In Turkey, the preservation of historical cities as a whole with their structures, streets, squares and greenery has not been very successful, and in most settlements, fragmented textures and few structures with cultural heritage value remain. However, in recent years, intensive efforts have been made to preserve traditional structures in historical cities in Turkey, and numerous restoration works are being carried out with public funds allocated for this area. So much so that, no matter which historical city you visit today, you can see a magnificent mansion that has been nationalized, restored and opened to the public. While this development is a pleasing step in terms of preserving our architectural heritage, it also makes one think about the situation of traditional structures in our villages, another rich cultural heritage of Turkey. The rural architectural heritage in villages that are constantly migrating and left without owners is also under great threat. However, traditional villages that continue to exist in the vast geography of Turkey offer us the colorful and rich culture of the past, which has different values from today. Determining, documenting and ensuring the preservation of this indispensable architectural heritage is one of the basic duties of architectural conservation experts.
This publication titled Protection of Rural Architectural Heritage – Examples from Turkey and the World has compiled articles on a total of 14 settlements from different geographical regions of our country. All of the articles were produced from postgraduate theses and researches carried out within Istanbul Technical University. These studies, carried out in different regions from the Eastern Black Sea to Thrace, from Eastern Anatolia to the Aegean, aimed to exemplify the rich rural cultures of Turkey on the one hand, and to create sensitivity for the protection of this heritage on the other.