Author(s): Gaye BİROL, Esra ŞAT
In the history, the people or institutions, who want to emphasize their power over society, to be remembered in the future, or to transform society, built monuments with the aim of the power of using conveying their meaning and message. While a monument is called as an urban element different from other elements in an urban environment with its some characteristics such as dimensions, color, shape, etc., the concept of the monument is more identified with the sculpture. After the establishment of the Republic, official ceremonies arranged in the Ottoman palaces before, moved to new public spaces -ceremonial areas- designed around Atatürk monuments. These monuments commissioned to exalt the War of Independence, Republic, victory, heroism and Atatürk, reviving national sentiments, as Wilson's statement (2007), "trying to constitute collective identity and memory, and shaping the future". In this study, firstly, the transformation of the concepts of monument and sculpture in Turkey before and after the Republic was explained. Then, qualities of Atatürk monuments and the spatial qualities of the two ceremonial areas in Bal?kesir city centre and that of the ceremonial areas in 18 districts of Bal?kesir are studied and presented in tabular form. In the conclusion of the study, the findings are classified and presented as findings related to the monuments and findings related to the ceremonial areas. Qualities of each monument and relations of them surrounding ceremonial areas are explained. At the end, it is discussed that whether these official ceremonial areas allow unofficial everyday uses or not.
The Journal of International Social Research received 8982 citations as per Google Scholar report
