Ali Saim Ulgen: Building a Historiography of Turkish Architecture

Ali Saim Ulgen (1913-63), a preservation architect, architectural historian, author, bureaucrat and educator, was a leading figure in the nascent field of heritage conservation during the early decades of the Republic of Turkey. This was a time when the Republican leaders sought to establish the national character of art and architecture by interpreting the "Turkishness" and uniqueness of the Ottoman heritage through the tenets of the Modern Movement. The reconciliation of the modernist rationale with nationalist historiography created contested paradigms in a nation searching for its cultural roots. Ulgen considerably contributed to the nationalist appropriation of the Ottoman heritage, but his taxonomical gaze stands out for its focus on contextual analysis. This essay addresses the dichotomy of documenting the Ottoman architectural patrimony through the lens of modernism, which is visible in Ulgen's work, a remarkably understudied Republican intellectual.