Conserving the “type”: a value-based framework for modern archaeology museums in Türkiye

Date

2025-7-08

Author

Sağıroğlu, Tuğba

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Among the various challenges facing the conservation of modern heritage in Türkiye, buildings designed as type-projects constitute perhaps the most overlooked and vulnerable category. Their standardized and repetitive designs are often perceived as lacking architectural uniqueness or value, making them especially susceptible to neglect, modification, or demolition. This thesis focuses on a specific group of modern type-project museums: Yalvaç Museum, Alanya Museum, Erzurum Museum, Gaziantep Museum, Kayseri Museum, Sinop Museum, and Edirne Museum. These buildings, designed by İhsan Kıygı – working as an architect in the Ministry of Education – and constructed between 1966 and 1971, exemplify the architectural and museological practices of their time. Beginning in the 2010s, shifts in contemporary museology—including the evolving role of museums as public spaces, changes in spatial organization and curatorial approaches, and broader transformations in cultural policy—have had a significant impact on these buildings. As a distinct building type and form of modern heritage, these museums represent more than their physical structures; they serve as places of memory within their urban contexts and in the collective memory of their communities. Their architectural, material, and construction values, along with their role as reflections of state-led cultural policies, underline their historical and cultural significance. Furthermore, they illustrate broader state strategies concerning the standardization and dissemination of public architecture during the mid-20th century. Given their shared origin in a common architectural, museological, and policy framework, these museum buildings should not be conserved through isolated, individual efforts. Instead, they must be approached holistically, as components of an integrated heritage system. Their heritage values as modern archaeology museums constructed as type-projects can only be preserved by treating them as parts of a unified whole. This thesis aims to propose a value-based conservation framework for these buildings, focusing on their shared values and addressing the specific challenges of conserving type-project architecture.

Subject Keywords

Type-projects, Modern Heritage, Archaeology Museums, Conservation, Type-project Archaeology Museums

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115493

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Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences, Thesis