Modernization through Past: Cultural Heritage during the late Ottoman and the early-Republican period in Turkey: compte rendu de l’ouvrage de Mesut Dinler “Modernization through Past: Cultural Heritage during the late Ottoman and the early-Republican period in Turkey”, Pisa, Edizioni ETS, 2019

This review sheds light on Dinler's work regarding modernisation through the past, offering valuable insights into the geopolitical importance of heritage, placemaking, and nation-building, as well as architecture, in the Turkish cultural context. While several studies have explored the connection between heritage, place, architecture, and political issues, there is a limited understanding of the geopolitical impact on heritage and architectural materiality (Lushnikova, 2016). Eisenmann's (1995) insights on the 'critical' concept in geopolitics, which are centred on the management of the potential for 'being', referencing Kant and Piranesi and focusing on 'being' in architecture, are instructive. The application of this idea in various fields such as heritage and 'modernism' demonstrates the numerous aspects of 'being' in a geopolitical setting (Scruton, 1997).