Our Foundation implemented the Historical Hospital Research Project in 2009 as a social and architectural history project with the support of Novartis Türkiye. Anatolia has a long history of medicine since the times of antiquity and the key to discover the traces of such a long history is to study the health-related buildings that managed to survive to this day.
Asklepions, darüşşifas, medical madrasahs and modern hospitals are the physical embodiments of these traces. The absence of an all-round scientific study on such an important cultural heritage inspired our Foundation to launch a medical history research on “contemporary hospitals” the construction of which had started in the 19th century.
As a result of the research conducted in 2009 with the support of Novartis Türkiye, the photographs, as well as historical and architectural characteristics of 35 buildings in 14 Anatolian cities, many of which are still in service, were compiled in the book The First Civil Hospitals from Gurebâ to Memleket Hospitals published in December 2009.