An examination of Niğde train station complex

In this study, the struggle of creating identity of the station buildings which make up historical, cultural and social documants in Turkey was examined. The station buildings having effect of periods are important with regards to being alive collective memory. Especially the studies on conserving and probing of railway architecture and railway heritage concepts have accelerated with coming to the fore of high-speed train projects. The historical station buildings are put to keeping up this change. For this reason, it is aimed to be suitable with additions and interference or re-function. The begining of railway works in Anatolia started with paving İzmir-Aydın railway line in 1856 and the state took support from outside forces to spread for rail lines in all of the country. Because the railway transport was the cheapest and fastest mode of conveyance, the importance given to railway increased especially in regions where industrialization went up. The English, German, French railway companies had influenced on the country from Ottoman Empire period to Republic period highly. The railway was important to arrive funds, for especially western countries which have colonialism mentality. Every station building in Ottoman Empire had different characters from each other, because railway architecture was formed with influence of caputalitions in Ottoman Empire. Each of building take after to the buildings in abroad due to foreign architects's effect on building design. Therefore, the buildings hadn't got local identity. However, after 1930s , the buildings that was designed by Turkish government's architecture and started to showing local qualities came to exist with The First and Second Architecture Periods's influence. The station buildings in small Anatolia cities protect their identity along the nationalized periods and bring light to that period's architecture style, construction technology, development level and culture treasure. So, Niğde train station and other station buildings in this station complex which are the rich cultural heritage in Niğde where in each small Anatolia cities were examined in this study. The study is important, because of these reasons; it hasn't been studied yet and it is about a monument in the Republic era and one of railway architecture's output, and its value is known and it is a base on next works about this subject.