The Reconstruction of İstanbul in Atatürk’s Period and the Reflections of the Plan of Henry Prost in the Press (1936-1939)

Abstract

Atatürk, refurbishing the foundation of the Turkish Republic with culture, gave special importance to arts in his cultural policies; thus, got interested closely in architecture and city planning as well as such branches of arts as music, theatre and cinema. While Ankara, one the one hand, striving for a modern city planning, on the other hand, it struggled to form a national architecture. In the 1930s, the priority in city planning was given to İstanbul; therefore, the development plan of city vvas granted to Henry Prost. The Prost plan went down in history as the first and the longest-term application in the literal sense. However, due to the problems encountered in the preparation and application stages of the plan, both Prost and his plan were criticised harshly for a long time in the press of the period.