Archinect - News

Istanbul's conservators are scrambling to protect heritage sites from disaster

2023-06-02T11:48:00-04:00

Conservators in Istanbul are racing to safeguard scores of at-risk heritage sites in the wake of Turkey’s deadliest earthquake in modern history, bracing for the probability of an even greater disaster in a city straddling an active faultline.

Consequences of incumbent President Recep Erdoğan’s culture wars and the fallout of a “real-estate mentality that supersedes cultural heritage” have become unnecessary obstacles for volunteers who are up against the impossible challenge of securing 35,000 heritage sites around Istanbul seismically.

February’s deadly Turkey-Syria earthquake primarily affected the country’s easternmost provinces, but still, the metro’s location north of the precarious North Anatolian Fault means the seismic “triage” measures being performed now might not be in place in time for a similar quake scientists say has a very strong likelihood of occurring within the next two decades.

The toll on heritage sites in Turkey and Syria following the February earthquakes is staggering

2023-02-28T12:28:00-05:00

The catastrophic events have devastated countless heritage structures, archaeological areas and religious sites, many still active places of worship, across an area so vast that it encompasses ten Turkish provinces and impacts more than 13 million people. Though less extensively reported, damage to heritage sites is most significant in the southernmost province of Hatay. The city centre of Antakya [...] has been almost completely flattened.

The World Bank estimates the total physical damage in Turkey to be approximately $34.2 billion. The Gaziantep Castle, a 2nd-century fortress later expanded under Emperor Justinian, and Aleppo's ancient Citadel in neighboring Syria are perhaps the most significant historic sites to be heavily damaged.

All told, there were at least 173,000 structures destroyed or damaged across Turkey as a result of the outmoded building codes and blatant corruption within the construction industry.

For their part, UNESCO says they are “mobilizing [...] experts, in conjunction with its partners such as ICOMOS, to establish a precise inventory of the damage, if there is any, to safeguard these sites with the cooperation of national authorities, while being aware that their priority at this stage is emergency disaster, rescue and relief.”

The Stonewall Inn historic site is getting a new visitors center

2022-06-24T15:30:00-04:00

The first visitor center within the national park system dedicated to L.G.B.T.Q. history will honor and explore the history of the 1969 Stonewall uprising, a galvanizing moment in the fight for equality, the center’s managers announced on Tuesday. The visitor center is being funded with donations, and a groundbreaking ceremony will take place on Friday. The 3,700-square-foot space will include exhibitions, in-person and virtual tours and art displays that examine the uprising and its legacy.

The visitors center will be located at the address adjacent to the bar, which had sat vacant for some time. Plans for an expanded presence at the site, which includes a sculpture installation by George Segal, the bar, and Christopher Park, have been floated around since it was officially declared a national monument by President Obama in 2016. Anne Marie Gothard, president of PRIDE LIVE (the nonprofit behind the visitors center project), shared her hopes with the TIMES that it would garner more interest for similar preservation efforts at LGBTQ historic sites across the country.

“Our goal is to create a place that honors both the bravery and courage of the past five decades of the movement while also motivating the next generation of leaders to take up the fight, because we know that there is more work to be done when it comes to full equality.”

LGBTQ-focused preservation takes off in Indianapolis

2019-06-07T09:19:00-04:00

The IHPC said it would use a comprehensive study performed by Indiana Landmarks in 2016 that identified 104 historic properties with LGBTQ significance. The historic preservation group’s criteria in compiling the list included civil rights, arts, health, businesses, residences, events, organizations, and name affiliations.

The move to imbed consideration of LGBTQ sites of historical significance in future planning efforts makes Indianapolis a pioneer for LGBTQ preservation in the country.

The city is currently working to update all of its 17 historic area plans and will now move to include the recommendations from the Indiana Landmarks study into those efforts.

Indianapolis aims to complete the planning updates by 2023.