Kolektif belleğin ve yer belleğinin yeniden inşası: Hergelen Meydanı'ndan Melike Hatun Camisi'ne

Shared memories help not only individuals but also groups to sustain their social existence. In order for memories to be shared, there is a need for a common ground where such memories accumulate, which is the collective memory. Architecture is concerned with collective memory with regard to its interactive relation with built environment. That is why collective memory is interlaced with physical environments and thereby with architecture. The architecture of a city is part of its collective memory through social interactions in places. Social memory and place memory are interconnected. However, in some cases triggering social memory can be a tool for politics by using architecture in order to change the memory of place. Hergelen Square is located at Ulus district in Ankara and it has a value in terms of having Republican sites and buildings around. Recently, as part of a renovation project for that square, Melike Hatun Mosque was built. This paper explores the architectural features of the mosque and its relation to the urban context, and how it has changed the identity and memory of the place in which it is inserted. The political power expresses itself in the urban context with representations of space. Through such architectural interventions the identity and meaning of places change in the collective memory of citizens.