Muhafaza/Mimarlık, which translates into English as Conservation/Architecture, is a conservation history of Turkey. It examines the conservation policies and ideologies of Istanbul’s architectural heritage from the Tanzimat Period to the end of the 1960s. It explores the approaches of governments, architects and intellectuals and discusses the resulting conservation projects and practices.

The compilation also has an Appendix: History of the Conception of Ruins. In this section, Nur Altınyıldız Artun sheds light on the cult of “ruins”, which was effective from the Renaissance, when it became a symbolic show of power, to the totalitarian regimes of the 20^th century. She points to the links of the ruin as an allegory with the history of conservation policies.

Nur ALTINYILDIZ ARTUN (1955-2019) studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University (Turkey), completed her PhD with a dissertation entitled ‘Specific Conditions in Turkey for Preserving the Historical Environment’ focusing on the conservation history of Istanbul at the Restoration Programme at the same university. Her major interests were architectural heritage and its interpretation, ruin, city and power relations, space and social memory relations. Her approach to the conservation was incompany with the memory and art, memory and history, memory and architecture studies. She taught elective and core courses, and design studios at Bilkent, Istanbul Bilgi, Bahçeşehir and Kadir Has universities. Her articles have been published in Architecture, International Journal of Art & Design Education and Muqarnas. She co-edited the book titled Architecture of Desire: Thinking and Dreaming of Architecture (2012, Istanbul: İletişim, with R. Ojalvo), and editor of Surrealism/Architecture: The Art of Space (2014, Istanbul: İletişim), co-writer of the book of Dada Guide 1913-1923: Munich, Zurich, Berlin and Paris (2018, Istanbul: İletisim, with A. Artun). She was one of the founder-editors of the e-scope internet magazine between 2010-2019. She was working on the book entitled Conservation / Architecture when we suddenly lost her. This incomplete book was edited by Bilge Bal in the light of Nur Altınyıldız Artun’s studies and published in 2019 (Istanbul: İletişim).