Restoration / Architecture · Design and Construction
Guide · YOY Mimarlık
The Antakya urban conservation area: what remains after the earthquake?
The earthquakes of 6 February 2023 struck Antakya’s registered building stock hard. An academic field study examined 250 registered buildings in the urban conservation area one by one and recorded their condition. This guide sets out what that data says and what can be done next.
What does the conservation area cover?
The Antakya Urban Conservation Area covers the historic city centre lying between the Orontes river and Habib-i Neccar mountain. According to the inventory of the Conservation-Oriented Development Plan approved in 2009, the area held a total of 462 registered buildings.
The great majority of these are traditional Antakya houses, followed by mosques. But the full list shows the layered nature of the city: churches, a synagogue, tombs, baths, inns, a bedesten and the sabunhane — soap-making buildings peculiar to Antakya. That diversity turns the conservation area from a collection of old buildings into a map of cultural layers.
A study published in 2024 by Karakuş, Çalışkan and Koyuncu of Ankara Yıldırım Beyazıt University examined 250 of these buildings in the field, one by one, and documented their condition after the earthquake. The figures below are taken from that study.
The 250 buildings examined
Of the buildings examined, 44 are classified as Group 1 (monumental) and 206 as Group 2 (civil architecture). The monumental group holds 19 mosques, 5 masjids, 5 soap houses, 4 baths, 4 inns, 3 tombs, 2 churches, 1 bedesten and 1 synagogue.
The weight of the civil architecture group lies in 158 houses. To these are added 22 residential-commercial buildings, 13 commercial buildings and 12 with other functions, among them the Hatay Parliament Building, the Post Office, the Municipality Building and a primary school.
This distribution matters, because conservation debates usually run through monumental buildings. Yet what makes the fabric of a conservation area is not the mosques but the 158 houses between them. These are the buildings that carry the street silhouette, the courtyard order and the everyday memory of the city.
The loss in numbers
Of the 250 registered buildings examined, 131 were completely destroyed. That is more than half of the stock covered in the conservation area. Most of what remains is heavily or moderately damaged.
Among monumental buildings the picture is this: of 44 buildings, 15 collapsed and 16 were heavily damaged. Only 3 came through undamaged. A pattern recurs in the mosques — the timber roof survives with slight damage while the minaret has in most cases either collapsed or been left standing only at its base. The behaviour of a tall, slender, free-standing mass in an earthquake explains this.
In civil architecture the loss is heavier: of 206 buildings, 116 were destroyed and 39 heavily damaged. The number left undamaged is 19. In other words, most of Antakya’s traditional housing fabric is no longer in place.
These figures match what we see in the field. On most of the parcels we have documented it was not possible to take a conventional measured survey; no wall was left to measure. This is why the greater part of our work begins with an excavation survey.
Why was the damage so severe?
Three factors compounded one another. The first is the ground: Antakya stands on the alluvial plain of the Orontes, and loose soil amplifies the seismic wave. The second is the construction system: the traditional houses were built in unreinforced stone masonry and lath-and-plaster, a system that is heavy, brittle and without tensile strength.
The third, and least discussed, is neglect. Buildings that were already empty, abandoned or badly repaired went into the shaking far weaker. A repair carried out with cement mortar prevents the stone from breathing and weakens the wall from within over the years. The earthquake made that accumulated weakness visible in an instant.
Knowing this is not a matter of blame but of what comes next. Maintaining the buildings still standing is the most effective conservation intervention available today.
Being destroyed is not the end of the process
The physical loss of a registered building does not cancel its registration. The parcel retains its protected status, and with the right documentation the reconstruction of the building can be requested. Most of the work we carry out in the Antakya Historic City Centre is exactly this.
The chain required is clear: controlled debris removal, excavation survey, archival and oral history research, restitution, a reconstruction project and board approval. The critical point comes at the very beginning — when debris is cleared without control, the physical evidence on which the restitution would rest goes with it.
The conclusion of the study carries an important warning: building post-earthquake housing outside the city on firm ground is common practice, but in a historic city centre the issue is not only producing buildings. Preserving Antakya’s identity depends on the people of the region being able to go on living here and continuing their economic life.
The same section stresses that the area around the Orontes — the Habib-i Neccar Mosque, the churches, the Uzun Çarşı and the traditional residential quarters — is where the city’s cultural heritage gathers, and that the plans to come must preserve the relationship of these buildings with the old city. The aim of restoration is not merely to raise a building again but to keep social memory alive.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do these figures cover the whole conservation area?
No. The total number of registered buildings in the conservation area is 462; the study examined 250 of them in the field. The picture therefore rests on a broad sample representing more than half the stock, but not all of it. The condition of the remaining buildings requires separate fieldwork.
How do I find out whether my building is on the list?
Registration status is established from the records of the Hatay Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural Property. There may also be an annotation on your title deed. If the building is registered — even if it has collapsed — everything done on the site is subject to board permission, and this must be clarified before the debris is touched.
What should I do about my building that is still standing?
First have the existing condition documented: a measured survey, damage and decay mapping, and an assessment of the structural system. Strengthening and repair decisions are then taken on that basis and submitted for board approval. Temporary shoring can be carried out in urgent cases, though this too is reported to the board. The worst option is to wait — a damaged building loses a little more with every rainfall and every aftershock.
Source
Data source: Karakuş, F., Çalışkan, E. B. & Koyuncu, E. (2024). Evaluation of the Condition of Antakya (Antioch) Urban Site after the Kahramanmaraş Earthquake. Journal of Architectural Sciences and Applications, 9 (1), 444–467. DOI: 10.30785/mbud.1443102. An open-access peer-reviewed article; the figures are taken from that study, while the interpretation is our own.