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EU Ambassador Orav retraces European architects' footprints in Ankara

EU Ambassador Aivo Orav joined a guided walk through Ulus tracing the landmarks that European and Turkish architects designed for the young Republic's capital. The walk was organised by the EU Delegation to Türkiye within the European Heritage Days, a joint programme of the Council of Europe and the European Union, held this year under the theme "Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine." The Delegation held a panel on cultural heritage at risk the day before.

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© European Union, 2026

 

The Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye, Ambassador Aivo Orav, walked the historic streets of Ulus on Sunday with 20 participants on a city walk tracing the European architects who helped build Ankara as the capital of the young Republic.

Organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye as part of the 2026 European Heritage Days, the walk "European Architects in Ankara, the Capital of the Republic" was guided by Dr Pınar Sezginalp, Faculty Member of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University.

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European Union, 2026

Ambassador Orav joined the walk unannounced with his wife, Mare Orav. The couple lived together in Ankara from 2008 to 2012, when he served as Estonia's Ambassador to Türkiye.

"My wife and I once called this city home, and it is a joy to be here again and to rediscover it through the eyes of the architects who shaped it," Orav said. "The landmarks we visit today are the work of Turkish and European minds, hearts and hands that came together to establish the capital of the young Republic. The bond between Türkiye and Europe is built into the stone of this capital."

"This year's theme, 'Heritage at Risk: Revive, Resist, Reimagine,' asks us to act before what we cherish is lost," Ambassador Orav added. "In June, the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission signed their first joint declaration on culture, pledging to protect and promote it across all EU policies. Preserving our common heritage with Türkiye is part of that pledge."

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European Union, 2026

The tour began at the former Türkiye İş Bankası headquarters, today the Türkiye İş Bankası Economic Independence Museum, and followed Bankalar Street and Atatürk Boulevard to the former Exhibition House, now the stage of the Ankara State Opera and Ballet.

Key stops included the Ziraat Bank headquarters by Italian Levantine architect Giulio Mongeri, the historic Central Bank building in Ulus by Austrian architect Clemens Holzmeister and the Victory Monument by Austrian sculptor Heinrich Krippel. The walk passed Gençlik Park, designed by French architect Theo Leveau under German planner Hermann Jansen's plan for Ankara, and ended at the Opera. The building was designed by Turkish architect Şevki Balmumcu and remodelled by Germany's Paul Bonatz, so it bears both Turkish and European signatures.

Launched by the Council of Europe in 1985 and joined by the European Union in 1999, European Heritage Days is Europe's most widely celebrated participatory cultural event, drawing close to 20 million visitors each year.

Türkiye is marking European Heritage Days for the fifth time this year. Alongside the programme in Ankara, heritage walks also took place in Istanbul and İzmir.

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European Union, 2026

Panel examines threats to cultural heritage

The walk followed the "Cultural Heritage at Risk" panel, organised by the Delegation of the European Union to Türkiye and hosted by the Goethe-Institut Ankara on 19 September, bringing together award-winning experts to discuss how climate change, urbanisation, migration and digitisation threaten cultural heritage.

The discussion was moderated by Dr Işılay Gürsu, Assistant Director for Cultural Heritage Management at the British Institute at Ankara. The Institute's Safeguarding Archaeological Assets of Turkey (SARAT) project, carried out with Koç University's ANAMED and ICOM UK, received a Europa Nostra Award in 2020 in the Education, Training and Awareness-Raising category. The award recognised its work training heritage professionals in emergency preparedness and raising public awareness of the damage caused by looting.

Assoc. Prof. Dr Nusret Demir of Akdeniz University's Department of Space Sciences and Technologies provided the remote-sensing expertise for "Assessing Earthquake Damage to Cultural Heritage Sites," a project led by archaeologist Prof. Dr Çiler Çilingiroğlu of Ege University. The project won a 2026 European Heritage Award / Europa Nostra Award in the Citizens' Engagement and Awareness-Raising category. Combining volunteer observations with satellite imagery, the team documented more than 1,500 archaeological and historic sites across the eleven provinces hit by the February 2023 earthquakes.

Zeynep Boz, Head of the Anti-Smuggling Department at the General Directorate of Cultural Heritage and Museums of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, addressed Türkiye's efforts against the illicit trafficking of cultural property, noting that international conventions are necessary but that trust and dialogue between institutions are what make them work. Returning an object, she said, need not close a relationship: it can open one, leading to joint research, exhibitions and lasting museum partnerships.