Shared Cultural Heritage: Multi-Layered Places of Remembrance in Urban Spaces

The Istanbul department of the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) and the Faculty of Culture and Social Sciences at the Turkish-German University (TAÜ) jointly organised a workshop on ‘Shared Cultural Heritage: Multi-layered Places of Remembrance in the Urban Space’, which was held on 10 and 11 October. Scientists and researchers from Türkiye, Germany, Palestine, and Switzerland took part in the event. The two-day workshop​​​​​​, supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), dealt with the multi-layered nature of places of remembrance in urban spaces, particularly in the metropolis of Istanbul with its outstanding examples of universal, local, and individual cultures of remembrance. In material form, it encompasses places and memorial documents in which shared cultural heritage is manifested. Memories are shared by different cultures, peoples, beliefs, worldviews, and generations, but are often perceived and contextualised in very different ways. Places like the Hagia Sophia represent unique, universal cultural heritage sites of humanity on the one hand, but on the other hand, can also be linked to very contradictory narratives. Comparable universal places of remembrance and associated narratives include the Hilarion Monastery in the Gaza Strip in Palestine, which was declared a World Heritage Site in 2024, and the multi-layered cultural landscape of Pergamon/Bergama, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016.

The aim of this international, inter- and transdisciplinary workshop was to explore how places of remembrance in urban spaces can be communicated from the "Gedächtnisspeicher" to the public. The case studies presented were complemented by excursions to the Shoe Factory Museum at Beykoz Kundura and through the Zeyrek district of Istanbul, providing a multifaceted basis for an intensive and fruitful discussion.

Turkish Contribution by the Faculty of Culture and Social Sciences at the Turkish-German University (TAÜ):

Shared cultural heritage: Multi-layered places of remembrance in the urban space: Recognising – Preserving – Communicating” Çalıştayı Gerçekleştirildi.