Imperfect Restoration
“Gautier catches sight of the Byzantine ruins running through these remote and destitute streets. Gautier conveys very powerfully the thickness and durability of walls: their upheaval, the fissures and ravages of time; the cracks that run the whole length of a tower” – Orhan Pamuk’s “Istanbul”: Chapter 24
Gautier, a writer who visited Istanbul in 1852 for seventy days and published his accounts of the city in the newspaper, sees the walls as “powerful” and “durable” despite their ruined nature or perhaps because of that nature because it is a sign of the passage of time. These walls to both Gautier and Pamuk add to the melancholic nature of the city. Because even in ruins, the walls are even awe-inspiring, Alois Reigl would characterize this monument as a “unintentional moment” and as having “age-value” as the wall has historical value just from its age and all the history its been a part of even though its lost its original usefulness as a fortress and a border of the city.
There have been efforts to restore this landmark (as it now viewed is a landmark and monument in the city). As early as 1939, the urban plans have designated the area as a conservation area. In the last few decades, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), which helps to preserve monuments of historical and cultural value, has designated it a world heritage site since 1985. In Istanbul, the Hippodrome of Constantine, the Hagia Sophia, the Sulemaniye Mosque, and the Theodosian Wall are considered masterpieces that should be protected from time and the physical risks - “population pressure, industrial pollution and uncontrolled urbanization” [3].
The wall ever since the invention of gunpowder has no more military use, but it divides the city. It is also a site that not only needs to be restored, but also integrated into the city. Today, the wall is located near major traffic routes, cemeteries, parks, agricultural land (bostans), sports and playing fields, and industrial fallow areas. There are dense settlements on the inner side of the wall. The bostans are owned by the municipality and rented out to families to grow vegetables [2]. There are strategies for development shown in one of the pictures to restore, transform, rebuild, and enhance the wall. Besides being restored and integrated, the site is now a tourist attraction.
[1] Pamuk, Orhan. “Istanbul: Memories and the City.” Istanbul, 2006.
[2] Ahunbay, Metin and Ahunbay, Zeynep. “Recent Work on the Land Walls of Istanbul”
[3] “Historical Areas of Istanbul.” UNESCO.