The book chapter titled "Contemporary Religious Buildings of Isparta in the 1960s" by Esra Büyükemir Karagöz, Lecturer at Istanbul Gelisim University (IGU), Faculty of Fine Arts (GSF), Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design, was published in the book titled "Contemporary Buildings of Isparta after 1950" prepared by Akademisyen Kitap Publishing House and edited by Seda Şimşek, Ayşe Betül Gökarslan, Şule Çelik and Sıdıka Çetin.
In line with Karagöz's study, the place of the mosques in the urban development of Isparta, their location within the city, the layout within the parcel area, construction systems and building materials, façade constructions, and interior features were evaluated and explained in detail. With all these features of the mosques in question, their places in the modern period contemporary mosque architectural understanding were evaluated separately, and the original parts that were preserved and the deterioration that occurred were determined. This study has revealed the value of these buildings as modern architectural heritage and emphasized the necessity of preserving them as a whole together with the elements reflecting the period. Since the number of modern mosques in the city of Isparta is limited to only these two mosques and these mosques are parallel to the urban development of Isparta in the upper scale, these important buildings should be registered and protected. The study gains importance in terms of conveying to the user how important the mosques were for the period in which they were built and being a tool for documenting the buildings.
The book titled 'Isparta's Post-1950 Contemporary Buildings', prepared by Süleyman Demirel University, Faculty of Architecture and Isparta Representative Office of the Chamber of Architects for the 100th anniversary of the Republic is a document for the identification and protection of Isparta's rapidly disappearing Republican Period building heritage. In the book, there are buildings in which the traces of the understanding of contemporary architecture, which developed rapidly after the proclamation of the Republic, are seen in the style of 'Republican Period Turkish Architecture'. One of these building types is mosques, which are religious buildings.
After the long Ottoman reign, the mosque architecture started to change with the Republic, the new form of government adopted. In the early periods of the Republic, the approach of building simple and functional structures was adopted with the effects of the newly emerging modernist approaches and Bauhaus, which influenced the whole world. This effect started to show itself in the design of contemporary mosque architecture after the 1950s. In the study, Valide Mosque and Yayla (Karabilal) Mosque, which are among the contemporary religious buildings built with a modernist approach in Isparta, are discussed.
We congratulate Lecturer Esra Büyükemir Karagöz and wish her continued success.
