VIRTUAL ISTANBUL HERITAGE(S)
Abstract
The island of Cyprus has two ethnic communities where Turkish Cypriots lives on northern sector and Greek communities in southern one. This division of island in 1974 results the displacement of two ethnic groups and let their religious heritage to be disused. There are many abandoned monasteries in Northern Cyprus due to the absence of their religious community. Similarly, there are many mosques that has no function, damaged in southern part of the Island. Due to the abandonment, these religious heritages are easily deteriorated, some are ruined and faced with serious material and structural problems. The research emphasizes the significance of monasteries in Cyprus and seeks to propose the sustainable conservation of monastic buildings focusing on adaptive reuse and alternative tourism routes that unite various monasteries into a singular main route – Monasteries Route. The monasteries located in Kyrenia have been examined and included in the monastic route as a preliminary study for the entire island. The methodology of the study includes literature review, archival study, site assessment and observations.
Beser Oktay Vehbi is full-time academic staff who is teaching urban design, conservation theory and practices courses at the Eastern Mediterranean University. She worked as Eastern Mediterranean University Representative at the Supreme Council of Immoveable Antiquities and Monuments in Northern Cyprus for six years (2005–2011). She has published many articles in the areas of her research interest such as conservation of historic urban and rural areas, sustainable urban conservation, industrial heritage conservation and adaptive reuse.
Erman Berkay is an architect currently working in the Project Affairs Directorate at Eastern Mediterranean University (EMU). Previously, he served as a Lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the American University of Cyprus (AUC) in Nicosia. Further to these, he also worked as a Research Assistant in the Architect Department of EMU and as an Architect at Bütüner Design Studio in Ankara. He received his Ph.D. from EMU. Prior to his doctoral studies, he completed his undergraduate degree in Architecture (B.Arch) at EMU and earned a Master of Science in Architectural Design from Istanbul Technical University (ITU) in Istanbul. His research interests include conservation, adaptive reuse, religious heritage, and tourism.
1:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Tuesday 7th July, 2026