Kars through the eyes of travellers

This study discusses the gravures found in the travel books of Western travellers of Kars, which had been home to different cultures since the ancient times due to its religious, historical and geographical features. Within the scope of the subject, it is important to identify, study and evaluate the places depicted in the gravures of travellers who came to Kars in the 18th and 19the centuries by comparing it with its current situation. In this cantext, the study of the city, which has a rich cultural architectural texture, and the analysis of how it is depicted through the eyes of the artist was determined as the main objective. In line with this objective the books written by the travellers about their travels and the gravures found in the books were obtained with the qualitative survey method. At the end of this survey, it was found that many travellers came to Kars and only five of them had sixty-seven gravures consisting of depictions of different places. The current conditions of these gravures were re-photographed by fieldwork and it was analyzed and evaluated by comparison methhod. As a result of the evaluation, it was seen that the places depicted by the gravure technique were generally selecdet from civil and religious structures, city views and landscapes. It is seen that the places subject to gravures differ greatly from their present status both technically, aesthetically and structurally.