News

Under the auspices of the Presidency and led by the General Directorate of Cultural Assets and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the “National Inventory Project for Tombstones and Inscriptions from the Turkish-Islamic Period”—coordinated in the Marmara Region by Prof. Dr. Kadir Pektaş, a faculty member in the Department of Art History at our university—continues with fieldwork proceeding at full speed.

An academic evaluation meeting was held at the Faculty of Letters of Istanbul Medeniyet University with the project team and experts to discuss the project’s timeline, process, and working methods.

The pilot phase of the project, which aims to document gravestones and inscriptions—among the most important tangible records of our cultural heritage—was successfully carried out last year at the Sheikh Mustafa Devati Efendi Cemetery in Üsküdar. During this initial pilot phase, approximately 500 gravestones and inscriptions at the cemetery were photographed in high resolution; the epigraphic texts on them were transcribed; their architectural and artistic features were identified; and their coordinates were determined through digitization.

In this year’s phase of the project, fieldwork has shifted to the Valide-i Cedid Mosque Cemetery in Üsküdar. In the current phase, documentation, transcription, and inventory processes for the historic gravestones and inscriptions within the cemetery are being carried out with meticulous care. As part of this effort, each stone is photographed in high resolution, and its geographic coordinates are precisely determined using satellite systems (GIS); furthermore, the stones’ form, motifs, and material characteristics are analyzed and recorded in the digital inventory system. Simultaneously, the transcription (reading) of epigraphic texts written in Ottoman Turkish is also being carried out. This comprehensive inventory project, which sheds light on Istanbul’s historical and cultural memory, is actively ongoing under the leadership of our Department of Art History and in accordance with the established program.