IN-PERSON ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)

Abstract

In recent years, international conservation institutions such as UNESCO, ICOMOS, and the Council of Europe have strongly emphasized that cultural heritage must not be evaluated solely through physical remains. Instead, they advocate for comprehensive assessments that incorporate intangible elements—specifically, social memory, daily practices, modes of production, rituals, and social relations. This holistic perspective becomes particularly critical for comprehending the authentic cultural identity of historical settlements where the physical fabric has been largely obliterated. The Ottoman Old City of Van, despite its deep, multi-layered origins rooted back to the Urartian capital Tushpa, was largely abandoned and its urban texture destroyed following early 20th-century political and social ruptures. Existing scholarship on the area predominantly focuses on archaeological remains and limited tangible architectural fragments. Consequently, a holistic approach connecting the city’s social, cultural, economic, and religious life to its historical spatial counterparts remains notably absent. This study aims to reveal intangible cultural heritage elements of the Ottoman Old City of Van (16th–20th centuries) within their historical spatial contexts. Intangible attributes, including daily life, neighborhood organizations, trade networks, and religious rituals, are re-evaluated through their specific relationships with the urban space. By synthesizing Ottoman archives, salnames, travelogues, historical maps, photographs, engravings, and diverse source publications in Turkish, Armenian, and Western languages, this research presents a methodology for uncovering intangible heritage where tangible structures are lost. Ultimately, it contributes to re-evaluating cultural memory in vanished urban sites and introduces a critical spatial perspective to heritage conservation debates.