Western and levanten architects in 19 th century Istanbul and problems in conservation of their buildings

Each society preserves its cultural heritage as much as it can evaluate it. The boundary is outlined by the society's cultural accumulation and consciousness of history. Recently, the philosophy of history is freeing itself from the mistake of falsifying the past, and is gaining a quality of pardoning the autonomy of history. This contemporary approach is also valid in surpassing the reactionary and superficial look on the architectural heritage from the last era of Ottoman history. In the past decade, Istanbul, the capital of an empire which was still a leading country despite its number of problems, was a substantially active city of the world. Throughout the modernization, which took Europe as its model, the factors and the trend forcing the empire's opening to the world have prepared their own results by the relations and influences on all aspects with the demand and eonsenrt -of the"Otrtöinan^elite. The collaboration of western and Levanten architects in Ottoman modernization, and the realization of construction activities by educated architects after the Tanzimat, start with the tradition established by Reşit Paşa and Fossati teams. This tradition, in which persons of Italian origin were prominent, lasted with architects like Barborini, Vallaury, D'Aronco and Mongeri till the end of the empire. In their works, besides the qualified examples reflecting - trends emerging in the west at the time, a broad approach.-.<; is observable which is achieved by using sound forms of Ottoman architecture, exploring the local architecture, and displaying interpretations of traditions. The result is 1still unique to istanbul, with a character which is western in comparison to the east and eastern in comparison to the west. Most of these buildings, which were evidences of the change in the architectural culture of an empire in an urge for modernization, have vanished without proper documentation. But, even the remaining buildings form an important part of Istanbul's historical building inventory. Tn this work, the seeJt lived throughout the era of westernization in istanbul' s cultural media, the need for the western architects, the. Ottoman elite's demand for changes, and the reflection of all these on architecture through the activities of western and Levanten architects is researched; and the problems in conservation of their buildings which have and have not reached our day were surveyed. A