“A mule with a broken leg in a mine, a lost pickaxe, would upset those above us far more than our deaths. Because there were few mules working in the mine. Picks and shovels were limited in number. But when it came to us, we were as numerous as ants.”
İrfan Yalçın (Ölümün Ağzı, 2014)
“A Place of Hope” that honors the miners we lost while preserving their historical struggles and achievements in the collective memory of the city, remembering the coal mining history of Amasra.
THE MONUMENT THAT REDEFINES THE SQUARE
Miners Memorial at Amasra is concieved as part of the Cumhuriyet Square, a site of symbolic significance at city centre. This square, closely associated with celebrations, commemorations, and the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Atatürk, required a public memorial space that would exist in harmony with its established elements without overshadowing them. Despite its central location and intensive daily use, the square had become a place people merely passed through, with weak connections to the adjacent green area and the sea. Addressing these issues as essential in the design process, consequently, the Memorial for Miners was conceived not only as a commemorative installation but also as a catalyst to redesign the square itself.
THE MINER’S STORY
Though the memorial space serves as a reminder of miners Turkey lost in the mining disaster that occurred in Amasra on 14 October 2002, it also salutes other countless recorded and unrecorded events and miners lost throughout local history. The particular date also brings forth the history of struggle and hard-won achievements by miners. When considered together, these elements form a “Row of Miners”, where those lost are no longer mere numbers but individuals standing before us. This is why the space is not just one of mourning but also of hope – it recalls, raises awareness, and encourages change.
STORY OF COAL MINING
While questioning the scope and methods of commemoration, the Memorial employs multiple narratives and contrasting concepts. Mourning cannot be separated from hope. The lives lost cannot be considered apart from past struggles for worker rights and achievements. A single mining disaster cannot be isolated from the historic accumulation of incidents that led to it. History of coal mining must be remembered as a whole, encompassing both those suffering and those who were part of resistance. The narrative begins with the discovery of coal in the Ereğli Coal Basin in 1829 and continues to the present day, carrying the responsibility of recording the future chapters of the ongoing history of coal mining.
The memorial space brings together pillar and tunnel installations that extend into the urban fabric without becoming monumental. These modest objects are interconnected through traces on the ground, forming a physical timeline of the mining history in the Ereğli Coal Basin. The composition, where the pillars evoke miners and the tunnels represent mines, goes beyond didactic inscriptions. Instead, carefully selected milestone events are engraved into stone, fostering awareness and interaction through the experience of the space itself.
UNFINISHED MEMORIAL
The memorial is not yet finished. Its incomplete standing makes it possible for users think about how the memorial space can be extended, how miners’ struggles can be presented to the public, and how interactive users as actors producing the space can expand it over time. The physical boundary of the memorial and its dissolution into greenery emphasises the finitude of coal mining history. What awaits Amasra after coal mining is extinct should become an already new future construction shaped in detail.
PAUSE AND REST
The memorial space, which blends into the everyday built environment, aims to attract those who ‘pass through’ the square. Stalagmites and tunnels placed at different frequencies not only do interrupt the multiple use of the public space but also redirect and transform the unconscious act of ‘passing through’ meking a simple shortcut to a stop and a stopping point.
