Curating Urban Identity in Space: The Bursa State Fine Arts Gallery

This study proposes a multi-layered reading of the Bursa State Fine Arts Gallery by handling the building as a cultural heritage of the Republican period, symbolizing the government's modernization reforms in the late 1950s. This period corresponds to the first decade of a critical rupture in the Republican policy that was realized by passing to the multi-party system in the late 1940s. Thus, during the re-idealization process of the Republican development, art and art spaces were prevalently used as ideological mediums to refresh the modern and progressive mindset of the state. Accordingly, the Bursa State Fine Arts Gallery carves a special niche as a distinctive art space by reviving the ideals of the Republic, both by its architectural characteristics and urban scale symbolization in Bursa. To compose a multi-layered reading on the Gallery, architectural research and field observation are used besides the discourse analysis on the cultural heritage and the urban identity discourses. Hence, this study revealed that the Bursa State Fine Arts Gallery has gained a special place in the city as an authentic representation of the Republican ideals after the 1950s and houses the reformist attempts of the state as a unique art and cultural heritage in Bursa.