Culture & Memory
Discover Bornova's historical, cultural and natural heritage.
Religious BuildingKemalpaşa
Dating could not be established due to the absence of information about the building's patron and construction inscription. It is a single-domed square-plan structure. Judging from an old photograph taken in 1950, the building is situated within a high courtyard wall made of rubble stone. Similarly, the mosque was also built with rubble stones, but since it is currently covered with plaster, the original material is not visible...
MuseumKaracaoğlan
Yesilova and Yassitepe Mounds are archaeological sites where the oldest human findings in Izmir have been unearthed. Excavations in this area, located in Bornova's Karacaoglan neighborhood, have revealed settlement layers dating back 8,500 years (6500 BC). The mound, accidentally discovered in 2003, was declared a 1st Degree Archaeological Site in 2005.
MuseumKazımdirik
Yassitepe Mound, located within the boundaries of Bornova's Kazimdirik neighborhood, is approximately 3 km north of Yesilova Mound. About 6,000 years ago, following the cultural process at Yesilova, a new community settled in this area and became one of the pioneers of Izmir's first urban centers. During the Bronze Age, the Aegean Sea coastline was further inland than today, and Yassitepe was only 2.5 km from the shore...
SportsErzene
While different sources cite different dates regarding athletics and cycling sports on Turkish soil during the Ottoman period, Bornova has been the city of firsts in both disciplines. According to Prof. Dr. Gunver Gunes's book Modern Sports' Entry into Izmir, the first athletics race in Turkey was organized in Buca in 1892. However, even two years before that date (1890), Bornova...
Public BuildingKazımdirik
Located in the center of Bornova, the Historic Municipal Building is one of the city's most important public structures. The building is situated within Buyukpark, which played a critical role in Bornova's historical transformation. The area where today's Buyukpark stands is referred to as a "large Turkish cemetery" in Richard Pococke's 1739 travelogue. From the 18th century until the 1920s, the site served as a cemetery...
SportsErzene
First Golf Club: Following the golf club established in Istanbul Maslak in 1895, the first golf club in Anatolia during the Ottoman period was founded in Bornova in 1905 (Hasan Mert. Journal of Historical Studies, Volume 23, Issue 1, July 2008). However, from a photograph found in the archive of the Giraud Family living in Bornova, we learn that golf was already being played in the garden of the Paterson Family's mansion in 1900...
Religious BuildingErzene
The structure is located in Bornova's Cumhuriyet Square. Built on a north-south axis, the building's inscription reads: "In the year of our Lord 1831, the Reverend Father Isodoro da Boscomari, fulfilling the rule of Saint Franciscus, with the capital contribution of the Istanbul Mission, the Capuchin Fathers and currently apostolic delegate, had this building constructed from its foundations in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary."...
MansionErgene
Paterson Mansion is one of the largest and most magnificent residences representing the Levantine era of Bornova and Izmir. The mansion was commissioned by grain merchant John Bortwick Paterson, who came from Leith, Scotland to Izmir, with construction beginning in 1859 and completed around 1860. Paterson's mining concessions obtained from the Ottoman Empire and his commercial activities with England enabled the family's...
MansionErzene
Mattheys Mansion was built in the late 18th century by English merchant John Maltass and is one of the oldest Levantine residences in Bornova. The property later passed to Maltass's daughter Eugenie Wood and the Wood family. One of the mansion's long-term last residents, Hortense Wood, was an intellectual immersed in music and literature who had taken lessons from Franz Liszt. The diaries kept by Hortense Wood...
BridgeYakaköy
Basin: Gediz. River: This bridge is located in the Nif (Kemalpasa) Stream (Gediz tributary) basin, at coordinates 38°29'38.40"N 27°17'47.47"E in Izmir – Bornova; Ciceklikoy-Arapalani area. Also known among locals as the Historic Roman Bridge, it is a main-arched bridge with slight slopes in both directions, featuring 10 arches. On the upstream facade of the bridge, including the main arch [...]
BustKazımdirik
In the second half of the 1800s, as the Ottoman Empire's integration with Western civilizations intensified, the Levantine families in Izmir in particular assumed a guiding role, causing Izmir to become acquainted with many firsts in Western civilization and culture. The foremost among these firsts is football. According to the Tercuman Sports Encyclopedia published in 1970 and Turkey's Football...
MansionKazımdirik
The Ataturk bust located in the garden of Ege University's Computer Engineering Faculty in Bornova holds the distinction of being the first Ataturk monument built in Turkey. This monument is the first and only known monument whose opening ceremony Gazi Mustafa Kemal Ataturk personally attended. According to available information, Ataturk never attended the opening of any other monument thereafter. Sari Kosk (Yellow Mansion): Today's Ege University Faculty of Economics and Administrative...
