Tan Oral: Essays of an Architect |
Past, Identity, Confidence
"The mere mention of any object implies that you can declare where and when it existed. Time and place! Two indispensable elements. A person or a society that has lost its coordinates in the universe doesn't know where it stands. If it loses its milestones it loses its sense of time, and together with that it loses its sense of the past and confidence in the future and its own identity… If, at the present day, there is a lack of interest in the cultural legacy, the cultural heritage and cultural conservation, and it's obvious there is, those are the reasons. But it isn't simply because it is something bequeathed by our forefathers that should be preserved for future generations. It is because it is necessary, and very necessary, right now."
Tan Oral, "Yaza Cize", Iris Mizah Kulturu Pub., Istanbul 1998.