Examining Authenticity of Traditional Turkish Houses in Bursa, A UNESCO Heritage Site

Abstract

In the scope of this study, traditional housing culture of the first capital city of the Ottoman Empire – Bursa, is evaluated and the authenticity of the existing historic houses is examined via some physical identification studies and building material experiments. The aim is to determine the cultural heritage value of these civil architectural examples, which have an undeniable role not only in developing the first urbanisation model of the Ottoman Empire, but also in composing the unique identity of the city. The authors put stress on the need of further studies identifying the qualifications of the cultural heritage assets.