See One Historic Turkish Street Before and After the Earthquakes

Video footage from a drone flying down a street in Antakya’s Old City, which is covered in rubble and surrounded by collapsed buildings. Labels indicate where businesses like Final Kurs Educational Center, Abdo Doner, Bank of Turkey, and Sen Mersin Jewelry once stood. Images of building facades are overlaid on top of some of the destroyed buildings.

Here is what’s left of one of the oldest streets in Antakya, a southern Turkish city, after a massive earthquake and aftershocks reduced it to rubble. Called Saray Street by locals, this stretch was once lined with more than 70 shops, restaurants and other businesses.

Drone path along

Saray Street

Asi River

Old City

This drone footage, taken less than three weeks after the earthquakes, shows the ruins of what used to be a vibrant main corridor in the heart of Antakya’s Old City, a commercial and religious hub. Some buildings are still standing, but most will need to be rebuilt.

To give a picture of what the structures looked like before the earthquakes, The New York Times overlaid images of building facades from Google Maps’ Street View, when they were available.

Rafet Yavrum

Antik Han Restaurant is among the businesses that have been wiped out. For decades, it served traditional Turkish fare to both locals and tourists. Ahmet Cuceoglu, owner of the restaurant, who also lost his home and two other businesses nearby, said he felt “like the soul is gone” from his hometown.

Bedel Saget

KIDEM was one of several educational centers in the building. The area stayed open until 2 to 3 a.m., said Nizamettin Kazar, a friend of the owner. “All the young people would hang around and socialize here,” he said. “It was like a small Istanbul.”

Entrance to church

Celal Kirdar via Google Maps

The Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, which had elegantly decorated walls and a bell tower, collapsed with the shops that it leased on its ground floor, burying all the church’s valuables. “I don’t even have my dress for a ceremony, not even one book,” said Dimitri Dogum, a priest at the 150-year-old church.

Selin Sozer Halimoglu

Altikapi Hotel and Restaurant had been renovated just months before the earthquakes. “This area had its own aura, you know, its own life,” said Dr. Ilke Eraslan, 24, who frequented the restaurant.

Bedel Saget

Just down the street, Nizam Yuksel and his wife, Esra, owned Barudi Cafe. “Visitors always came to this neighborhood,” said Ms. Yuskel, “to have doner kebabs,” a Turkish dish similar to Greek gyros.

Antik Beyazit Hotel via Instagram

Antik Beyazit Hotel called itself “Hatay’s first historical boutique hotel.” Originally built as a mansion in 1903, it featured exquisite decor, a large chandelier and bright guest rooms.

Bedel Saget

Rafet Yavrum is the headman, an elected official who represents the neighborhood. He had an office in the corner building just shown, which he said was built by the French about 100 years ago.

Owner Sabahattin Toksay

Verde Erkek Kuaforu via Google Maps

Verde, a barbershop, doubled as a “therapy room” for customers, who would come to talk about everything from their private lives to sports, said Sabahattin Toksay, the owner since 2000. He provided “special shaves” for generations of families — grandfathers and their grandsons.

Officials said shortly after the earthquakes that at least 80 percent of all buildings in Antakya would need to be demolished. Across Turkey, more than 50,000 people have died and more than 1.5 million people have been displaced.

The destruction on Saray Street is a fraction of all that was lost in Old City. It was Antakya’s anchor — bringing residents together for dining, shopping, gathering and praying.

Narrow streets like Saray had cul-de-sacs with some of the area’s finest restaurants serving local cuisines and desserts, like knafeh, a sweet cheese pastry. It was “the gastronomy market of Antakya,” said Ms. Yuksel, who co-owned Barudi Cafe.

Not far from Saray, Kurtulus Street is another commercial hub that was destroyed by the earthquakes. Stretching a mile, it had several shops, restaurants and hotels.

Beyond its shops and restaurants, Old City had some of the most important and oldest religious and cultural institutions. Among the places that are now gone and may never be restored are: the Antakya Protestant Church; the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch; Antakya Synagogue; and Habibi Neccar Mosque, which is one of the first mosques in the Anatolia region, an area that spans most of Turkey.

Damaged or destroyed historic or cultural landmark

Map showing the boundaries of Old City and labeling cultural landmarks that were damaged or destroyed. Institutions like the Greek Orthodox Church of Antioch, Antakya Synagogue and Habibi Neccar Mosque are labeled.

ANTAKYA

Ihsaniye

Mosque

Antakya

Post Office

Adali

Mansion

Mahremiye

Mosque

New

Mosque

Former

Town

Hall

Former

Parliament

of Hatay

New

Public

Bath

Habibi Neccar

Mosque

Kemal Pasa St.

Bank of

Ziraat

Sheik Ali

Mosque

Grand (Ulu)

Mosque

Kurtulus St.

ASI RIVER

Old City

Greek Orthodox

Church of Antioch

Antakya

Ata College

Saray St.

Sarimiye Mosque

Antakya Synagogue

The Liwan

Hotel

Affan Coffeehouse

Antakya

Protestant

Church

Government

Building

Turkey

Antakya

500 ft.

ANTAKYA

Ihsaniye

Mosque

Antakya

Post Office

Adali

Mansion

Mahremiye

Mosque

New

Mosque

Former

Parliament

of Hatay

Former

Town

Hall

New

Public

Bath

Kemal Pasa St.

Bank of

Ziraat

Sheik Ali

Mosque

Grand (Ulu)

Mosque

ASI RIVER

Habibi Neccar

Mosque

Greek Orthodox

Church of Antioch

Old City

Sarimiye Mosque

Antakya

Ata College

Kurtulus St.

Saray St.

The Liwan Hotel

Antakya Synagogue

Affan Coffeehouse

Antakya

Protestant

Church

Feb. 6

earthquakes

Government

Building

Turkey

Antakya

500 ft.

ANTAKYA

Ihsaniye

Mosque

Antakya

Post Office

Adali

Mansion

Mahremiye

Mosque

New

Mosque

Former

Town

Hall

Former

Parliament

of Hatay

New

Public

Bath

Habibi Neccar

Mosque

Kemal Pasa St.

Bank of

Ziraat

Sheik Ali

Mosque

Grand (Ulu)

Mosque

Kurtulus St.

ASI RIVER

Old City

Greek Orthodox

Church of Antioch

Antakya

Ata College

Saray St.

Sarimiye Mosque

Antakya Synagogue

The Liwan

Hotel

Affan Coffeehouse

Antakya

Protestant

Church

Government

Building

Turkey

Antakya

500 ft.

Adali

Mansion

Antakya

Post Office

Mahremiye

Mosque

Ihsaniye

Mosque

New

Mosque

Former

Town Hall

Former

Parliament

of Hatay

Kemal Pasa St.

Grand (Ulu)

Mosque

Bank of

Ziraat

New Public

Bath

Sheik Ali

Mosque

ANTAKYA

Habibi Neccar

Mosque

ASI RIVER

Kurtulus St.

Old City

Greek Orthodox

Church of Antioch

Sarimiye

Mosque

Antakya

Synagogue

Antakya

Ata College

Saray St.

The Liwan

Hotel

Government

Building

Turkey

Affan Coffeehouse

Feb. 6

earthquakes

Antakya

Protestant

Church

Antakya

500 ft.

Scott Reinhard

Many residents and business owners had taken great pride in Old City’s multicultural alliances and embrace of various cultures.

“Here, there’s a church, there’s a mosque, and there’s a synagogue,” said Ozgur Akseven, 34, who owned Eva Lounge Cafe, a restaurant with live music near Saray Street. “In the community, we are Armenian, we are Christian, we are Muslim, we are Jewish. We are human all together.”

When the church bell rang, Mr. Akseven said, his lounge would stop the music, and everyone would stop drinking for about 45 minutes to show respect.

Mr. Akseven, who had returned to retrieve his scooter from the rubble in late February, spoke of his family’s connection to the neighborhood. “Even my father’s father has some memories in here. This is real history,” he said, adding that “the identity of Antakya was erased” with the earthquakes.

For Dr. Eraslan, Old City was an important place she visited often with her family. “It was good before,” she said, “but we didn’t understand before we lost our city, how important it was to us.”

But Antakya, formerly called Antioch, is no stranger to disaster. Since its birth, it has rebuilt itself over and over, emerging resilient every time.

“The community always came back stronger from each disaster,” said Andrea U. De Giorgi, an author of “Antioch: A History,” and a professor of classical studies at Florida State University.

Rebuilding and restoring all that was lost in Old City may take many years.

“We have a long road ahead of us,” said Deniz Ozturk, a restoration expert and volunteer working on the ground in Antakya.

For now, what was once a vibrant part of the Old City remains desolate, and sits eerily empty.