What is KarDes?

KarDes is a mobile application available in Turkish and English that is designed as a personal tour guide for users who wish to discover the multicultural legacy and multilayered fabric of Turkey. The KarDes app allows its user to discover the locations and histories of more than 2000 multicultural buildings in Turkey, to take memory tours, to listen to the stories of people who have lived in the districts the user walks through and to see old photographs of various neighborhoods and sites. Shedding light on collective memory, it helps to share the plural histories of the cities. With KarDes, users can discover the cultural inventory of sites such as churches, synagogues,mosques, schools, hospitals, and cemeteries. By taking the memory tours that render cultural heritage visible, users can listen to the hidden stories of cities as narrated by well-known artists and enjoy the tours without even visiting these places. 

Click to download KarDes to your phones and tablets for free.

Discover the cultural heritage of cities

Although the sites we use, the buildings we pass by and the streets we walk down every day are all parts of rich stories, these stories usually lose that richness as they are forced into the shadow of standardized official narratives. KarDes connects users with more than 2000 cultural heritage sites to unearth the invisible wealth of Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and Diyarbakir. The ‘Discover’ feature on the application helps users access the locations, historical photographs, construction dates and in some cases, brief information about the cultural sites that they may encounter every day without noticing, along with a comprehensive inventory of the cultural heritage of cities

KarDes Çokkültürlü Hafıza Turları Rehberi ENG

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Memory tours

KarDes, which aims to make visible unknown sites in well-known neighborhoods and allows their stories to be told, offers memory tours, each lasting an average of two hours and reveals the multicultural pasts of various areas. Users can access the alternative historical narratives of the cities with more than 40 memory tours featuring neighborhoods and specific themes.

Kadıköy, Beyoğlu, The Historical Peninsula, Tatavla, Balat, Adalar in Istanbul; Ulus, Jewish Quarter and Kavaklıdere in Ankara; Kemeraltı, Karataş, Frank Quarter in Izmir; Hançepek and Yenişehir in Diyarbakir and many more are available on KarDes. Moreover, you can take thematic tours such as the Loves of Istanbul Tour, Beyoğlu Theater Tour, Direklerarası Theater Tour, Stories of Istanbul's Multicultural Women Tour, and Istanbul's Armenian Schools Tour.

Continually updated with new tours, KarDes lets you discover places like Yorgo’s Rose Garden, Skating Palace, The Bulgar’s Meyhane, Atamyan Theater, Apoyevmatini Newspaper, Topalyans’ Store, Saint Clement Church, Çarşîya Şewitî and Tümes' Bakery. You can learn more about the stories of Ara Güler, Knar Svajian, Hayim Albukrek, Aliye Berger, Zaruhi Kavaljian, Eftalya the Mermaid, Mıgırdiç Margosyan, Tahir Elçi and Dario Moreno. 

Oral history interviews and narrations

Aiming to make visible the urban and social memory which has been on the verge of extinction, KarDes offers an opportunity to listen to the stories of neighborhood and their changes through oral history interviews with people who have lived or are currently living in those neighborhoods. With more than 70 oral history interviews, KarDes presents the stories of sites in various neighborhoods through a dynamic narrative. Prepared through detailed research and consisting of nine to fifteen stops within walking distance to one another, the texts of the tours have been narrated by Ahmet Mümtaz Taylan, Artun Gebenlioğlu, Ayla Jean Yackley, Ayşenil Şamlıoğlu, Banu Güven, Berge Arabian, Berkay Ateş, Ceren Moray, Ceylan Ertem, Cüneyt Yalaz, Devin Özgün Çınar, Ece Dizdar, Ercan Kesal, Erdem Şenocak, Eric Nazarian, Esin Alpogan, Fehmi Karaarslan, Forti Barokas, Gülçin Kültür Şahin, Hale Soygazi, Hayko Cepkin, Jaklin Çatal, Jennifer Hattam, Kev Orkian, Kevork Malikyan, Lale Mansur, Mahir Günşiray, Naim Dilmener, Naz Göktan, Nazan Kesal, Nejat İşler, Nişan Şirinyan, Nur Sürer, Onur Ünsal, Philip Arditti, Sarp Aydınoğlu, Serra Yılmaz, Shakeh Major Tchilingirian, Simon Johns, Songül Öden, Surp Haç Tıbrevank High School students, Şerif Erol, Tilbe Saran, Tuğrul Tülek, Tülin Özen, Yekta Kopan and Yetkin Dikinciler.