Botched restoration makes Turkish antiquities into punchlines
Experts accuse the Turkish government of hiring inexperienced construction companies to restore precious historical monuments, and the results have been predictable.
The sight of construction workers using jackhammers on the stone walls of the medieval Galata Tower, a hallmark of Istanbul’s ancient silhouette, sparked nationwide outrage in Turkey last month, but it was only the latest on a list of restoration blunders that has grown alarmingly long in recent years.
The footage of workers drilling down a section of the tower’s inner walls was posted on social media in mid-August by the cultural heritage director of the Istanbul municipality, which the main opposition Republican People’s Party wrested from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) last year. The municipality assigned experts to inspect the restoration at the tower, but they were denied entry by the construction firm, commissioned by the central government’s Culture and Tourism Ministry. The work continued behind locked doors even though such projects are required to undergo local inspections.
Built by a Genovese colony in the 14th century, the Galata Tower has survived fires, storms and many repairs over the centuries. Few tourists return from Istanbul without a picture of the cylindrical icon overlooking the Golden Horn.
Mahir Polat, the municipality official who disseminated the footage, said the work at the tower hardly qualified as restoration. Rather, it amounted to “demolition,” he told a Turkish news site, stressing that jackhammers were wildly inappropriate for the job.
