Religious Building in Turkey

Turkey is the most striking country in terms of containing lots of evidences about the social and cultural history. This wealthiness occurs of its geographical location. Because Turkey seems like a bridge between Asia and Europe. So many civilizations were taken place on the land of Turkey. So through the history the soil of Turkey has been witnessed to lots of culture and social accumulation. Consequently there are lots of historical buildings for instance palaces, religious buildings and educational buildings like madrasahs. But one of the most valuable and prevention building types is the religious buildings that should be protected permanently in nowadays and in the future.

In Turkey, there are lots of religious buildings like churches, synagogues and mosques. That three types of religious building are integrated with each other perfectly and accommodating. For example in Istanbul, Balat region that three religious buildings can be seen through the street adjacency. It figures out that there is a clemency and an integration in social life. Along with it brings a cultural history. And also this situation can not be seen only in Istanbul, it is available to seen through the East of the Turkey. At that case it provides cultural variety and value in whole country.

In addition to this, the another reason of protecting religious buildings is using the same religious buildings in different religion at different times. For example, Hagia Sofia that was constructed during the Emperor I.Justinyen during the Byzantian Empire is the best example of them. After the Ottoman Empire had conquered the city, it was converted to the mosque. Looking at its construction elements, synthesis of Pagan, Orthodox, Catholic and Islamic religion can be seen easily. Kariye mosque and Vefa mosque are the another examples of this situation. Therefore, converting the religious buildings to another religious buildings is the way of providing integration of religious facts and cultural facts.

Moreover, some religious buildings are protected like museums nowadays. Except a few religious days, this buildings are not used as religion places. So community can visit this places to learn some information about other religions and also social knowledge. Beside of these information, the architectural quality and structural form can be seen in this kind of buildings. Kariye (Chora) museum is one of the examples in religious buildings. Therefore, this situation makes people to learn social history and knowledge sharing like religion and cultural history. And also it makes an integration between community and social history.

In conclusion, there are lots of religious buildings which symbolize its culture, sociality and architectural features in Turkey. They should be protected and maintained with the help of three ways that are using as own function, other religious function or transforming to museums. This situation makes knowledgeable accumulation and supplying value in cultural and social history. As a result, Turkey is one of most valuable historical country should be maintained and protected.