Absent Presents: musealisation of the historic town of Hasankeyf as a manifestation of ‘Absent Heritage’

ABSTRACT In 2020, the waters of the Ilısu Dam Reservoir reached Hasankeyf, a historic town in the southeast of Turkey. Despite the public outcry, the ‘New Hasankeyf’ had already been constructed across the historic town, including an open-air museum. Comprising of a cultural park, a new museum building and an archaeological park, the open-air museum presents some of the monuments transferred from the historic town together with museum displays exhibiting Hasankeyf’s architecture and everyday life. The main motive of the Turkish authorities was to ‘presence’ the once-living Hasankeyf through the urbanism and architecture, its open-air museum, and the narratives of museum displays. This article discusses how musealisation has been used as a strategy to conciliate the opposition for the loss of a once-living Hasankeyf and how the new open-air museum is in fact an absent presence, a constant reminder of what is being lost. By outlining the approaches and strategies used to transfer and present historic monuments, fragments, and artefacts in the open-air museum, the article argues that the musealisation of Hasankeyf is a clear manifestation of lost heritage, which should be regarded as ‘absent heritage’.