Inventory of İstanbul’s cultural heritage coming to an Internet site

All right, but from whence does İstanbul really derive this beauty that De Amicis can’t stop talking about? From the fact that it has been the capital of empires, from the traditions of the people who have inhabited the city through the centuries, from its music, from its foods, from its many weddings and celebrations through the ages, from the children who grew up here to the people who died here, from its places of prayer, from its handicrafts and perhaps from its artists?

The above question, which for years has not had a clear answer, is finally answered through the “Inventory of Cultural Heritage and Cultural Economy in İstanbul” project. This project has come about through a partnership between the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and with the support of the İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency and many other institutions. The project addresses all the various beauties of İstanbul — from the time when the city was the eastern capital of the Roman Empire to the years of the establishment of the republic. The project categorizes and inventories every sort of cultural heritage remaining from these periods. In short, this cultural inventory project really creates an incredible library where one can browse everything imaginable in connection with this enormous city’s culture. When we say “library,” don’t envision piles of books, though. After all, this inventory is one that people will be able to access online. As it is, the true importance of the project actually derives from this fact. There have been previous attempts to inventory İstanbul’s cultural heritage, but they have never been truly successful. But this time around, with the backing of the agency, the work has been done by a team of 46 people, in a project that has taken 16 months of hard work, producing, in the end, an enormous system. And the Internet address for this enormous system will be www.istanbulkulturenvanteri.gov.tr.

When the project is completed, everyone who wants will be able to visit this Internet site; only a click will separate people from the information they wish to find. The site will ultimately provide academics, students, teachers, writers and so on with an archive where they can carry on healthy research. The site will not only include sources used but also information on all books, publications, theses and even maps that have any connection whatsoever to İstanbul.

For example, some of the maps available on this site will be an İstanbul map drawn up by Helmuth von Moltke in 1836-1837, as well as İstanbul’s first modern land survey, drawn up in 1861-1876 by the Altıncı Daire-I Municipality on a 1/200 scale. Another section of information contained in this site that looks to be of particular interest for anthropologists, tourism agents and the like is the People’s Culture section. In this part of the project, one can find thousands of legends in connection with İstanbul. What’s more, traditions that have marked İstanbul over the centuries have been examined and scrutinized, from children’s games to neighborhood traditions, from entertainment trends to parts of daily life, from handicrafts to artists, from hans to hamams; it is all here for the taking and learning. This project has not forgotten the cultural arenas of the 21st century: Art galleries, operas and ballet salons, concert salons, cinemas, festivals and trade fairs and cultural centers connected with civil society organizations are all included in the collected trove of information. The only question at this point is how to ensure the continuation of this project post-2010.

At the helm of this detailed and enormous project, with a limited budget of only TL 1,512,000, has been İstanbul City Culture and Tourism Director Professor Ahmet Emre Bilgili. Bilgili notes that the prime goal of the project thus far has been simply to record the various cultural heritages of İstanbul in order to be able to pass information on to future generations. He also notes that although the idea for this type of project had been floated many times in the past, the budget had simply never been adequate. He adds: “This year, the fact that İstanbul was a European Capital of Culture was for us a real opportunity, and so we made an immediate request to the agency to back this project. The agency accepted the project on the basis that it was of a quality that suited the city. At this point then, a team of people who were skilled at what the project entailed was put together, and in just a short time, the vast majority of the project had been completed.”

There has been much curiosity about just who was on the team of people putting together this enormous project. Let’s say this from the very beginning: The team runs with the efficiency of a real company. For example, Mustafa Talha Selimoğlu is bringing forth maps that show water conduits when the city was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire to the days of the republic. Restoration expert and architect Nisa Semih is overseeing the inventory of the city walls. Project coordinator Hakan Tanrıöver is, despite the fact that he lives in Ankara, taking control of the promotional aspects of this project. A computer company called Arketer is taking care of the project software, and information that is encoded in the system must first pass through checks by group heads running the project. The project also includes work by academics such as Professor Zeynep Ahunbay, Professor Mehmet Özdoğan, Professor Haluk Dursun, Professor Zeynep Enlil and Professor Abdulkadir Emeksiz.

What will this project contribute to İstanbul?

After all the work that went into this project, critically supported by bureaucrats and academics, what does it ultimately provide? First and foremost, this project will lend a much-desired technological foundation and model for helping record the cultural heritage of other cities across Turkey. The project will also help promote Turkey on an international level as well as increase the tourism potential of the city. The vast cultural heritage of the city will finally be gathered in one accessible pool of information. In addition, the project Internet site is free to anyone who wishes access — an open source for foreign as well as local academics, students, teachers and the curious.

ZAMAN