Project No

İÇTAG – 1304

Supported by

Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK)

Director of the Project

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Başak İPEKOĞLU

Researchers

Dr. Mine HAMAMCIOĞLU, Assoc.Prof.Dr. Hasan BÖKE, Assist.Prof.Dr. Sedat AKKURT, Res.Assist. Özlem ÇİZER

Project Term

20 months (September 2001 – April 2003)

The Aim, the Signaficance, and the Expected Outcomes of the Project:

Preservation of original materials of historical buildings, as much as possible, and the determination of the use of new materials taking into account the existing original materials in their restorations, are among the essential principles of the conservation works. Within this context, the aim of this research is to illustrate the necessary investigation phases in order to preserve the original materials of the historical buildings in a systematic way. In this research, the types of materials, material deterioration and intensities are documented; physical, mineralogical, structural and chemical properties of the building materials are determined in a chosen historical building. The relationship between the material deterioration and the meteorological conditions are investigated and the essential data are obtained for the conservation.

The samples were taken from the building. The physical characteristics, the ratio of contained soluble salts and the ratio of raw materials in the mortars and plasters were determined. Mineralogical, structural and chemical properties of the samples were investigated by using Scanning Electron Microscopy and X-Ray diffraction.

In spite that each historical building has different types of materials and different material deterioration problems; the studies on the preservation of historical building materials should be followed through certain phases. The investigation phases, which are dealt within this research and may be used in each historical building, are proposed as three headings, which are the field survey on the buildings, laboratory researches and the analysis of the meteorological data.

This research emphasizes the importance of the conservation of original materials in historical buildings and illustrates the investigation phases needed to be carried out for material conservation.