BS Türkiye lead the way in conservation and restoration

BS Türkiye lead the way in conservation and restoration

It’s been a busy time for Blue Shield Türkiye with technical support and seminars.

The Fires Working Group, led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ömer Dabanlı (President of Blue Shield Türkiye), visited the İstanbul Balıklı Greek Hospital, which suffered a devastating fire in August 2022 in the historic hospice building.

A video of the fire is available via the Greek City Times on Facebook…

Balıklı Greek Hospital, which was founded in 1753, is among the oldest specialty hospitals in Istanbul and Türkiye. The delegation met with the officials of the Balıklı Greek Hospital Foundation, received information about the fire disaster, talked about possible cooperation and examined the fired hospice building. During the technical investigations on the building, the delegation made observations and discuss about the post disaster documentation of the site. After the visit, Blue Shield Türkiye prepared a technical report presented it to the hospital foundation. Blue Shield Türkiye team continues to provide consultancy about the ongoing repairs in the hospital. The executive officers of Balıklı Greek Foundation thanked Blue Shield Türkiye delegation for their contribution and support.

Cover of the report

Blue Shield Türkiye is one of the three institutions that made the most important contribution to us after the fire disaster we experienced. They have stood by us in difficult times and are giving all the support they can. We do not know exactly how to act and what to do in cultural assets after such disasters. Blue Shield provides us great support in this regard. They also lead the risk analysis and risk reduction studies to be carried out in the historical buildings on the hospital campus. These studies are the ones we need to avoid such disasters again. We are very pleased to meet and really grateful to Blue Shield Türkiye.

Blue Shield Türkiye is  also involved a project named Fire Risk Analysis of Wooden Mosques of Konya and Karaman (Türkiye). The other partners of the project are Konya Regional Directorate of Foundations, Konya Chamber of Architects and supported by Mevlana Development Agency.  Konya Beyşehir Eşrefoğlu Mosque, Konya Doğanhisar Grand Mosque and Karaman Kethane Mosque are selected as case studies for analysis.

The aim of the project is to contribute to the development of strategies for the protection of the wooden mosques of the Konya and Karaman provinces against current and potential fire risks and ensure they are preserved for future generations. Since there are no detailed regulations and study for the protection of cultural heritage from fire, the project also aims to produce concrete proposals which may help for developing a legal framework.

At a seminar held on November 25, 2022, hosted by Blue Shield Türkiye, an Italian restoration expert Nicola Berlucchi participated as a speaker and gave a speech about the ongoing restoration of Bender Castle in Moldova. The online program was followed with interest by those working in the field of protection.

In a second seminar held on 01 December 2022 in partnership with Istanbul Technical University (ITU), ITU MardinT research center and Blue Shield Turkey, Prof. Patricia Blessing gave a talk on the politics of materials and architecture in the 15th century Ottoman Period, which is the name of her new book published by Princeton University Press. Academicians, students and professional professionals showed interest in the program organized in ITU Taskisla Campus. 

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