Antakya: Walking Through the City's History
November 2026 - October 2027
HATAY
Antakya: Walking Through the City's History is a collective memory and witnessing project responding to the extensive destruction suffered by Antakya in the 6 February 2023 earthquakes.
Building on the Antakya: Walking Through the City's History Guide, developed by Tuğçe Tezer in 2021 with the support of the SALT Research Fund, the project is the outcome of a long-term research process that began with her doctoral thesis 13 years ago. Since July 2024, the project has sought to retrace on foot the traces of Antakya’s historic urban fabric destroyed or damaged by the earthquakes, to remember the city and its urban memory together, to raise awareness of the need to safeguard its multilayered cultural heritage throughout the reconstruction process, and to preserve the city in collective memory.
Amid Antakya’s ongoing recovery and intensive construction activities, the project places particular emphasis on the recovery of its residents, whose needs have been systematically neglected at various levels since the earthquakes. It aims to preserve and strengthen their connections between the past and the future. By revisiting the streets where residents grew up and the everyday spaces that shaped life in Antakya before the earthquakes, the tours seek to help people reclaim their city and reinforce their sense of belonging amid profound destruction and urban transformation.
The frequent participation of people who, although not originally from Antakya, have developed deep ties with the city demonstrates that the need for recovery extends beyond its residents and calls for a collective process of healing. The project ultimately aspires to reach a point where participants can recognise, in the city around them, the places they once walked through, and reconnect the city's past with its future. This moment will signal that Antakya's wounds are beginning to heal and that its urban memory continues to live on.
