“？sar-I At？ka”: The First Original Term For Defining Cultural Heritage in Turkey

The term “asar-？ at？ka” is the first original term that was used to define the objects and edifices, which are considered to have historical and artistic values in Ottoman and then Republican Turkey. And it has therefore a special importance in the history of heritage conservation of Turkey. In the Ottoman Empire during the Tanz？mat period, the first developments in conservation practice emerged as a requirement for the Empire, the heritage of which was pillaged by European countries. This situation also made it necessary to define the valuable objects and edifices with a common word and the term asar-？ at？ka came into use in this process. The emphasis on historical and aesthetic values, which had been put in the context of the meaning of the term, reflections the understanding of cultural heritage in its period. The term asar-？ at？ka was also used to name the first legislation on heritage conservation in Turkey,？sar-？ At？ka Nizamnamesi, in the text of which the explanation of the term with related examples, was given. This first legislation was updated three times and these updates and developments on it indicate the improvements in Ottoman state’s way of acting on heritage conservation. In the Republican period, the term eskieser was used in place of asar-？ at？ka, and it remained extensively in use till 1970’s, with the updated Turkish version of the 1906 dated, latest ？sar-？ at？ka Nizamnamesi, which was inherited from the Ottoman Empire. Keywords; ？sar-？ At？ka, Eski Eser, Heritage Conservation, Conservation Terminology, Osman Hamdi Be