further south, be cleared of heavy-vehicle traffic, and that a new bridge be built on the Bergama Stream south-east of the town, arranging the Kızıl Avlu and its proximity as a pedestrian-concentrated “Open-Air Museum” (Figure 6. Kızıl Avlu (Serapis Temple) Today).
Figure 5 . KIZIL AVLU (SERAPIS TEMPLE) AT THE END OF 19TH CENTURY
When the city is toured, it can be observed that many pieces remaining from antique periods are in use as collected material. Considering that the Roman period Bergama was a magnificent city with a population of 250000, and that the Selçuk and Ottoman city has been established entirely over this old town, it can be deduced that Hellenistic Period and Roman Period urban remains are lying under the areas that have been developed, at least up to the Republican Period. Keeping in mind that excavations by eliminating urban buildings are impossible, the importance of the foundation excavations of each new building for archaeology and art history is revealed. Actually, in the recent years, the Roman Theatre and Odeon on Hisar Street in Ankara has been exposed in such a building foundation excavation, and since it was in the “Museum-Controlled Region”, it has been publicized and the necessary precautions taken instantly and it was thus saved from destruction. Had there been no controlled excavation, as in many other locations, a 6-story building would now be rising on this theatre as well!
Figure 6. KIZIL AVLU (SERAPIS TEMPLE) TODAY
Other than the Bergama Archaeological Sites, the excavations for the new buildings in the city should also be controlled, and evaluating every bit of data that can come out of that, the Hellenistic and Roman Period plan of the city should be created. The first of such investigations has been conducted by Carl Humann in 1879 Excavations in the areas determined from the better maps, with 1/2500 scale and dated 1926 that show the area in which the Ottoman City pattern was spread, should be museum controlled. Even the construction and exhibition of the reconstruction model of the city and would reveal the magnificence of the city in the antique ages better (Figure 7. Pergamon Acropolis Reconstruction Model).
Figure 7. PERGAMON ACROPOLIS RECONSTRUCTION MODEL
II. SUGGESTIONS TOWARDS THE SOLUTIONS FOR THE PROBLEMS
II.1. LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE SUGGESTIONS
On the matter of “Preservation of the Historical Environment”, the Central Administration and the Local Administrations should, together and in co-operation, develop deep-rooted administrative, legal, economical and financial solution paths. The Central Administration and Local Administrations have been given certain duties and authorities with the Preservation of Cultural and Natural Assets Law (numbered 2863and 3386), the Implementation Law (3194), and the Municipalities Law (1580) on the matter of the preservation of the historical environment.
However, it is not possible to say that in particular the local administrations are utilising these points of authority completely and correctly. The problems of historical environment occur in ways specific to each region. Thus, above all, the local administration is responsible for all kinds of local service. The local administrations are defined as public establishments “that meet the common and local needs of the people”. The two basic measures in the definition are that there are “common needs” of the people and that these needs are “local”.
The problems of the historical environment are also of the “local and common” problems. Hence, it can be said that the problem of preserving the historical environment is firstly the problem of the local administration. The municipalities are primarily responsible for regulating urban life. The municipality legislations have provided the municipalities with significant possibilities with the goal of regulating the urban life environment. Among these possibilities are the preparation of administrative regulating texts, applying the municipality penalty system and procedures like permissions and permits.
Certain articles in the 1930 dated and 1580 numbered Municipality Law has given the municipalities important authority and duties on preservation, environment arrangements and reforms. Although this law has lost its applicability in today’s conditions, it nonetheless is in force until a new local administration reform is realised.
The articles numbered 15/35, 19, 115 and 159 impose upon the municipalities important duties about the preservation of the historical environment.
II.2. Controller Regulations:
The article no. 19 gives the municipalities the authorities of making all kinds of advances for easing urban life, make prohibitions and impose penalties upon those that do not follow the prohibitions. Based upon this authority, the Municipalities may bring rules about the functioning of controllers, which are the legal force of municipalities, with the “Controller Regulations” they prepare. However, today the controller regulations are little more than lists of prohibitions.
The controller regulations should determine the urban standard, principles, and requisites of living. A “Historical Environment Controller” force, equipped with the authority of checking and controlling issues like buildings in historical environments, repairs without permission, checking that the repairs are in accordance with the permit, and checking that the building application type fits the plan and the quality of the environment, should be formed; and should work locally in synchronisation with the Municipality Implementation Departments. These controllers could also be given a general “ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLLER” quality by linking them also to basic environmental problems such as air, water and soil pollution, noise, solid wastes, visual pollution (notices, signs and plaques), the problems of transport and parking, general hygiene of cities and green areas, that concern the urban environment closely.
II.3. Health Controller Regulations:
The General Hıfzısıhha (General Public Health) Law, numbered 1593, has given the Municipalities the right and duty to put out a “Health Controller Regulations”, subject to the condition that it be approved by the Ministries of Internal Affairs and Health. The Regulation aims for applying the decisions of the General Hıfzısıhha Law within the municipality boundaries using the municipality controllers. This regulations, which is for the urban environment and thus the historical environment which is an important part of it to be more healthy, should be prepared considering the standard principles and rules of the requirements of environmental health.
II.4. Implementation Regulations:
Rapid, unplanned urbanisation and land speculation lie at the roots of the problems of the historical environment. The urbanisation phenomenon has been regulated by the Implementation Laws and the imposed rules are being applied by the Implementation Regulations in Municipalities. Significant steps could be taken towards preservation with the addition of articles about the preservation, reform and improvement of the historical environment.
II.5. Permit Authorities:
One of the most important rights of Municipalities is that of “permitting” businesses that could create undesirable conditions as regards health during production. The permits, which are documents of permission for work, also include the work conditions. Only the businesses that satisfy these conditions are allowed to be initiated and operated. If the conditions are unsatisfied, the permit is revoked. It is basic that businesses with the quality of preserving and not harming the historical pattern should be placed within the historical environment. Checking of this and the control whether it fits the plan or not could be made during the permit stage of the businesses.
According to the General Hıfzısıhha Law, the I. and II. Grade Unhealthy Establishments, which are the Unhealthy Establishments that harm the historical environment, should be prevented from taking place within historical patterns. The permits of the existing ones should be revoked and they should be made to move to outside the pattern. And within the preservation-aimed plans, historical businesses which are harmonious with the traditional pattern and of traditional quality (carpet-making, kilim-making, handcrafts etc.) should be placed along with pension, hotel and residence applications.
With the regulation, whose old name is “Küşat Regulation” and new name is “Business-Initiating Regulation”, the municipalities have the right to determine the necessary conditions for the initiation and operation of sites of production. Through this regulation, quite a large number of production establishments with a negative effect on natural and historical environment could be put into tight control.
Rules on “Building Permit”s and “Residing and Using Permits” should be rearranged in a way as to provide maintenance and repair for the historical environment. New buildings and repairs on old ones should be brought into accordance with the building and repair conditions explained in the Preservation-Aimed Plans and this should be controlled.
The legal rights mentioned above are still in use in our Municipalities. These rights could be utilised in an effective way for the preservation of the natural and historical environment and thus a better urban environment could be created.
However, municipalities do not have personnel aware of and educated on the matter of the preservation of the historical environment. The Ankara Greater Municipality has personnel of much higher quality and expertise in this matter as compared to the Şanlıurfa and Bergama Municipalities. The insufficiency of personnel brings about an important limitation on the issues of preservation planning, application and control in the historical environment.
Hence, the organisation structure of the municipality should be arranged with a futuristic outlook, a “Historical Environment Preservation Department” should be established directly answerable to the mayor and the implementation manager, and these units should be equipped by related, expertise professionals. The archaeologist, the art historian, the restoration-expert architect and the city planner should be the basic positions in these units. Along with the creation of the units, which will take time and be difficult, the municipalities using the paths available to them consciously will result in success in the attempts of preservation and improvement in historical environments. A responsibility such as leading and providing education for the attempts of the preservation of the historical environment falls to the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Buildings and Settlement.
III. STRATEGIES FOR THE PRESERVATION OF THE HISTORICAL ENVIRONMENT FOR THE MUNICIPALITY OF BERGAMA
III.1. PRESERVATION POLICIES FOR ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES
Time, damage done by the mankind in the Bergama Archaeological and Urban Sites and erosion present a complex bouquet of problems. Along with the erosion of natural forces such as temperature change, earthquakes, wind and water etc., the centuries of plundering and damage by the mankind have caused unreplacable losses in the region. Through internationally accepted methods of excavation, restoration and preservation (The Venetian Regulations et al.), the abrasion of nature on archaeological sites and monumental buildings could be delayed.
A well-planned and well-executed advertisement and tour program would support the awareness today on this cultural heritage, which should be preserved for the next generation.
Special care should be given so that preservation is realised, the works are kept intact and exhibited in the best way possible. The most important of these processes is the prevention of shantytown occupation and illegal buildings within and around archaeological sites. Blocking multi-storey buildings and controlling the silhouette are of first importance. In places where the pattern is being disfigured, precautions should be taken with priority through “Preservation-Aimed” planning and project works.
Supporting the pieces still in the open air and the preservation of pieces on the ground are significant within the Archaeological Site. The archaeological remains should be protected, covered with light covers, be removed from the region with the aim of temporary storage or exhibition, or, where applicable, the work should be restored according to its original form, following the restoration principles. By gathering together the architectural structure elements which have broken off and scattered away from the original building for various reasons and by anastilosis applications, a sight of intactness would be given to the Antique Town.
For the “ARCHAEOPARK”, which is included in the Bergama Urban and Archaeological Sites Preservation-Aimed Implementation Plan, an “Archaeological Master Plan”, similar to the one having prepared by the Greater Municipality of Ankara, should be prepared and the reports of excavations, sondages and researches of various periods should be brought together scientifically.
By preparing the “Reconstruction Plan” of the town, the town pattern of the Hellenistic and Roman periods should be determined for certain, and, following that, detailed planning and project work should be undertaken according to the principles of archaeology, restoration, planning, landscape and urban furniture (Figure 8. Carl Human’s Plan of Pergamon)
III.2. PRESERVATION POLICIES FOR THE URBAN SITES
III.2.1. Macro Policies:
The Municipality of Bergama should determine the land and land plot stocks in public possession (treasury, foundations etc.) within the municipality bounds and these lands should be used towards the “Preservation-Aimed Implementation Plan” without being transferred to private possession.
For the end goal of a healthy control over the town’s development, the municipality should obtain plots of land within developing residential areas and, creating the infrastructure of these areas, should produce as many residences as it could; by assigning plots of land to those people which are resident in the areas marked for evacuation within archaeological or urban sites and by aiding those who construct their own homes, and by providing building materials, should support their owning homes.
Figure 8. PLAN OF PERGAMON
The municipality should realise the application of the Article 18 (dough) of the Implementation Law, which is an important legal tool for the goal of the application of the “Bergama Preservation-Aimed Plan” and the realisation of applications and preservation which are for the good of the public. This way, public-intended applications (roads, squares, parks, car parks, kindergartens, green areas etc.) will be in public possession without payment and the Municipality of Bergama would have a land stock which is important in applications.
III.2.2. Policies Towards the Preservation and Improvement of the Urban Site:
The making and application of preservation decisions constitute an inter-organisational decision process. Although the P.C.H.V.[5] Supreme Council and the İzmir Preservation Council are decision-making establishments, the rights of application, control and financial resource allocation have been assigned to other public establishments, and especially to local administrations.
a. Suggestions on Organisation:
The Municipality of Bergama should form a “Department of Preservation of the Historical Environment”, answerable directly to the mayor, with the goal of harmonising the future restorations and repairs and new buildings fitting the plan with the urban site and its environment according to the “Application Regulations,” “Plan Notes,” and the P.C.H.V. Council decisions. Among the duties of this department should be directing and staging the infrastructure and environment-arranging work that would be held by the municipality within the urban pattern and controlling the applications related to single buildings by checking how well they fit in with the plan.
Preservation applications should be supported by providing plans, projects and financial aid to those who want to repair their homes. The public should be exposed to the plans and projects on Bergama through exhibitions, and the public interest, involvement and awareness should be set by publishing booklets.
The Municipality of Bergama should work towards the goal of attracting the financial and technical support of the private sector and the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the Department of Foundations and other related establishments for the preservation of monumental and civilian architecture examples. By introducing the “Bergama Preservation Plan” and related projects to be developed in the international platforms, the Municipality should obtain resources from culturally-oriented loans, funds and aids.
b. Suggestions on the Application Process:
In our country, preservation implementation plans, like other implementation plans, are being left alone to take their own natural course after a quite-long-lasting approval process. However, urban parts that should be preserved are inevitably ending up facing demolishment and destruction as the result of the plan not being actively applied. Some years later, new works of determination and documentation are held, and related to those, since the plan is now outdated, the pressure causes a new plan to be made and the traditional patterns are being lost in time. Moreover, applications like excluding parts from the registration lists, and change in site boundaries as in Bergama are negative effects upon this process. The application of preservation-aimed implementation plans should not be spread out too much in time, unlike other area plans. Planning and application processes like active planning, action planning, priority-area planning and the divide-and-direct model should be the norm.
We have to preserve and develop material and spiritual cultural Assets and their natural environment, and pass them to future generations as whole and intact as possible. However, being aware of the difficulties in application would be beneficial in creating realistic solutions. During the work of the preservation and development of the urban environment, the town of Bergama, which is archaeologically, historically, architecturally, visually and ethnographically valuable, should be preserved not as a dead museum, but as living environments which adds to the touristical, cultural, social and economical development of the region they are in and which can support sustainable development. Hence, the existing analytical works should be updated through a healthy inventorial work and areas in which the traditional architectural features are the majority, are being distorted and are lost should be determined (Plan 6. Qualities of the Building Stock).
After the initial financial support is provided for the actions to be initiated and carried out in the areas to be preserved and improved, the functions assigned to these areas should be connected to the mechanism for the continuation of this financial support. Otherwise, consequences like the Municipality of Bergama and Ministry of Culture paying irrevocable amounts even though for culture, being limited or not being able to pay at all might be imminent. Thus, the application of the aforementioned articles of the Law of Municipalities and the realisation of related legal health and control forces would add a legal power edge to the attempts of preserving the historical environment in Bergama.
On the matter of the loans to be made to building owners, the “Regulations on the Repairs Contribution Fund of the Immobile Cultural Assets in the Possession of Real and Legal Persons Under the Jurisdiction of Special Law” (The Official Gazette dated 25.06.1985 and numbered 18791) determines the methods and basis for the loans to be issued and material (in kind), money (in cash) and technical support to be given by the Ministry of Culture for buildings registered for preservation.
Article 5 of Law Numbered 3386 says, “Registered buildings reserved for cultural applications in the preservation-aimed implementation plan could be publicised by the Municipality subject to the approval of the Ministry, provided that the buildings is repaired and used.” and provides the Municipalities with the possibility of publicising and repairing the culturally-oriented buildings in the urban sites. Moreover, in part (f) of the same article, it is said that “Parcel plots of land containing immobile cultural variables that has to be preserved, under strict building prohibition since it is in a urban site, could be exchanged with another piece of treasury land on request of the owner and if the land contains a building or an establishment, payment shall be made on request of the owner by determining the cost according to Article 11 of the Law Numbered 2942.”. According to this point, there arises the possibility of a mutual agreement between property owners and the municipality. The possession of some special buildings within the urban site could be obtained by the Municipality of Bergama with such exchanges.
The Municipality of Bergama could construct organisations like
· A rotating-capital operation,
· Establishing unions, participating in unions and partnerships, giving privileges,
· Directing through an operation within or without the Municipality.
Of these organisations, especially the “Rotator-capital” and the “Operation” organisations could be beneficial for urban preservation and improvement/renovation. Such organisations could be established immediately with the existing laws and could add an economical dimension to the activity of preserving the historical environment.
By determining the special project design areas that are within the whole of the Bergama Preservation Plan and are named “Urban Design Area (Priority Project Area)” and determining the priorities according to the repair and environment-arrangement projects that would be prepared, applications could commence.
In these regions, first the infrastructure could be reformed and completed; suprastructure arrangements could come later. Although there is a decision made about continuing residential applications within the Special Project areas, the works of preservation, reform and renovation in these regions could be carried out by the rotating-capital management (or the co-operative). By operating the residences as applications like pensions, student dormitories, official residences etc., it is possible to recycle the investment. The duty region of this operation, whose sort of operation is an “Operation of the Municipality”, is the preservation/improvement region; and the most important tool determining the boundaries around this duty is the “Preservation Plan”.
The Municipality of Bergama should do its duty actively in the matters summarised below for the application of a sustainable preservation and improvement of the historical environment, by obtaining national and international support together with the Ministry of Culture:
1. Resources should be reallocated from related central-administrative (public) establishments and organisations (The Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Building and Implementation, the Ministry of Finance and Customs, the Department of Foundations, the Ministry of Environment etc.) to the Municipality of Bergama in the urban preservation and improvement applications that require a continuous, pre-planned, pre-programmed work based upon projects.
2. The Implementation Programs of the Municipality of Bergama which emphasize the matters of preservation, making healthier and improvement should be supported by the related Ministries and resources should be reallocated for the application.
3. The Municipality of Bergama, reconsidering its internal structure, should form a effective unit whose rights and responsibilities are determined, constituting of the related branches of expertise (archaeology, restoration, urban preservation, urban planning, architecture, peysage etc.). This unit should participate actively in the attempts of planning, project-preparation, preservation/making healthier/improvement and environmental arrangements.
4. A part of the public social equipment areas should be obtained by applying the Article 18 of the Implementation Law.
5. Building owners who repair their building or arrange its surroundings according to the plan conditions should be supported and be aided financially and with projects. In case that the property-holder does not realise this application in a pre-determined period of time, the Municipality should undertake the task.
The most important resource in realising all those suggested above is the aid and participation of those who dwell in Bergama. The public should be convinced that the preservation of the historical environment is good for Bergama and the attempts of installing an awareness and concern for the historical environment should be initiated in the elementary-school years.
c. Suggestions on the Social Structure:
When the results from the “Bergama Social Structure Research” by the Middle East Technical University (1979) and the “Social Survey” by Akman Project (1991) are evaluated together, it is possible to state that in spite of some external physical effects on and renovations in Bergama, the social structure has quite static and similar properties, that the social and physical structure gets even more deformed with influences such as the disturbance of the balance between the income groups and the gradual reduction of the power of purchase.
It is important to know the social structure of the people of the region, who will be the greatest support in the preservation and improvement of the historical environment in Bergama. Bergama is a settlement where the social mobility is not outside normal boundaries. Although it has outward-immigration, since it also has inward-immigration the demographical structure displays a dynamic case. This phenomenon, which we call illegal building and wide-spread shantytowns, is on one hand forcing the boundaries of the historical urban pattern and the archaeological sites tighter, and is on the other hand disrupting the trends of urban development which are growing as a whole with the aforementioned places.
The most important point in preserving the historical urban pattern is being able to eliminate the harmful effects of in-town mobility. Families whose income has risen, or families which are in the high-income group that want to live in more modern and comfortable residences or in the new prestige districts are moving out of the historical urban pattern. The maintenance level of the old residences hired-out is getting lower and, from a point of view, the historical urban pattern is being left to be deformed and demolished.
The landlord-tenant relation also affects the maintenance and repair level of the buildings. Certain changes in application are required for a repair that would be financially beneficial.
The old Bergaman settlement is a social environment that should be improved by considering it together with the archaeological site, the urban town center and the new Bergama. The districts within the traditional pattern display physical and social features quite close to those of each other. However, as one shifts to the south, it can be observed that the physical and social structure change. The center in the traditional town center which serves the traditional or semi-traditional, rural-origin or low-income groups and the new trade center with tourism purposes which is around the Kızıl Avlu and reaching out towards the south are influencing this social structure. This social structure, seeming temporary and continuously-changing, holding the trade and marginal professionals, is economically less powerful, is of a medium level of education, and displays less concern/awareness for the historical pattern and the archaeological areas.
The overall concern for Bergama has been increased significantly by the long-lasting factor of tourism, by various infrastructure investments (PTT, road repairs, kindergartens, arrangements of squares and intersections), and by the rise in introductory publications and tourism investments.
Below are the suggestions on the social structure developed for easing preservation in Bergama:
· The success of plans and projects of preservation is assured only with the acceptance of the public and the local people and their applications towards the goal.
· Protecting the rights of the landlords and tenants, or in general, the residents in the traditional pattern of Bergama should be a primary goal in the attempts of preservation.
· Decreasing the population density within the traditional pattern would be realised gradually by the conversion of some buildings used for residential purposes to applications put forward in the Preservation Plan. It is natural that a fast intervention would be done with the hand of the public to some buildings that require urgent repairs and should be protected with priority. The rights of the property-holders and dwellers in that building should be protected as the building is being won over.
· Methods like exchange, determining a place and paying the true cost should be applied in publicisations or tenant-evacuations. Considering that the people probably have jobs in the immediate vicinity, the new buildings that are to be constructed should be in the historical town center and its proximity as possible. The application should be carried out with an approach so as to minimise the travel costs of the people and prevent them from being estranged from their social environment.
· Attempts should be made to recreate the social structure in such a way as to lead the traditional production and selling activities and to recreate existing hand crafts (copper-working, leather-working, weaving etc.) and developing them; applications that would open the way for modern artists to take place in this pattern as well as the traditional Turkish hand crafts should be made.
· It is considered that the support personnel for hosting activities (hotels, motels, pensions etc.) and tradespeople settling in the old Bergama houses would help bringing together the activities of preservation and improvement and economical activities.
The contemporary problems of preservation of many monumental and environmental building in the urban sites of Bergama and the long-lasting preparation procedure of the preservation-aimed implementation plan are not mentioned in this article; rather, the general and first-priority problems are emphasized. We bear the hope that the central and local authorities, who were very particular about the Altar of Bergama, would consider the problems mentioned above urgently.
RESOURCES
· TUNCER, M., 1991, “Bergama Conservation Plan”, the Plan Report, AKMAN Project Ltd.
· ERIS, E., 1991, “History of Civilization in Bergama”, the Cultural Publications of the Municipality of Bergama, No. 2.
· KARAGOZOĞLU, H.F., SONMEZ, I., KARAGOZOGLU, T., 1989, “Law of Mobile-Immobile Ancient Works.”
· TOL, S., USLU, A., ODTU, Dept. of Restoration, Faculty of Architecture, 1979, “The Evaluation of an Example Area from the Bergama Historical Residential Pattern: The Yamaçevler Settlement, Dede-Kadı Street.”
· TUNCER, M., 1995, “The Policy of Preserving the Historical Environment for Sustainable Development: Examples of Ankara, Bergama and Şanlıurfa.” Unpublished Doctorate Dissertation, A.Ü., F.P.S.
· TUNCER, M., 1993, “The Social Structure of the Bergama Historical Urban Pattern and Suggestions on Preservation,” Konutbirlik Magazine, p. 107.
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY.
[2] “Viran Kapı”=”Ruined Door.”
[3] “Kızıl Avlu”=”Red Yard”
[4] “Ne Yerde, Ne Gökte”= Literally translated “Neither on the Earth, Nor in the Sky”, idiom signifying the buildings in the area sitting on vaults through which a stream is flowing…
[5] P.C.H.V.: Protection of Cultural and Historical Assets; = K.T.V.K.: Kültürel ve Tarihsel Varlıkları Koruma.
ANKARA / CAPITAL OF THE MODERN TURKEY and ITS CONSERVATION
ANKARA / CAPITAL OF THE MODERN TURKEY
and ITS CONSERVATION
Mehmet TUNÇER [1]
Ankara, Turkey,
February 2002
I. SHORT HISTORY OF THE CITY
Turkey’s history dates back to the Prehistoric Age. Some cave sites like
Karain in Antalya Region dates back to the Upper Palaeolithic Age.
Çatalhöyük Site (6500-6550 BC) is the oldest Neolithic Town, lies 50 km south of Konya, a region was closely connected by trade with the Middle East.
The first settlement in Troy, on the other hand is presumed to Homer’s Troy and dates back to 300 B.C. The first Empire was that of the Hittites, 1750-1200 B.C.
They ruled an empire from the Black Sea to Palestine. Their capital Hattusas (now called Boğazköy) lies 200 km to the north-east of Ankara the Capital of Modern Turkey. Also nearby is the Hittite City of Alacahöyük and the holy place Yazılıkaya. During the Hittite period, there were also other states in Anatolia. In the East and south-east lay Mitanni Kingdom and in the south lived the Luwians. Having been a Phrygian City in the 8th century B.C., Ankara has then been the Capital of Galatia between 2nd century B.C. and 25 B.C.
Having fallen under the domination of the Roman Empire in 25 B.C., Ankara has experienced its most prosperous period in the following years thanks to its role as the representative of the said Empire in Anatolia. In this period, Ankara has acquired the quality of being an important intersection point of Roman roads, a fact which led to a great development in the administrative, military and commercial activities with the population having reached as high a level as 100 000.
Ankara has been conquered by Turks in 1073 to remain then under the Turkish rule forever. After having been under the sway of the Byzantine Empire between 334 B.C. and 1073 prior to the foundation of the Ottoman Anatolian Union.
The fact that Ankara was one of the Ahi Centres played an important role in the development of it’s commercial functions.
A certain part of the total of 30 Caravanserais in the city has been build in this period, being located around the great mosques. In the development period of the Ottoman Empire, the further momentum with the soft wool (sof) , a special product of the city, having acquired a global reputation. The construction of “Bedesten” s (a kind of bazaar where wool, antiques and jewellery are sold) and great Caravanserais (inns) falls on the 14th and 15th centuries.
In response to the rise in population, the city centre has also begun to expand and such new commercial districts as Tahtakale and Karaoğlan around Suluhan have flourished. In the first years of the 17th century, a third city wall has been built as a means of protection against Celali outbreaks (Figure 1).
Figure 1. ANKARA IN 1711 DATED GRAVURE (V.VINCKE)
In the 18th and 19th centuries the commercials and economic viability of the Mediterranean Countries. The Ottoman Empire and Anatolia has undergone a sharp recession due to the shift of the main trade routes to the oceans and the development of the west. Being unable to compete with the modern textile industry, the economy of Ankara has entered a stage of full depression towards the end of the 19th century which has further been aggravated by the fact that the soft wool (sof), the special product of the city, has also been produced in other countries (Figure 2).
Figure 2. ANKARA IN AN OLD PAINTING (SOF PRODUCTION SCENERY IN THE RIGHT PART)
The advent of railway in 1892 has created an atmosphere of relative vitality and the boulevards named Station and Talat Pasha have been constructed which connect the Railway Station to the old city and the Ulus (Taşhan) Center began to prosper at the same period concomitant with all other developments.
II. ANKARA AS THE CAPITAL
Following its proclamation as the capital of Turkey on 13th of October, 1923, Ankara has entered a stage of planned growth and development.
The Law Numbered 583 which has been passed subsequent to the proclamation of the City as the Capital, has envisaged and provided for the extension of new Ankara in the area between the historic town and the district called Çankaya, prohibiting demolition of the historical buildings in and around the traditional old quarter. Thanks to this firm resolution brought by the said law, the traditional structure of the historical sites of Ankara could have been preserved more or less.
The “Sihhiye Plan” (New Town/Yenisehir) prepared by Heussler in 1927, and the Urban Plan realised by German Prof. Hermann Jansen in 1928 as a result of an international competition represent two important steps in the planned development process of Ankara (Figure 3). Jansen has placed a special emphasis on the conservation of the “traditional structure” by designating the historical urban site as the “Protocol Area”. He has also made certain plan decisions as regards the historical site (Figure 4).
Figure 3. HERMANN JANSENS’ PLAN OF ANKARA (1932)
Further arrangements related with the historical site of Ankara have been enforced in the reconstruction plan of Nihat Yücel and Rasit Uybadin who have won the plan competition in Ankara has turned into a metropolitan area in 1970’s with a 16 fold and a 46 fold increase in its population and expansion area, respectively. Due to the stunningly high rate of urbanisation, 60 percent of the city has developed out of the planned area, while the historical sites have undergone a relatively lower degree of change as a particular section of the metropolis.
Figure 4. OLD ANKARA IN H. JANSEN PLAN
III. THE CONSERVATION PROJECTS
III.1. THE CONSERVATION PROJECT OF THE CITADEL OF ANKARA
III.1.1. History
During Roman Period (25 B.C.), Ankara has experienced its most prosperous period, acquired the quality of being an important intersection point of Roman Roads, a fact which lead to a great development in the administrative, military and commercial activities with the population having reached as high a level as 100 000.
During the Roman Era, Ankara was covering the hill and the plains on the west of the fortress. The place of the Citadel possibly was a Capitol. The city maintained its importance during the early days of the Byzantine Empire. After the 7th century, the city suffered the threat of Sasanis and the Arabs and was forced to return inside the fortress.
The outer (Dış Kale) and Inner (İç Kale) fortresses which are noticable today have have been built toward this aim and the remains of monumental buildings pertaining to the Roman Eras have been used for the construction.
Later during the 8th Century the city was occupied by Harun Reşid’s army. Ankara has been conquered by Turks in 1073 after having been under the sway of the Byzantine Empire between 334 BC and 1073.
The Citadel has taken its present form during Byzantine and Turkish principalities period. The Inner Part of the Citadel was still being used as settlement since that times. According to the 1522 dated recording,
III.1.2. The Conservation Plan of Ankara Citadel
“The Conservation, Rehabilitation and Development Plan of The Citadel” aimed to preserve historical site with its own characteristics (Figure 5). The Conservation Plan consist of following aspects:
a. TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION AND SELLING AREAS:
In the “Ankara Citadel Cultur, Turism and Commercial Center”, there will be traditional production and selling units (shops) on the main pedestrian roads, such as “Kalekapısı, Doyran Street and around squares such as Ramazan Şemsettin Mosque Square and Alaeddin Mosque Square”. These shops will be in the ground level old traditional houses which supposed to be restore and so in some innercourts (Avlus).
The traditional crafts are following:
· The traditional Angora Goat’s wool (sof),
· Angora cloths, textile, woven tissues,
· Angora cikriks (spinning-wheels),
· Turkish carpets, woving mattings (kilim) production exhibition and selling units,
· Wicker works, rush mat production shops, selling units,
· Woodworks, handicrafts,
· Traditional Turkish copper, silver and gold ornament and jewelery shops etc.
In this area, some traditional artworks which has to be nearly disappear, planned to educate and give rise again by culture and tourism.
b. DAILY COMMERCIAL AREAS:
This areas serving to daily needs (drink, foods, refreshments etc) of the visitors and persons hosted in the hotels and pensions in the Citadel.
c. RECREATION AND ACCOMODATION AREAS:
Due to culture and tourism functions; restaurants which traditional Turkish Cuisine and foods are present, hotels and pensions which traditional host will be exhibit in the Citadel.
· Hotels and pensions,
· Restaurants (Turkish cuisine, Ankara foods),
· Special cuisine’s (tandir, döner, sis, lavas etc),
· Cafes (Turkish Cafes), pubs.
d. CULTURAL AREAS:
These are ;
· Old Ankara House Museum,
· History of Ankara Museum,
· War of Ankara Museum,
· Social Centers (Library, dia show, places),
· Art Galleries (painting, sculpture, music, open show areas),
IMPLEMENTATION PHASES OF THE CONSERVATION PLAN :
Up today, the scales of (1/5000, 1/1000, 1/500) Conservation Plan has been completed. From now; 1/200 and upper scales (1/100, 1/50,...1/1) implementation projects will be designed. And the infrastructure (water, electricity and sewage etc) and landscape projects will be completed. After that, both Municipality and house owners will be gathered to implement the project.
Figure 5. ANKARA INNER CITADEL CONSERVATION PLAN (1994)
SOURCES
1. KELEŞ, R. 1971, “ A City Typology In Old Ankara”, S. B. F. Pub.
2. TUNÇER, M., 1990, “How is the Conservation Works In Ankara. What Ought to Be Done ? ”, PLANNING REVIEW, Number 90 / 3-4.
3. TUNÇER, M., 1984, 21-23 June, Ankara, Paper Presented to the SEMINAR on “URBAN CONSERVATION PLANNING”, arranged by ICOMOS- Ministry of Culture and Tourism - METU Faculty of Architecture : “Implementation Problems of Urban Conservation Planning: Some Proposals Case: ANKARA”
4. TUNÇER, M., 1985, 22 -26 April, Istanbul, Paper Presented to the ”THE CONFERENCE ON THE PRESERVATION OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF ISLAMIC CITIES”, Arab Towns Organization - Arab Urban Development Institute (ATO/AUDI) and Union of Municipalities of Marmara Region (UMMR) and Greater İstanbul Municipality : Paper presented and project exhibition opened on about “Ankara Traditional Urban Fabric Conservation and Development Planning Works.
5. TUNÇER, M., 1995, 15-16 April : Istanbul, Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, “3. URBAN CONSERVATION AND RENEWAL IMPLEMENTATIONS COLLOQUIUM”, paper presented on about “Contemporary Battles of The Citadel of Ankara”, Mimar Sinan, University, İstanbul.
6. JANSEN, H., 1937. , “ Ankara İmar Planı ”, Plan Raporu, Alaeddin Kıral Basımevi, İst.
7. “Old Ankara Conservation and Development Project”, Project Report, 1979, Prepared By: Beţbaţ, N., Güneţ, A., Özcan, Z., Tayla, L., Tırpan, A.
8. “Ulus Historical Commercial Center Urban Planning Competition”, Competition Booklet, 1986, Ankara Greater Municipality.
9. "Ankara Citadel Conservation and Development Project Competition” , Competition Booklet, 1987, Altındağ Municipality.
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY.
and ITS CONSERVATION
Mehmet TUNÇER [1]
Ankara, Turkey,
February 2002
I. SHORT HISTORY OF THE CITY
Turkey’s history dates back to the Prehistoric Age. Some cave sites like
Karain in Antalya Region dates back to the Upper Palaeolithic Age.
Çatalhöyük Site (6500-6550 BC) is the oldest Neolithic Town, lies 50 km south of Konya, a region was closely connected by trade with the Middle East.
The first settlement in Troy, on the other hand is presumed to Homer’s Troy and dates back to 300 B.C. The first Empire was that of the Hittites, 1750-1200 B.C.
They ruled an empire from the Black Sea to Palestine. Their capital Hattusas (now called Boğazköy) lies 200 km to the north-east of Ankara the Capital of Modern Turkey. Also nearby is the Hittite City of Alacahöyük and the holy place Yazılıkaya. During the Hittite period, there were also other states in Anatolia. In the East and south-east lay Mitanni Kingdom and in the south lived the Luwians. Having been a Phrygian City in the 8th century B.C., Ankara has then been the Capital of Galatia between 2nd century B.C. and 25 B.C.
Having fallen under the domination of the Roman Empire in 25 B.C., Ankara has experienced its most prosperous period in the following years thanks to its role as the representative of the said Empire in Anatolia. In this period, Ankara has acquired the quality of being an important intersection point of Roman roads, a fact which led to a great development in the administrative, military and commercial activities with the population having reached as high a level as 100 000.
Ankara has been conquered by Turks in 1073 to remain then under the Turkish rule forever. After having been under the sway of the Byzantine Empire between 334 B.C. and 1073 prior to the foundation of the Ottoman Anatolian Union.
The fact that Ankara was one of the Ahi Centres played an important role in the development of it’s commercial functions.
A certain part of the total of 30 Caravanserais in the city has been build in this period, being located around the great mosques. In the development period of the Ottoman Empire, the further momentum with the soft wool (sof) , a special product of the city, having acquired a global reputation. The construction of “Bedesten” s (a kind of bazaar where wool, antiques and jewellery are sold) and great Caravanserais (inns) falls on the 14th and 15th centuries.
In response to the rise in population, the city centre has also begun to expand and such new commercial districts as Tahtakale and Karaoğlan around Suluhan have flourished. In the first years of the 17th century, a third city wall has been built as a means of protection against Celali outbreaks (Figure 1).
Figure 1. ANKARA IN 1711 DATED GRAVURE (V.VINCKE)
In the 18th and 19th centuries the commercials and economic viability of the Mediterranean Countries. The Ottoman Empire and Anatolia has undergone a sharp recession due to the shift of the main trade routes to the oceans and the development of the west. Being unable to compete with the modern textile industry, the economy of Ankara has entered a stage of full depression towards the end of the 19th century which has further been aggravated by the fact that the soft wool (sof), the special product of the city, has also been produced in other countries (Figure 2).
Figure 2. ANKARA IN AN OLD PAINTING (SOF PRODUCTION SCENERY IN THE RIGHT PART)
The advent of railway in 1892 has created an atmosphere of relative vitality and the boulevards named Station and Talat Pasha have been constructed which connect the Railway Station to the old city and the Ulus (Taşhan) Center began to prosper at the same period concomitant with all other developments.
II. ANKARA AS THE CAPITAL
Following its proclamation as the capital of Turkey on 13th of October, 1923, Ankara has entered a stage of planned growth and development.
The Law Numbered 583 which has been passed subsequent to the proclamation of the City as the Capital, has envisaged and provided for the extension of new Ankara in the area between the historic town and the district called Çankaya, prohibiting demolition of the historical buildings in and around the traditional old quarter. Thanks to this firm resolution brought by the said law, the traditional structure of the historical sites of Ankara could have been preserved more or less.
The “Sihhiye Plan” (New Town/Yenisehir) prepared by Heussler in 1927, and the Urban Plan realised by German Prof. Hermann Jansen in 1928 as a result of an international competition represent two important steps in the planned development process of Ankara (Figure 3). Jansen has placed a special emphasis on the conservation of the “traditional structure” by designating the historical urban site as the “Protocol Area”. He has also made certain plan decisions as regards the historical site (Figure 4).
Figure 3. HERMANN JANSENS’ PLAN OF ANKARA (1932)
Further arrangements related with the historical site of Ankara have been enforced in the reconstruction plan of Nihat Yücel and Rasit Uybadin who have won the plan competition in Ankara has turned into a metropolitan area in 1970’s with a 16 fold and a 46 fold increase in its population and expansion area, respectively. Due to the stunningly high rate of urbanisation, 60 percent of the city has developed out of the planned area, while the historical sites have undergone a relatively lower degree of change as a particular section of the metropolis.
Figure 4. OLD ANKARA IN H. JANSEN PLAN
III. THE CONSERVATION PROJECTS
III.1. THE CONSERVATION PROJECT OF THE CITADEL OF ANKARA
III.1.1. History
During Roman Period (25 B.C.), Ankara has experienced its most prosperous period, acquired the quality of being an important intersection point of Roman Roads, a fact which lead to a great development in the administrative, military and commercial activities with the population having reached as high a level as 100 000.
During the Roman Era, Ankara was covering the hill and the plains on the west of the fortress. The place of the Citadel possibly was a Capitol. The city maintained its importance during the early days of the Byzantine Empire. After the 7th century, the city suffered the threat of Sasanis and the Arabs and was forced to return inside the fortress.
The outer (Dış Kale) and Inner (İç Kale) fortresses which are noticable today have have been built toward this aim and the remains of monumental buildings pertaining to the Roman Eras have been used for the construction.
Later during the 8th Century the city was occupied by Harun Reşid’s army. Ankara has been conquered by Turks in 1073 after having been under the sway of the Byzantine Empire between 334 BC and 1073.
The Citadel has taken its present form during Byzantine and Turkish principalities period. The Inner Part of the Citadel was still being used as settlement since that times. According to the 1522 dated recording,
III.1.2. The Conservation Plan of Ankara Citadel
“The Conservation, Rehabilitation and Development Plan of The Citadel” aimed to preserve historical site with its own characteristics (Figure 5). The Conservation Plan consist of following aspects:
a. TRADITIONAL PRODUCTION AND SELLING AREAS:
In the “Ankara Citadel Cultur, Turism and Commercial Center”, there will be traditional production and selling units (shops) on the main pedestrian roads, such as “Kalekapısı, Doyran Street and around squares such as Ramazan Şemsettin Mosque Square and Alaeddin Mosque Square”. These shops will be in the ground level old traditional houses which supposed to be restore and so in some innercourts (Avlus).
The traditional crafts are following:
· The traditional Angora Goat’s wool (sof),
· Angora cloths, textile, woven tissues,
· Angora cikriks (spinning-wheels),
· Turkish carpets, woving mattings (kilim) production exhibition and selling units,
· Wicker works, rush mat production shops, selling units,
· Woodworks, handicrafts,
· Traditional Turkish copper, silver and gold ornament and jewelery shops etc.
In this area, some traditional artworks which has to be nearly disappear, planned to educate and give rise again by culture and tourism.
b. DAILY COMMERCIAL AREAS:
This areas serving to daily needs (drink, foods, refreshments etc) of the visitors and persons hosted in the hotels and pensions in the Citadel.
c. RECREATION AND ACCOMODATION AREAS:
Due to culture and tourism functions; restaurants which traditional Turkish Cuisine and foods are present, hotels and pensions which traditional host will be exhibit in the Citadel.
· Hotels and pensions,
· Restaurants (Turkish cuisine, Ankara foods),
· Special cuisine’s (tandir, döner, sis, lavas etc),
· Cafes (Turkish Cafes), pubs.
d. CULTURAL AREAS:
These are ;
· Old Ankara House Museum,
· History of Ankara Museum,
· War of Ankara Museum,
· Social Centers (Library, dia show, places),
· Art Galleries (painting, sculpture, music, open show areas),
IMPLEMENTATION PHASES OF THE CONSERVATION PLAN :
Up today, the scales of (1/5000, 1/1000, 1/500) Conservation Plan has been completed. From now; 1/200 and upper scales (1/100, 1/50,...1/1) implementation projects will be designed. And the infrastructure (water, electricity and sewage etc) and landscape projects will be completed. After that, both Municipality and house owners will be gathered to implement the project.
Figure 5. ANKARA INNER CITADEL CONSERVATION PLAN (1994)
SOURCES
1. KELEŞ, R. 1971, “ A City Typology In Old Ankara”, S. B. F. Pub.
2. TUNÇER, M., 1990, “How is the Conservation Works In Ankara. What Ought to Be Done ? ”, PLANNING REVIEW, Number 90 / 3-4.
3. TUNÇER, M., 1984, 21-23 June, Ankara, Paper Presented to the SEMINAR on “URBAN CONSERVATION PLANNING”, arranged by ICOMOS- Ministry of Culture and Tourism - METU Faculty of Architecture : “Implementation Problems of Urban Conservation Planning: Some Proposals Case: ANKARA”
4. TUNÇER, M., 1985, 22 -26 April, Istanbul, Paper Presented to the ”THE CONFERENCE ON THE PRESERVATION OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF ISLAMIC CITIES”, Arab Towns Organization - Arab Urban Development Institute (ATO/AUDI) and Union of Municipalities of Marmara Region (UMMR) and Greater İstanbul Municipality : Paper presented and project exhibition opened on about “Ankara Traditional Urban Fabric Conservation and Development Planning Works.
5. TUNÇER, M., 1995, 15-16 April : Istanbul, Mimar Sinan University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of City and Regional Planning, “3. URBAN CONSERVATION AND RENEWAL IMPLEMENTATIONS COLLOQUIUM”, paper presented on about “Contemporary Battles of The Citadel of Ankara”, Mimar Sinan, University, İstanbul.
6. JANSEN, H., 1937. , “ Ankara İmar Planı ”, Plan Raporu, Alaeddin Kıral Basımevi, İst.
7. “Old Ankara Conservation and Development Project”, Project Report, 1979, Prepared By: Beţbaţ, N., Güneţ, A., Özcan, Z., Tayla, L., Tırpan, A.
8. “Ulus Historical Commercial Center Urban Planning Competition”, Competition Booklet, 1986, Ankara Greater Municipality.
9. "Ankara Citadel Conservation and Development Project Competition” , Competition Booklet, 1987, Altındağ Municipality.
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY.
CONSERVATION OF KONYA, THE SELJUK CAPITAL / THE CONSERVATION PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
CONSERVATION OF KONYA, THE SELJUK CAPITAL / THE CONSERVATION PROBLEMS AND SOLUTIONS
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mehmet TUNÇER[1]
I. KONYA IN HISTORY
Konya, which is in the Central Anatolian Region, is one of the greatest cities of Turkey as far as surface area is concerned. It has been densely populated in every historical period since its land is distributed into plateaus, plains and closed river systems and its soil is fertile. It was an important center of trade, culture and politics all through the First and Middle Ages at the intersection points of historical trade routes that connect the Anatolian towns to each other, to Asia and to Europe (Figure 1). It still keeps that importance today.
FIGURE 1. KONYA AT THE END OF 19TH CENTURY (GRAVURE)
Significant settlements have been established in and around this City since prehistoric times. This part, which also contains the ancient Lykaonia, has in it the oldest ancient-era settlements of Anatolia. Many findings, witnesses to the prehistoric times, have been unearthed in the Alaeddin Hill. The same Hill has been home to the Frigians (Phrigians?) between the 8th-7th centuries BC. Catalhoyuk, near the Cumra District, houses one of the richest veins of findings of the history of civilization (800-5300 BC). Besides Catalhoyuk, important Neolithical settlements are Erbaba (Beysehir), Suberde and Can Hasan. Settlements were established at Can Hasan, Western Catalhoyuk, the Alaeddin Hill, Sizma, Karahoyuk and other centers in the Calcolitichal and Bronze Ages.
Konya is one of those Anatolian cities whose name has lasted since the ancient times. Its name of old, Ikonion, is related to the work “Ikon”, which means “picture”, “holy picture”. The name Ikonium was altered to Iconium in the early Roman period, then to Claudiconium when the Emperor gave the town his own name in the period of Emperor Cladius (41-54 AD). The town, which became a completely Roman town in the period of Emperor Hadrianus (2nd century AD: 117-138), went by the name “Colonia Selenie, Adrina Augusta Iconium. The name of the town, which is mentioned as “Conium” or “Stancona” in Byzantian sources and “Conia, Cogne, Cogna, Konich, Konia Tokonion” in other sources, appears as “iconium” in Crusader sources. The Arabians named the town as Kuniya. The name Konya, which was used in the Seljuk (Selçuk) and Ottoman (Osmanli) periods as well, has come unaltered to our day.
After raids by Kimmerians, Lydians and Persians, Konya was put under Roman rule in 133 BC. It is known that Konya was included in the first great Anatolian Empire, the State of the Hittites (1650-712 BC). The Konya Egerli and Karaman are among old Hittite towns. The rock base-relief, which is one of the most descriptive properties of Hittite art, is encountered in Egerli, Ivris, Beysehir-Eflatunpinar and Fasillar. Following that, Konya entered the power of the Frigian state (712-695) and the Lydians (680-546).
This is followed by the Persians conquering all of Anatolia from one end to the other (546-334 BC). The town was included in the Cappadoccia Kingdom between the dates 332-17 BC. Conquered by the Romans in 17 BC, Konya became an important center in this period and the Byzantian period. The Roman period displays the properties of the peace time in such a town as Konya which is wide-spread on plains. The town was the scene for several Emevi and Abbasi (Arabs) attacks in the Eastern Rome/Byzantine period between the years 395-1076. After the Malazgirt Battle, it was conquered by Suleyman Shah in the year 1076 and made the Capital City of the Anatolian Selcuklu (Seljucks) State. The Alaeddin Hill is an inner citadel in Konya, which attained its true character during the Selcuklu period. This Selcuk Citadel has almost been left right in the middle of the town during the Ottoman Empire Period.
II. HISTORICAL COMMERCIAL CENTER OF KONYA
The “Center of Trade”, an indication of the economical structure, level of technology, and the social and cultural life of a town, is the most important part of the town. There is a deep-rooted tradition of trade organization and trade structure in the Ottoman-Turkish towns. The traditional trade centers of many of our towns today, like in Konya, are physical proofs of this tradition, which have lived until this day. These trade centers should be rearranged and old buildings should be given new areas of application. The position of Konya, on the route that runs by mountains going down all the way to the Mediterranean shores, lends itself readily to urban settlement. Catalhoyuk, that is perhaps the first prehistoric Anatolian settlement to display urban characteristic, is on the same route, very close to Konya. The ancient route, which goes across Anatolia diagonally, had become extremely significant when Bursa rose as an economical center in the Ottomans’ time.
FIGURE 2. KONYA HISTORICAL TRADE CENTER AT THE BEGININNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY
This route set off from Bursa, passed through Kutahya-Karahisar-Aksehir-Konya-Adana and reached Halep and Sam; it therefore connected Konya simultaneously to the other Ottoman towns, most significantly Istanbul. Kayseri, through which another trade route from Syrie passed, was connected to Konya through Aksaray.
Another way the Ottomans reached the Arabian countries was the Alanya-Antalya (Attalia) sea route. Heavy trade material of Anatolia was brought to Antalya through land and were carried to Alexandria and other regions from there through sea. And the control of that Antalya route was in the hands of Karamans, in Konya.
The trade and social focal points in Konya are the trader-crafter markets surrounding Mevlana Kulliyesi, Selimiye Mosque, Kapu Mosque and Aziziye Mosque. The two basic elements of the Islamic town, the mosque and the market, are observed to be the two elements controlling the physical structure in Ottoman towns as well. However, Ottoman towns were developed, unlike other Islamic Towns, by creating imarets (Pious Foundations), which are collections of religions and social buildings. Since imarets included buildings for all services, including mosques, inns, baths and mealhouses (asevi), they tended to attract people around themselves.
The Konya settlement area was within the walls surrounding the Alaeddin Hill in the Selcuk times. After the town walls were repaired, a Palace was erected on the northern slopes of the hill and the Ulu Mosque (Alaeddin Mosque) in the middle part. According to the building remains, it can be stated that the northern side of the hill was reserved for Turks and the southern side, for the Christian people. The palace, government buildings, schools, mosques, inns and baths were constructed in the Turkish part. There was a wall separating the Turkish and Christian Districts.
The Town, which grew and flourished rapidly, was surrounded by a broader wall by Alaeddin Keykubat I. Charles Texier mentions that there were 108 towers on these walls, one in every 30 meters; and there were bridges on these walls where the gates were. There were 12 gates leading out of the wall. Some of these gates had names like Aksaray, Atpazarý (Horse Market), Debbaglar, Ertas, Fahirani, Halka Begus, Meydan (Square), Çeşme Kapısı (Fountain Gate). The Town spilt out of these walls as well after the 16th century and spread swiftly in four directions. The main spreads were to Araplar and Sedirler in the northeast, to Turbe in the east, to Uluirmak and Lalebahce in the south and to Havzan and Meram in the west.
Information about the trade areas and markets during the Selcuk period is limited. While the markets and bazaars were around the Alaeddin Hill until the 13th century, they were moved out of the outer walls after that date. The Bugday Pazari (Wheat Market) was in the north, the Kapan Pazarý (Trap Market) and Odun Pazari (Wood Market) were in the west, and the Bezezistan (Bedestan) was in the east. There also were horse and sheep markets nearby the Aksaray Gate.
Some of the inns, whose patrons were merchants, that are in the markets are Sekerciler, Pirincciler, Vezir Ziyadettin, Bedrettin Yalman, Demre Hanim and Altin Apa. Today, only some shops next to the Sahip Ata inn remain of the trade points.
The Konya traditional market; had a unique and original structure in the Ottoman as well as the Selcuk Period. Every trade branch operated in a street assigned to it. The center of the market started from the Kanuni Bedesten and reached out to Atpazari in the south.
The market was in its present bounds in the 19th century. After the 1869 fire, a great portion was renovated by the Governor Burdurlu Tevfik Pasa.
The traders and crafters that remain to us from the old market are as follows: Mustaflar, Çarıkçılar (Shoemakers), Yorgancılar (Coverlet-Makers), Marangozlar (Carpenters), Demirciler (Blacksmiths), Attarlar (Druggist), Tuzcular, Kececiler, Jewelers and Dabbags (Tanner).
None of the trade buildings that were constructed in the Ottoman Period could reach to our day in its original form. And the nine-domed covered bazaar “Konya Bedesteni”, dated 1538, was torn down and the School of Industry (today, the building of Special Governorship) was erected in its place. The traditional Konya Market was built in 1869 by the Governor Tevfik Pasha, and the Wheat Market was build in 1901 by the Governor Ferit Pasha. Some of the trade buildings, which are mentioned in historical sources but could not stand to this day, were: the Kiremitli Inn built by Beyazit II., the Avlun Inn built by Behram Aga, the Alaca Inn built by Mahmut Pasha, the Valide Inn built by Kosem Valide Sultan, the Bezirganlar Inn built by Mustafa Pasa and the Aslan Aga Inn built by the Kethuda Aslan Aga. The Mecidiye Inn, built in the 19th century, is still in use today (Figure 3).
FIGURE 3. A CARAVAN INSIDE AN OLD HAN NEAR AZIZIYE MOSQUE
There are inns that bear the properties of late period Ottoman architecture in the traditional town center besides the Mecidiye Inn, such as the Nakipoglu Inn and Basarili Inn. Market Places (Bazaars), which were important elements of the traditional pattern, have been destroyed (like the Uzum Market (Grape Bazaar) and Agac Market (Wood Bazaar) (Figure 4).
Whereas the shops that create the pattern in this part of the town center had generally been one-or two-story, mixed roofed, with balconies on the front facade, wooden and shuttered buildings in the beginning of the 20th century, now they are completely disfigured by repairs, added stories and new buildings. One of the best-preserved historical trade patterns today is located in the part to the north of the Turbe Street.
FIGURE 4. WOOD BAZAAR (ODUNPAZARI) AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
III. CONTEMPORARY KONYA, THE PROBLEMS OF CONSERVATION AND SUGGESTIONS
The first urban Master and Implementation Plan of Konya City, whose basemaps were prepared in the 1940s, was made in the year 1944. In the Master and Implementation Plans, that were obtained through the planning competition held by Iller Bankasi in 1964, it was decided that the city be developed in the Konya-Ankara axis’ direction.
According to the 1990 census, the city has a population of 513 344. Of that number, 188 244 lives in the Selcuk District, 182 444 in Meram District and 142 678 in the Karatay District.
In the 1/25 000 scaled Environment Arrangement Plan approved in the year 1983, the population for the year 2005 is targeted to be 1.3 millions.
The Central Business Districts (CBD) of Konya consists of the proximity of Aleaddin Hill, which is developing to be as the administrative center of the city. The Turbe District, where the historical town center is located, is a part that can be reached by the Outer Citadel and the Aksaray Gate (Bab-i Aksaray) in the eastern part of the city. There is a dense traffic artery between the Aleaddin Hill and the Mevlana Kulliyesi. This artery, which was conceived to be a pedestrian-concentrated promenade in the 1964 plan, has not yet been put into application.
The effects of the Konya Urban Master Plan (Y. Tasci Plan) dated 1965 on the Historical Town Center are as follows:
Konya is established on a historical core and is presently developing in a radial and erratic manner depending on the commercial and social equipment. The onset of highrise buildings on norrow streets in the town center indicates the growing tendency for sunless, unhealthy places.
The town center is unable to serve surrounding settlements. As a natural consequence of the human stream flowing in an east-west direction and connecting the bus terminal and the traditional center, a new center is planned to develop in time and a dense building is foreseen around this center.
The Aleaddin Hill-Mevlana Kulliyesi axis is set aside for pedestrian traffic and it is decided to form two collecting routes, one to the north and one to the south, and a central ring. This ring will provide easier access from the neighborhood, which is developing all directions, to the traditional centers (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5. GENERAL VIEW OF KONYA FROM ALAEDDIN HILLS (1940’S)
Developing the roads surrounding the Historical Town Center, a second ring was formed around the center; thus, the region between the first and the second rings is conceived as a part that is fitting to the theory of urban development, and a transition-development area for the center.
The permission for 3, 4, sometimes 5-story buildings has, for a long time, prevented high-scale building demands in this part, as compared to the higher-rant parts of the City. On the other hand, since these parts are right next to the traditional trade center and since a potential for tourism is inherent there, the interest in the region has ever been alive. For the existing main artery to be rearranged for mainly pedestrian traffic, the two new Northern Arteries that were created connect the residential areas in the eastern part of town to the historical trade center and to the new center in Nalcaci, through the Turbe District (Figure 6).
FIGURE 6 : KAPU MOSQUE AND HISTORICAL TRADE CENTER (1996)
To the west of the Turbe District is the historical trade center, and to the east, north and south is the Konya traditional residential pattern. This area, which has been used for residential purposes until recent years, is gradually being converted into a tourism trade, daily trade, hosting and small production area since it is included within the CBD boundaries; and with occasional stores and warehouses, is slowly being ruined. The 1-2 storied old Konya houses, part of the traditional residential pattern, are being pulled down and 4-6-storied buildings are being erected on the same street, hence the density is blowing up to disproportionate amounts and a building order that clashes with the old town pattern, that lacks services and parking areas, is being established.
While the existing road pattern in the traditional center is being preserved as it is (apart from some opening-closing to traffic and some one-way designations), great damage has been made to the historical sight of Konya by the increased number of allowed stories.
The implementation plan that has been in force in Konya until our day was neither prepared in a manner thoughtful of the cultural valuables that have to be preserved as examples of monumental and civilian architecture, nor was aimed to preservation.
Where registered buildings were dense, either the road was widened or new roads were opened by pulling down registered buildings. By wide-ranging operations in the traditional center, big-scale buildings like the Mevlana Market, the Kadinlar Bazaar, The Seyh Kamil Merkez Market, the Rampali Market, the Saray Market, or big-program buildings that were erected by combining together all of a building plot or even two plots together, were made, totally incompatible with the traditional pattern in their mass, dimensions, or architecture.
The projects of some buildings like the Ferah Market, Vakif Market-Business complex, and the Altin Market are relatively fitting in their environment with their dimensions. Another project that was prepared was or the renovation of the Old Wheat Market and converting it to a great closed-roof-market complex. All of these applications disturb the historical pattern of the traditional center, and the intensifying business activities bring about transportation problems.
Konya, whose historical past is extremely rich and whose accumulation of cultural and architectural material is extensive, should be considered with all-encompassing approaches and its cultural valuables and monumental structures should be preserved and developed as parts of a whole.
Actually, according to the decision numbered 225 and made on 01.05.1995 by the Konya Council of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Assets, a “Konya Historical Town Center Conservation Plan”, that includes the greater part of the traditional center has been prepared by considering the traditional center as a whole.
With this plan, the “Mevlana Kulliyesi Environmental Arrangement Project” formerly prepared by the Ministry of Culture, the “Mevlana Kulliyesi Location Preservation-Aimed Building Plan” that considers the close neighborhood of the Kulliye, and the “Piri Mehmet Pasa Kulliyesi and Its Environment Conservation Plan” prepared by the Karatay Municipality, transportation, land use, cultural assets that have to be preserved and other similar factors were considered altogether and it was attempted to create a “Historical Town Center Project”.
All these new developments are positive, although late. Nevertheless, the planning and application issues presented below should be considered with priority.
The “Konya Historical Town Center Conservation Plan” does not contain all of the traditional pattern and center of Konya. Moreover, a complete and whole inventory has to be made of the cultural valuables that could reach intact to our day that have to be preserved. An inventory has been made of the traditional central parts and new registrations have been made. However, the conservation plans of parts that include the traditional pattern in the south-west and north should be prepared urgently.
There are many studies about the archaeology of the City of Konya. Still, these studies remain separate from each other. It is important to create an “Archaeology Master Plan” of the town about past, especially archaeological periods, by preparing the restitution of the City. The traditional town center and the traditional residential pattern are within the borders of the Meram Municipality and Karatay Municipality. The Greater Municipality also has authority over these two municipalities. For instance, the study on the Preservation-Aimed Planning for the Surroundings of Piri Mehmed Pasa has been made by Karatay Municipality, whereas the Historical Town Center Preservation-Aimed Planning studies were made by the Greater Municipality.
The preservation plans around the Mevlana have, on the other hand, been prepared by the Ministry of Culture. The Konya Province is directing the project and application works around the Mevlana Kulliyesi and its close proximity. As can be seen, the chaos of authority and many-headedness that can be observed in a lot of other preservation areas is encountered in Konya as well.
It is probably the best if the preservation and improvement-aimed planning studies the traditional pattern of Konya (the central and residential pattern) are conducted by the Greater Municipality of Konya, while some specific projects of application are applied by the Meram and Karatay Municipalities.
Naturally, the central administration’s (Governor, the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Pious Foundations etc.) and local units (The Preservation Council, the Province Culture Department, the Regional Department of Pious Foundations etc.) should be directing, controlling and financially and technically aiding the local administrations.
In the long run, it is vital that the local administrations (municipalities) should form units within their structure that contain personnel experienced in urban planning, restoration, preservation, rehabilitation, development, and renovation to fit the historical environment; and in the short run, that they should work in cooperation with people, establishments and organisations experienced in these matters.
By considering “Special Project Areas” that are to be determined in the course of the work on Preservation Planning, urban design, landscape and urban furniture projects, relevation and restoration projects should be prepared in greater scales (1/500, 1/200 and the like), and applications should commence without any further delay. The important point, beyond the preparations of these plans and projects, is passing on the valuables to be preserved to the future generations by prompt application of these.
SOURCES
· TUNÇER, M., “Conservation Project of Konya Historical Trade Area, Research Report”, Oct. 1996, (Unpublished) UTTA Planning and Consulting Co.
· TUNÇER, M., “Preserving KONYA, The Seljuk Capital”, ADA Kentliyim Review, May-June 1998, Number 14, Ankara, pp.72-75.
· ALKAN, A., “Planning Problems of Konya The Historic Town”, 1994, Konya.
· ERGENÇ, Ö., “Ankara and Konya In Years Between 1580-1596”, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Ankara, 1973.
· KARPUZ, H., “Historical and Physical Development of Konya Historical Trade Center”, Unpublished Research, 1996, Konya.
· ÖNDER, M., “Mevlana’s City Konya”, 1976, Ankara.
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY.
This article published at, “ADA Kentliyim”, Monthly Review as “SELÇUK BAŞKENTİ KONYA’YI KORUMAK”. 1998, May.- Haz., 98
Ass. Prof. Dr. Mehmet TUNÇER[1]
I. KONYA IN HISTORY
Konya, which is in the Central Anatolian Region, is one of the greatest cities of Turkey as far as surface area is concerned. It has been densely populated in every historical period since its land is distributed into plateaus, plains and closed river systems and its soil is fertile. It was an important center of trade, culture and politics all through the First and Middle Ages at the intersection points of historical trade routes that connect the Anatolian towns to each other, to Asia and to Europe (Figure 1). It still keeps that importance today.
FIGURE 1. KONYA AT THE END OF 19TH CENTURY (GRAVURE)
Significant settlements have been established in and around this City since prehistoric times. This part, which also contains the ancient Lykaonia, has in it the oldest ancient-era settlements of Anatolia. Many findings, witnesses to the prehistoric times, have been unearthed in the Alaeddin Hill. The same Hill has been home to the Frigians (Phrigians?) between the 8th-7th centuries BC. Catalhoyuk, near the Cumra District, houses one of the richest veins of findings of the history of civilization (800-5300 BC). Besides Catalhoyuk, important Neolithical settlements are Erbaba (Beysehir), Suberde and Can Hasan. Settlements were established at Can Hasan, Western Catalhoyuk, the Alaeddin Hill, Sizma, Karahoyuk and other centers in the Calcolitichal and Bronze Ages.
Konya is one of those Anatolian cities whose name has lasted since the ancient times. Its name of old, Ikonion, is related to the work “Ikon”, which means “picture”, “holy picture”. The name Ikonium was altered to Iconium in the early Roman period, then to Claudiconium when the Emperor gave the town his own name in the period of Emperor Cladius (41-54 AD). The town, which became a completely Roman town in the period of Emperor Hadrianus (2nd century AD: 117-138), went by the name “Colonia Selenie, Adrina Augusta Iconium. The name of the town, which is mentioned as “Conium” or “Stancona” in Byzantian sources and “Conia, Cogne, Cogna, Konich, Konia Tokonion” in other sources, appears as “iconium” in Crusader sources. The Arabians named the town as Kuniya. The name Konya, which was used in the Seljuk (Selçuk) and Ottoman (Osmanli) periods as well, has come unaltered to our day.
After raids by Kimmerians, Lydians and Persians, Konya was put under Roman rule in 133 BC. It is known that Konya was included in the first great Anatolian Empire, the State of the Hittites (1650-712 BC). The Konya Egerli and Karaman are among old Hittite towns. The rock base-relief, which is one of the most descriptive properties of Hittite art, is encountered in Egerli, Ivris, Beysehir-Eflatunpinar and Fasillar. Following that, Konya entered the power of the Frigian state (712-695) and the Lydians (680-546).
This is followed by the Persians conquering all of Anatolia from one end to the other (546-334 BC). The town was included in the Cappadoccia Kingdom between the dates 332-17 BC. Conquered by the Romans in 17 BC, Konya became an important center in this period and the Byzantian period. The Roman period displays the properties of the peace time in such a town as Konya which is wide-spread on plains. The town was the scene for several Emevi and Abbasi (Arabs) attacks in the Eastern Rome/Byzantine period between the years 395-1076. After the Malazgirt Battle, it was conquered by Suleyman Shah in the year 1076 and made the Capital City of the Anatolian Selcuklu (Seljucks) State. The Alaeddin Hill is an inner citadel in Konya, which attained its true character during the Selcuklu period. This Selcuk Citadel has almost been left right in the middle of the town during the Ottoman Empire Period.
II. HISTORICAL COMMERCIAL CENTER OF KONYA
The “Center of Trade”, an indication of the economical structure, level of technology, and the social and cultural life of a town, is the most important part of the town. There is a deep-rooted tradition of trade organization and trade structure in the Ottoman-Turkish towns. The traditional trade centers of many of our towns today, like in Konya, are physical proofs of this tradition, which have lived until this day. These trade centers should be rearranged and old buildings should be given new areas of application. The position of Konya, on the route that runs by mountains going down all the way to the Mediterranean shores, lends itself readily to urban settlement. Catalhoyuk, that is perhaps the first prehistoric Anatolian settlement to display urban characteristic, is on the same route, very close to Konya. The ancient route, which goes across Anatolia diagonally, had become extremely significant when Bursa rose as an economical center in the Ottomans’ time.
FIGURE 2. KONYA HISTORICAL TRADE CENTER AT THE BEGININNING OF THE 20TH CENTURY
This route set off from Bursa, passed through Kutahya-Karahisar-Aksehir-Konya-Adana and reached Halep and Sam; it therefore connected Konya simultaneously to the other Ottoman towns, most significantly Istanbul. Kayseri, through which another trade route from Syrie passed, was connected to Konya through Aksaray.
Another way the Ottomans reached the Arabian countries was the Alanya-Antalya (Attalia) sea route. Heavy trade material of Anatolia was brought to Antalya through land and were carried to Alexandria and other regions from there through sea. And the control of that Antalya route was in the hands of Karamans, in Konya.
The trade and social focal points in Konya are the trader-crafter markets surrounding Mevlana Kulliyesi, Selimiye Mosque, Kapu Mosque and Aziziye Mosque. The two basic elements of the Islamic town, the mosque and the market, are observed to be the two elements controlling the physical structure in Ottoman towns as well. However, Ottoman towns were developed, unlike other Islamic Towns, by creating imarets (Pious Foundations), which are collections of religions and social buildings. Since imarets included buildings for all services, including mosques, inns, baths and mealhouses (asevi), they tended to attract people around themselves.
The Konya settlement area was within the walls surrounding the Alaeddin Hill in the Selcuk times. After the town walls were repaired, a Palace was erected on the northern slopes of the hill and the Ulu Mosque (Alaeddin Mosque) in the middle part. According to the building remains, it can be stated that the northern side of the hill was reserved for Turks and the southern side, for the Christian people. The palace, government buildings, schools, mosques, inns and baths were constructed in the Turkish part. There was a wall separating the Turkish and Christian Districts.
The Town, which grew and flourished rapidly, was surrounded by a broader wall by Alaeddin Keykubat I. Charles Texier mentions that there were 108 towers on these walls, one in every 30 meters; and there were bridges on these walls where the gates were. There were 12 gates leading out of the wall. Some of these gates had names like Aksaray, Atpazarý (Horse Market), Debbaglar, Ertas, Fahirani, Halka Begus, Meydan (Square), Çeşme Kapısı (Fountain Gate). The Town spilt out of these walls as well after the 16th century and spread swiftly in four directions. The main spreads were to Araplar and Sedirler in the northeast, to Turbe in the east, to Uluirmak and Lalebahce in the south and to Havzan and Meram in the west.
Information about the trade areas and markets during the Selcuk period is limited. While the markets and bazaars were around the Alaeddin Hill until the 13th century, they were moved out of the outer walls after that date. The Bugday Pazari (Wheat Market) was in the north, the Kapan Pazarý (Trap Market) and Odun Pazari (Wood Market) were in the west, and the Bezezistan (Bedestan) was in the east. There also were horse and sheep markets nearby the Aksaray Gate.
Some of the inns, whose patrons were merchants, that are in the markets are Sekerciler, Pirincciler, Vezir Ziyadettin, Bedrettin Yalman, Demre Hanim and Altin Apa. Today, only some shops next to the Sahip Ata inn remain of the trade points.
The Konya traditional market; had a unique and original structure in the Ottoman as well as the Selcuk Period. Every trade branch operated in a street assigned to it. The center of the market started from the Kanuni Bedesten and reached out to Atpazari in the south.
The market was in its present bounds in the 19th century. After the 1869 fire, a great portion was renovated by the Governor Burdurlu Tevfik Pasa.
The traders and crafters that remain to us from the old market are as follows: Mustaflar, Çarıkçılar (Shoemakers), Yorgancılar (Coverlet-Makers), Marangozlar (Carpenters), Demirciler (Blacksmiths), Attarlar (Druggist), Tuzcular, Kececiler, Jewelers and Dabbags (Tanner).
None of the trade buildings that were constructed in the Ottoman Period could reach to our day in its original form. And the nine-domed covered bazaar “Konya Bedesteni”, dated 1538, was torn down and the School of Industry (today, the building of Special Governorship) was erected in its place. The traditional Konya Market was built in 1869 by the Governor Tevfik Pasha, and the Wheat Market was build in 1901 by the Governor Ferit Pasha. Some of the trade buildings, which are mentioned in historical sources but could not stand to this day, were: the Kiremitli Inn built by Beyazit II., the Avlun Inn built by Behram Aga, the Alaca Inn built by Mahmut Pasha, the Valide Inn built by Kosem Valide Sultan, the Bezirganlar Inn built by Mustafa Pasa and the Aslan Aga Inn built by the Kethuda Aslan Aga. The Mecidiye Inn, built in the 19th century, is still in use today (Figure 3).
FIGURE 3. A CARAVAN INSIDE AN OLD HAN NEAR AZIZIYE MOSQUE
There are inns that bear the properties of late period Ottoman architecture in the traditional town center besides the Mecidiye Inn, such as the Nakipoglu Inn and Basarili Inn. Market Places (Bazaars), which were important elements of the traditional pattern, have been destroyed (like the Uzum Market (Grape Bazaar) and Agac Market (Wood Bazaar) (Figure 4).
Whereas the shops that create the pattern in this part of the town center had generally been one-or two-story, mixed roofed, with balconies on the front facade, wooden and shuttered buildings in the beginning of the 20th century, now they are completely disfigured by repairs, added stories and new buildings. One of the best-preserved historical trade patterns today is located in the part to the north of the Turbe Street.
FIGURE 4. WOOD BAZAAR (ODUNPAZARI) AT THE END OF THE 19TH CENTURY
III. CONTEMPORARY KONYA, THE PROBLEMS OF CONSERVATION AND SUGGESTIONS
The first urban Master and Implementation Plan of Konya City, whose basemaps were prepared in the 1940s, was made in the year 1944. In the Master and Implementation Plans, that were obtained through the planning competition held by Iller Bankasi in 1964, it was decided that the city be developed in the Konya-Ankara axis’ direction.
According to the 1990 census, the city has a population of 513 344. Of that number, 188 244 lives in the Selcuk District, 182 444 in Meram District and 142 678 in the Karatay District.
In the 1/25 000 scaled Environment Arrangement Plan approved in the year 1983, the population for the year 2005 is targeted to be 1.3 millions.
The Central Business Districts (CBD) of Konya consists of the proximity of Aleaddin Hill, which is developing to be as the administrative center of the city. The Turbe District, where the historical town center is located, is a part that can be reached by the Outer Citadel and the Aksaray Gate (Bab-i Aksaray) in the eastern part of the city. There is a dense traffic artery between the Aleaddin Hill and the Mevlana Kulliyesi. This artery, which was conceived to be a pedestrian-concentrated promenade in the 1964 plan, has not yet been put into application.
The effects of the Konya Urban Master Plan (Y. Tasci Plan) dated 1965 on the Historical Town Center are as follows:
Konya is established on a historical core and is presently developing in a radial and erratic manner depending on the commercial and social equipment. The onset of highrise buildings on norrow streets in the town center indicates the growing tendency for sunless, unhealthy places.
The town center is unable to serve surrounding settlements. As a natural consequence of the human stream flowing in an east-west direction and connecting the bus terminal and the traditional center, a new center is planned to develop in time and a dense building is foreseen around this center.
The Aleaddin Hill-Mevlana Kulliyesi axis is set aside for pedestrian traffic and it is decided to form two collecting routes, one to the north and one to the south, and a central ring. This ring will provide easier access from the neighborhood, which is developing all directions, to the traditional centers (Figure 5).
FIGURE 5. GENERAL VIEW OF KONYA FROM ALAEDDIN HILLS (1940’S)
Developing the roads surrounding the Historical Town Center, a second ring was formed around the center; thus, the region between the first and the second rings is conceived as a part that is fitting to the theory of urban development, and a transition-development area for the center.
The permission for 3, 4, sometimes 5-story buildings has, for a long time, prevented high-scale building demands in this part, as compared to the higher-rant parts of the City. On the other hand, since these parts are right next to the traditional trade center and since a potential for tourism is inherent there, the interest in the region has ever been alive. For the existing main artery to be rearranged for mainly pedestrian traffic, the two new Northern Arteries that were created connect the residential areas in the eastern part of town to the historical trade center and to the new center in Nalcaci, through the Turbe District (Figure 6).
FIGURE 6 : KAPU MOSQUE AND HISTORICAL TRADE CENTER (1996)
To the west of the Turbe District is the historical trade center, and to the east, north and south is the Konya traditional residential pattern. This area, which has been used for residential purposes until recent years, is gradually being converted into a tourism trade, daily trade, hosting and small production area since it is included within the CBD boundaries; and with occasional stores and warehouses, is slowly being ruined. The 1-2 storied old Konya houses, part of the traditional residential pattern, are being pulled down and 4-6-storied buildings are being erected on the same street, hence the density is blowing up to disproportionate amounts and a building order that clashes with the old town pattern, that lacks services and parking areas, is being established.
While the existing road pattern in the traditional center is being preserved as it is (apart from some opening-closing to traffic and some one-way designations), great damage has been made to the historical sight of Konya by the increased number of allowed stories.
The implementation plan that has been in force in Konya until our day was neither prepared in a manner thoughtful of the cultural valuables that have to be preserved as examples of monumental and civilian architecture, nor was aimed to preservation.
Where registered buildings were dense, either the road was widened or new roads were opened by pulling down registered buildings. By wide-ranging operations in the traditional center, big-scale buildings like the Mevlana Market, the Kadinlar Bazaar, The Seyh Kamil Merkez Market, the Rampali Market, the Saray Market, or big-program buildings that were erected by combining together all of a building plot or even two plots together, were made, totally incompatible with the traditional pattern in their mass, dimensions, or architecture.
The projects of some buildings like the Ferah Market, Vakif Market-Business complex, and the Altin Market are relatively fitting in their environment with their dimensions. Another project that was prepared was or the renovation of the Old Wheat Market and converting it to a great closed-roof-market complex. All of these applications disturb the historical pattern of the traditional center, and the intensifying business activities bring about transportation problems.
Konya, whose historical past is extremely rich and whose accumulation of cultural and architectural material is extensive, should be considered with all-encompassing approaches and its cultural valuables and monumental structures should be preserved and developed as parts of a whole.
Actually, according to the decision numbered 225 and made on 01.05.1995 by the Konya Council of Preservation of Cultural and Natural Assets, a “Konya Historical Town Center Conservation Plan”, that includes the greater part of the traditional center has been prepared by considering the traditional center as a whole.
With this plan, the “Mevlana Kulliyesi Environmental Arrangement Project” formerly prepared by the Ministry of Culture, the “Mevlana Kulliyesi Location Preservation-Aimed Building Plan” that considers the close neighborhood of the Kulliye, and the “Piri Mehmet Pasa Kulliyesi and Its Environment Conservation Plan” prepared by the Karatay Municipality, transportation, land use, cultural assets that have to be preserved and other similar factors were considered altogether and it was attempted to create a “Historical Town Center Project”.
All these new developments are positive, although late. Nevertheless, the planning and application issues presented below should be considered with priority.
The “Konya Historical Town Center Conservation Plan” does not contain all of the traditional pattern and center of Konya. Moreover, a complete and whole inventory has to be made of the cultural valuables that could reach intact to our day that have to be preserved. An inventory has been made of the traditional central parts and new registrations have been made. However, the conservation plans of parts that include the traditional pattern in the south-west and north should be prepared urgently.
There are many studies about the archaeology of the City of Konya. Still, these studies remain separate from each other. It is important to create an “Archaeology Master Plan” of the town about past, especially archaeological periods, by preparing the restitution of the City. The traditional town center and the traditional residential pattern are within the borders of the Meram Municipality and Karatay Municipality. The Greater Municipality also has authority over these two municipalities. For instance, the study on the Preservation-Aimed Planning for the Surroundings of Piri Mehmed Pasa has been made by Karatay Municipality, whereas the Historical Town Center Preservation-Aimed Planning studies were made by the Greater Municipality.
The preservation plans around the Mevlana have, on the other hand, been prepared by the Ministry of Culture. The Konya Province is directing the project and application works around the Mevlana Kulliyesi and its close proximity. As can be seen, the chaos of authority and many-headedness that can be observed in a lot of other preservation areas is encountered in Konya as well.
It is probably the best if the preservation and improvement-aimed planning studies the traditional pattern of Konya (the central and residential pattern) are conducted by the Greater Municipality of Konya, while some specific projects of application are applied by the Meram and Karatay Municipalities.
Naturally, the central administration’s (Governor, the Ministry of Culture, the Department of Pious Foundations etc.) and local units (The Preservation Council, the Province Culture Department, the Regional Department of Pious Foundations etc.) should be directing, controlling and financially and technically aiding the local administrations.
In the long run, it is vital that the local administrations (municipalities) should form units within their structure that contain personnel experienced in urban planning, restoration, preservation, rehabilitation, development, and renovation to fit the historical environment; and in the short run, that they should work in cooperation with people, establishments and organisations experienced in these matters.
By considering “Special Project Areas” that are to be determined in the course of the work on Preservation Planning, urban design, landscape and urban furniture projects, relevation and restoration projects should be prepared in greater scales (1/500, 1/200 and the like), and applications should commence without any further delay. The important point, beyond the preparations of these plans and projects, is passing on the valuables to be preserved to the future generations by prompt application of these.
SOURCES
· TUNÇER, M., “Conservation Project of Konya Historical Trade Area, Research Report”, Oct. 1996, (Unpublished) UTTA Planning and Consulting Co.
· TUNÇER, M., “Preserving KONYA, The Seljuk Capital”, ADA Kentliyim Review, May-June 1998, Number 14, Ankara, pp.72-75.
· ALKAN, A., “Planning Problems of Konya The Historic Town”, 1994, Konya.
· ERGENÇ, Ö., “Ankara and Konya In Years Between 1580-1596”, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Ankara, 1973.
· KARPUZ, H., “Historical and Physical Development of Konya Historical Trade Center”, Unpublished Research, 1996, Konya.
· ÖNDER, M., “Mevlana’s City Konya”, 1976, Ankara.
[1] Ass. Prof. in Urban Conservation, Fac. Of Arch., Dep. Urban & Regional Planning, Gazi University, Ankara, TURKEY.
This article published at, “ADA Kentliyim”, Monthly Review as “SELÇUK BAŞKENTİ KONYA’YI KORUMAK”. 1998, May.- Haz., 98