Conservation Practices in Turkey in Last Decade, Two Monuments from Two Eras: the 4th-Century Laodikeia Church and the 16th-Century Rabi Madrasa

Abstract

Over the last ten years, many concepts have been introduced to the area of conservation in Turkey.

"Management of historic sites", a much-discussed topic, has been an area of integration for specialists from different disciplines. "Tourism" and "cultural heritage" have become two issues that are discussed together to obtain sustainability in both tourism and cultural heritage conservation. As a result of increasing urbanization and the rapid loss, the values and conservation of "historic rural sites" and "industrial heritage" have become important issues.

Even though, conservation works have been done on large numbers of historic buildings in Turkey in last ten years, most of these works do not meet international criteria for conservation of cultural heritage. Most of the conservation works causes the loss of authenticity, information of building technology, original materials and aesthetic values of historic buildings.

The aim of this paper is to focus on good conservation practices in Turkey in last decade. For better discussion possibilities, two buildings, where different conservation problems occurred and different conservation practices applied have been chosen. Considering these selection criteria, restoration works on a Late Antiquity building, a lately excavated building at earth level and a Classical Ottoman Period building, still providing opportunities for reuse, will be analyzed and various conservation problems and appropriate conservation approaches will be discussed.