An Elegy For An Erased Heritage

• Prize
  Silver in Architecture/Historic
• Photographer
  Esra Belgin
• Photo Date
  2015

This is the story of a building that once held a soul—now lost. I took these photos a decade ago, when it was already vanishing. In the early 20th century, "Narmanlı Han" echoed Istanbul’s artistic spirit. Poets, painters, wanderers found refuge within its stone walls. Today, that fragile beauty is gone. In its place stands a polished replica—restored for tourism, rebranded for commerce. This photo story is not just about a building—it is a lament for a cultural inheritance overwritten by profit. It is my farewell—to the "Narmanlı Han" that was, and the Istanbul that quietly let it go.

Esra Belgin has been drawn to photography for as long as she can remember. She believes deeply in the power of photography to observe, connect, and reveal what often goes unseen. Her main interest is street photography and documentary photography.