Tangible and Intangible heritage of Bergama in the context of its urban history

Over time, the meaning and value of Cultural Heritage has continuously changed, however it can be said that the Cultural Heritage defines the identity of a city as it “is an expression of the ways of living developed by a community and passed on from generation to generation, including customs, practices, places, objects, artistic expressions and values. Cultural Heritage is often expressed as either Intangible or Tangible Cultural Heritage” (ICOMOS, 2002). Traditions and practices of a culture define the places and elements that characterize a civilization. It is crucial to identify all the Cultural values of a city in order to preserve them: it is responsibility of the nowadays generation to protect the archeological sites and historical monuments and at the same time to pass on customs and traditions. In this regard Bergama, which is a multi-layered city due to its continuous history since its first settlement that was attested to the II millennium BC, can be considered a city of inestimable value when it comes to Cultural Heritages. The city keeps the traces of the settlement continuity thus it is possible to observe the physical and cultural reflections of different eras in the historical continuity of the urban environment, as differing layers of structures, relics and traces that are sometimes side by side and sometimes on top of each other creating the historical bedding of the city. The physical structure that forms in connec¬tion with the network of relations established by each era with the prior ones, contributes to the physical depth and wealth of today’s city (Bilgin Altınöz, 2006:1). However Bergama is also a concrete example that demonstrate how not to define and assess the Cultural Heritage can lead to the destruction of them. Since the end 19th century, excavations of the ancient settlement have been started and the conservation of its antique buildings has gained more and more importance in the time. Instead not the same attention was given to the traditional urban fabric that during the plan of 1963, in which the texture of the city has been changed, were lost. In 2014 Pergamon became the 999th site of the UNESCO World Heritage List, this event affected the antique citadel of Pergamon and the city of Bergama from an economic and touristic point of view. Since its entrance in the UNESCO World List the tourism in the city has increased considerably, for this reason it is important to promote a sustainable and responsible tourism in order to enhance a positive impact of tourism development hence reducing the negative problems and to prevent the loss and damage of cultural and natural heritage. If managed well Cultural Heritage of a city can boost the local and national economy and create jobs by attracting tourist and investments while protecting local activities. The thesis aims to identify the Tangible and Intangible Heritage contextualized in the urban fabric of the city and to analyze the transformation processes that allowed them to be defined as Cultural Heritage. In order to exemplify the case of Bergama digital methods were used for the research. The creation of a website was a useful tool for identifying Cultural Values in their urban context and allowed the spaziatlization and visualization of the data as well as the connection between them . The website can also be considered a final outcome that allows a demonstration of the work done and an easier and more immediate understanding of the study results.