About Collection

Cahide Tamer Historic Buildings Restoration Projects Collection includes a variety of archival materials such as documents, correspondence, photographs, drawings and plans of restoration projects that Cahide Tamer (1915-2005) has involved in her career between 1943-1974, She was one of the first women architects with a MArch degree, specializing in restoration.

Originally classified in structure-based albums and folders, this extensive archive consists of more than 150 historic buildings of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture in Marmara Region mainly in Istanbul.

Including iconic structures of Istanbul as Topkapı Palace, Hagia Sophia, Chora, Istanbul Archaeological Museum, Tekfur Palace, Marmara Sea and Land Walls, Rumeli Fortress, Yedikule Fortress, Fountain of Ahmet III, Güzelce Aqueduct, the Spice Bazaar, Yenikapı Mevlevi Lodge, Amcazâde Hüseyin Paşa Mansion, the collection gathers different structure types like mosque, church, tomb, palace, museum, library, bazaar, mevlevi lodge, madrassa, fountain, aqueduct, fortification and fortress.

The collection is a valuable source for the researchers who are focusing on the historic building restoration works and applications in Turkey during 1940-1980.

The collection which is transferred to Suna Kıraç Library by the end of 2018, is donated to the library archive by the architect’s daughter Ayşe Nur Ökten with the initiative of Koç University Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for Late Antique and Byzantine Studies (GABAM, Barış Altan). The collection process including classification, identification (GABAM, Ali Öz) and translation of the archival materials is supported by GABAM between the years 2019 and 2020.

* In the first stage of the collection, Byzantine-origined structures are open for digital access. Digitization and identification process of the other structures in the collection continues and recently added monuments will be announced and can be followed through Suna Kıraç Library social media accounts (01.01.2020)