Conference:
Ali Saim Ülgen and After:
Restoration, Preservation and
Architectural History in Turkey
Salt Galata
February 8, 2013 13.30 – 18.00
Ordu Street road construction, Aksaray-Laleli (1950s)
SALT Galata, Auditorium
One of the pioneering architectural restoration experts of Turkey, Ali Saim Ülgen (1913-1963), carried out hundreds of restorations not only in Turkey but also in Libya, Jerusalem, and Baghdad. He worked with cultural heritage experts such as Albert Gabriel, Celal Esad Arseven and Sedat Çetintaş, and was also an enthusiastic researcher and academic.
SALT’s conference examines Turkey’s architectural history, conservation politics and restoration practices through the lens of Ülgen’s books, drawings, restoration projects and archival records. Contemporary restoration techniques and issues will also be discussed. After the closing remarks, there will be guided tour of the exhibition Modern Turkey’s Discovery of the Ottoman Heritage: The Ali Saim Ülgen Archive in the Open Archive at SALT Galata.
The conference will be held in Turkish.
PROGRAM
13.30 Opening
Suha Ülgen
Yaşar Marulyalı (Foundation of Architecture Turkey)
Vasıf Kortun (SALT Research and Programs)
14.00
“Ali Saim Ülgen Archive: Documenting Cultural Heritage”
Aslı Can Üner (SALT Research)
14.45
“Ali Saim Ülgen and the Writing of Architectural History in Turkey”
Ahmet Ersoy (Boğaziçi University)
15.30
“Drawings of Ali Saim Ülgen and Mimar Sinan Buildings”
Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu (Başkent University)
16.15-16.30 Coffee break
16.30
“Reading Architectural Conservation in Turkey through the Book of Ali Saim Ülgen, Conservation and Restoration of Monuments (1943)”
Can Binan (Yıldız Technical University)
17.15
“The Preservation Policies and Processes of the General Directorate of Vakıfs during 1960s”
Emre Madran (Middle East Technical University)
18.00 Closing remarks and exhibition tour
“Ali Saim Ülgen Archive: Documenting Cultural Heritage”
Aslı Can Üner
Kept meticulously by her family, the Ali Saim Ülgen Archive was initially handed over to the Architectural Foundation, where its first classification took place. In 2012 it became part of SALT Research and the process of digitizing and cataloging its contents began. The archive consists of a variety of materials, including photographs, brochures, articles, newspaper cuttings, which Ülgen collected throughout his life in order to record the development of Turkish cultural heritage and the surveys and sketches he produced. The archive thus generates a large visual database on cultural artifacts and presents traces of Ülgen’s many talents as an architect, writer, teacher and traveler. This talk will examine the archive within these contexts.
Aslı Can Üner is a Ph.D. candidate at İstanbul Technical University in the History of Architecture program and oversees the Architecture and Design Archive at SALT Research.
“Ali Saim Ülgen and the Writing of Architectural History in Turkey”
Ahmet Ersoy
Ali Saim Ülgen published many books and articles on art and architectural history. His archive also includes a large amount of unpublished material, including books and article drafts, conference presentations, as well as working and teaching notes. This talk concentrates on the long administrative and academic career of Ülgen, extending from the 1930s into the 1960s, and aims to resituate him within the map of architectural historiography in modern Turkey.
Ahmet Ersoy is Associate Professor at the History Department at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. His work deals with issues related to politics of cultural representation, art, and architecture in the late Ottoman world.
“Drawings of Ali Saim Ülgen and Mimar Sinan Buildings”
Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu
The Turkish Historical Society (TTK) requested historian Rıfkı Melul Meriç to make an inventory of Mimar Sinan’s buildings according to historical manuscripts written during Sinan’s lifetime. Ali Saim Ülgen was then asked to make drawings of Mimar Sinan’s buildings according to the lists established by Meriç. These drawings were conserved at the TTK. They were first published in 1989 by Emre Madran and Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu. Yenişehirlioğlu’s talk will focus on the preparation process of the book and the ways in which it elaborates on the original drawings.
Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu teaches at Başkent University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture, and is an expert on Ottoman art and architecture.
“Reading Architectural Conservation in Turkey through the Book of Ali Saim Ülgen, Conservation and Restoration of Monuments (1943)”
Can Binan
Ali Saim Ülgen’s book dated 1943 is one of the first written sources about architectural conservation in the Republic of Turkey. Can Binan belives that Ülgen’s book should be re-evaluated in the context of ongoing architectural conservation in Turkey, section by section, both diachronically and synchronically, in order to consider what was written literally and between the lines. This talk reviews this assessment and associates it with references to current conservation practices in Turkey.
Can Binan is Head of the Restoration Department at the Faculty of Architecture, Yıldız Technical University. While teaching in graduate and postgraduate programs in Architecture, Binan has published on architectural preservation and restoration and contributes further as a consultant.
“The Preservation Policies and Processes of General Directorate of Vakıfs during 1960s”
Emre Madran
Emre Madran will examine projects and implementation services realized after Ali Saim Ülgen’s death in 1963, but that had been influenced by Ülgen’s working approach and practice. He will question the significance of “Rölöve Bürosu” (Bureau for Measured Drawings) in the production of restoration projects, the responsibilities of architects, and experienced technicians, the institutional hierarchy in the General Directorate concerning the preservation of cultural property, and the relations among the architects, supervisors and contractors.
Emre Madran worked for the Directorate of the Vakıfs and the Ministry of Culture. He currently teaches part-time in the Restoration Department of Architecture Faculty of Middle East Technical University. His research focuses on the history of conservation in the Ottoman and Republican period, and includes speficities such as traditional construction materials and construction techniques, conservation regulations, field management and managerial and financial structuring.
Aslı Can Üner
Kept meticulously by her family, the Ali Saim Ülgen Archive was initially handed over to the Architectural Foundation, where its first classification took place. In 2012 it became part of SALT Research and the process of digitizing and cataloging its contents began. The archive consists of a variety of materials, including photographs, brochures, articles, newspaper cuttings, which Ülgen collected throughout his life in order to record the development of Turkish cultural heritage and the surveys and sketches he produced. The archive thus generates a large visual database on cultural artifacts and presents traces of Ülgen’s many talents as an architect, writer, teacher and traveler. This talk will examine the archive within these contexts.
Aslı Can Üner is a Ph.D. candidate at İstanbul Technical University in the History of Architecture program and oversees the Architecture and Design Archive at SALT Research.
“Ali Saim Ülgen and the Writing of Architectural History in Turkey”
Ahmet Ersoy
Ali Saim Ülgen published many books and articles on art and architectural history. His archive also includes a large amount of unpublished material, including books and article drafts, conference presentations, as well as working and teaching notes. This talk concentrates on the long administrative and academic career of Ülgen, extending from the 1930s into the 1960s, and aims to resituate him within the map of architectural historiography in modern Turkey.
Ahmet Ersoy is Associate Professor at the History Department at Boğaziçi University, İstanbul. His work deals with issues related to politics of cultural representation, art, and architecture in the late Ottoman world.
“Drawings of Ali Saim Ülgen and Mimar Sinan Buildings”
Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu
The Turkish Historical Society (TTK) requested historian Rıfkı Melul Meriç to make an inventory of Mimar Sinan’s buildings according to historical manuscripts written during Sinan’s lifetime. Ali Saim Ülgen was then asked to make drawings of Mimar Sinan’s buildings according to the lists established by Meriç. These drawings were conserved at the TTK. They were first published in 1989 by Emre Madran and Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu. Yenişehirlioğlu’s talk will focus on the preparation process of the book and the ways in which it elaborates on the original drawings.
Filiz Yenişehirlioğlu teaches at Başkent University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Design and Architecture, and is an expert on Ottoman art and architecture.
“Reading Architectural Conservation in Turkey through the Book of Ali Saim Ülgen, Conservation and Restoration of Monuments (1943)”
Can Binan
Ali Saim Ülgen’s book dated 1943 is one of the first written sources about architectural conservation in the Republic of Turkey. Can Binan belives that Ülgen’s book should be re-evaluated in the context of ongoing architectural conservation in Turkey, section by section, both diachronically and synchronically, in order to consider what was written literally and between the lines. This talk reviews this assessment and associates it with references to current conservation practices in Turkey.
Can Binan is Head of the Restoration Department at the Faculty of Architecture, Yıldız Technical University. While teaching in graduate and postgraduate programs in Architecture, Binan has published on architectural preservation and restoration and contributes further as a consultant.
“The Preservation Policies and Processes of General Directorate of Vakıfs during 1960s”
Emre Madran
Emre Madran will examine projects and implementation services realized after Ali Saim Ülgen’s death in 1963, but that had been influenced by Ülgen’s working approach and practice. He will question the significance of “Rölöve Bürosu” (Bureau for Measured Drawings) in the production of restoration projects, the responsibilities of architects, and experienced technicians, the institutional hierarchy in the General Directorate concerning the preservation of cultural property, and the relations among the architects, supervisors and contractors.
Emre Madran worked for the Directorate of the Vakıfs and the Ministry of Culture. He currently teaches part-time in the Restoration Department of Architecture Faculty of Middle East Technical University. His research focuses on the history of conservation in the Ottoman and Republican period, and includes speficities such as traditional construction materials and construction techniques, conservation regulations, field management and managerial and financial structuring.
