Ödekan Prof. Dr. Ayla Ödekan is a Turkish art historian. After conducting extensive fieldwork, she began classifying Ottoman and Pre-Ottoman muqarnas in her thesis, resulting in new photographs and drawings of muqarnas. Almost fifty years later, her thesis, photos and drawings are still valuable, and her legacy continues to inspire. This webpage: Overview Floor Plans Overview Interpretations Koç University Digital Collection Library Ayla Ödekan Oral History Interview Archnet biography

Koç University Digital Collection Library

This biography has been sourced from the Koç University website.

The Ayla Ödekan Photographs Collection presents photographs of muqarnas structures taken by art historian Ayla Ödekan across various regions of Anatolia between 1968 and 1972, as well as photographs related to her postdoctoral research on Turkish-Islamic architecture from 1977 to 1980. In 1968, Ödekan began her doctoral studies at the ITU Faculty of Architecture under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dogan Kuban, focusing on muqarnas structures in Anatolia. As part of this research, she traveled extensively across Anatolia with her husband, Nuri Ödekan, documenting these structures through photographs and measurements. Today, this collection provides valuable visual records of many historical buildings that no longer exist or have undergone restoration, allowing researchers to examine their pre-restoration states. Furthermore, the collection offers an opportunity to explore the Anatolian landscape of the late 1960s and early 1970s and analyze the spatial context of certain historical buildings that have since become part of expanding urban areas. Materials in this collection generally fall under the copyright of Koç University. These materials are publicly available for personal, educational use. Please contact the University Archives staff for permission for other uses at digitalresources@ku.edu.tr.

Official website

Ayla Ödekan Oral History Interview

This biography has been sourced from the Gabam website.

Location: Istanbul Date: 11 January 2018 Duration: 1 hour 23 minutes Ayla Ödekan graduated from the Byzantine Chair of the Department of Art History at Istanbul University in 1965. She completed her master's degree in the Department of Art History at the University of Chicago in 1967. After completing her doctorate at Istanbul Technical University's Department of Architectural History, where she served as an assistant, she became a faculty member in the same department in 1976. From 1988 to 1996, she served as a faculty member in Istanbul University's Department of Archaeology and Art History, and from 1996 to 1999, she held a faculty position in Mimar Sinan University's Department of Art History. She retired in 2006 from Istanbul Technical University, where she returned in 1999.

Official website

Archnet

This biography has been sourced from the ArchNet website.

Dr. Ayla Ödekan began her academic career at Istanbul University in the Faculty of Social Sciences, where she she graduated from the Department of Art History in 1965. She continued her education at the University of Chicago where she received a Master's in Art History in 1967. Dr. Ödekan returned to Istanbul later that year, where she became an assistant at Istanbul Technical University (Istanbul Teknik Üniversitesi) where she completed a P.hD. in 1976, with a dissertation entitled, "Pre-Ottoman Portals with Mukarnas in Anatolian Turkish Architecture."

Throughout Dr. Ödekan's teaching career, she has held posts at Istanbul University in the Department of History of Art and Archaeology (1988), Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University (Mimar Sinan Güzel Sanatlar Üniversitesi), in the Department of Art History (1996-1999) and Istanbul Technical University (1999-2006). After retiring, she has continued teaching as a part-time lecturer at Istanbul Technical University, International Cyprus University, Bahçesehir University, and Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. Over the course of her career, Dr. Ödekan has also participated in and curated numerous exhibitions on Byzantine and Turkish architecture. In 2006, she received the Contribution to Architecture Award from the Chamber of Architects of Turkey.

Dr. Ödekan's areas of research include Byzantine Art and Architecture, Anatolian Turkish Art and Architecture, European Art and Architecture, Modern Art and Architecture, Historical Environment, Cultural Studies, Art Criticism, and Folk Art.

Archnet: Ödekan

Overview of Odekan's floor plans.

Each floor plan links to a seperate webpage.

Overview of my interpretations of Odekan's floor plans.

Each floor plan links to a seperate webpage.