A holistic and critical exploration of cultural significance of a reconstructed heritage site: Bursa mevlevi lodge

Abstract

The city of Bursa has a multi-cultural background and hosts a diverse architectural heritage inherited from the Roman, Byzantine, Ottoman, and Republican periods. A lost architectural and urban heritage of the city is the Bursa Mevlevi Lodge, which was built between the 17th and 19th centuries. After all the dervish lodges were closed by a law enacted in 1925, Bursa Mevlevi Lodge lost its original function, too. The complex was used for public, residential, and religious purposes until it was demolished in the 1950s due to neglect and abandonment and lost its place in urban memory. Recently, the complex was reconstructed in 2023 and re-functioned as a museum related to Mevlevi culture and Semahane. This article aims to analyze the history and architecture of the complex in the context of Mevlevi culture and Ottoman Mevlevi Lodge architecture. In conclusion, the article reveals that the authenticity of the complex is that it is shaped around the Semahane and identifies its tangible and intangible values and cultural significance in terms of urban history. The article also discusses the justification of the reconstruction as "a controversial heritage conservation method" and the concept of authenticity in the context of contemporary architectural conservation theory.