Old Van urban fabric in historical visual sources

Old Van City is an important settlement in the Eastern Anatolia region, located on trade routes. Due to its geographical location, it has changed hands many times and hosted different civilisations. Each civilisation that dominated the Old City of Van built administrative, educational, civil, social, military and commercial structures, especially religious works. The Ottoman Empire, which played a major role in the development of the city, ruled from the mid-16th century onwards. Political, economic and cultural developments in the Ottoman Empire enabled the Old City of Van to develop and keep pace with the urban understanding of the period. Although the city has been inhabited since ancient times, most of its development belongs to the Ottoman period. Before the Ottoman rule, reflections of the Seljuk era architecture can be seen. The Old City of Van was surrounded by a double row of fortifications on the east, west and south sides, and on the north side by the steep cliffs on which Van Castle stands. Rock tombs belonging to the Urartu Kingdom, some parts of the city walls and the remains of bastions have survived to the present day. It is understood that the Great Mosque and the Red Minaret Mosque in the centre of the city were built before the Ottoman rule in terms of their materials and construction techniques. Hüsrev Pasha Complex and Kaya Çelebi Mosque, which have survived to the present day, reflect the Ottoman architectural understanding. In addition, buildings such as inns, baths, madrasahs, imaret, warehouses, military barracks, churches and chapels also took their place in the city. The devastating consequences of the outbreak of the First World War led to a complete change of order in the city of Van. Life in the old settlement area came to an end and the city was abandoned to its fate. Today, the area known as Old Van City is completely destroyed except for some parts of the castle and some buildings in the city area. Today, most of the Old Van City has been demolished, and its current condition before it was destroyed and abandoned can only be analysed through visuals. The city, where life continued before the First World War, was visited by many travellers, archaeologists, historians, geographers, researchers and missionaries. For this reason, the architectural texture of the city was discussed according to the data to be obtained from sources that can be evaluated visually and have historical qualities and became the subject of this study. As a result of the visits, the impressions of the travellers in the region, the sources they wrote and the pre-war situation of the city were evaluated with the visuals.