Doğan Kuban's Books
Doğan Kuban was born in Paris in 1926. He graduated as an architect from Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Faculty of Architecture in 1949. In 1952, he was appointed as an assistant to the Department of Architectural History and Surveying at the same institution. Here, he worked as a translator for Paolo Verzone, who gave the first restoration course in Turkey, and later took over the course himself.
OBTAINED THE TITLE OF ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR
Kuban, who served as a consultant in the renovation of the Aspendos Theatre in 1953, assisted Verzone in the research of Ancient and Christian monuments in Cappadocia and Pisidia between 1953-56. In 1954, he prepared his qualification thesis titled "An Essay on Ottoman Baroque Architecture," which for the first time addressed Westernization in Turkey as an architectural or art historical problem. In 1954, he was assigned to Italy by the ITU Faculty of Architecture to research Renaissance architecture. After returning to Turkey, he obtained the title of associate professor with his thesis "The Formation of Interior Space in Ottoman Religious Architecture - A Comparison with the Renaissance" (1958).
BECAME A PROFESSOR IN 1965
With a 1962-63 Fulbright postdoctoral research fellowship, he lectured as a visiting faculty member in the art history department at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA; from 1963-64, he worked on the Catalogue of Christian Structures in Anatolia at the Dumbarton Oaks Byzantine Research Center in Washington DC; from 1966-76, he co-chaired project and supervision work with Cecil Striker in the excavation and restoration of the Kalenderhane Mosque in Istanbul, funded by the same institution; in 1964, he served as the excavation architect during the first season of the Qasr al-Hayr al-Sharqi excavation in Syria under the direction of Oleg Grabar. After returning to Turkey, he became a professor in 1965 with his thesis "Source Problems of Anatolian Turkish Architecture."
BECAME DEAN OF ITU FACULTY OF ARCHITECTURE
Kuban, who ensured the detailed inclusion of "Modern Architectural History" in the curriculum, served as the head of the ITU Department of Architectural History and Surveying, then the Department of Architectural History and Restoration, and finally the Department of Restoration until his retirement in 1993. Between 1974 and 1977, he also served as the dean of the ITU Faculty of Architecture.
GAVE LECTURES AT MANY SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS
Starting from 1967, he lectured and organized seminars on Islamic and Turkish Art as a visiting faculty member in the USA and Saudi Arabia. In addition to his visiting professorships, beginning in 1963, Kuban gave lectures at numerous scientific institutions such as universities, museums, and research centers in various US states, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Canada, Pakistan, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Indonesia, and Singapore.
CONDUCTED EXCAVATION WORK AT EDİRNE PALACE
Between 1968-72, he conducted the excavation of Edirne Palace with the project titled "Monographic Study and Field Research of Edirne Monuments" funded by ITU; between 1968-78, he worked for the establishment of the Turkish branch of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS). Kuban, who established and chaired the Institute of Architectural History and Restoration (MTRE) affiliated with the ITU Faculty of Architecture in 1974, was elected president of the International Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture (IRCICA) in 1979-80 and carried out the efforts for the center's establishment in Istanbul.
