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Turkish Architecture

In their homeland in Central Asia, Turks lived in dome-like tents appropriate to their natural surroundings, and they were nomads. These tents later influenced Turkish architecture and ornamental arts.

At the time when the Seljuk Turks first came to Iran, they encountered an architecture based on old traditions. Integrating this with elements from their own traditions, the Seljuks produced new types of structures. The most important type of structure they formulated was the" medrese". The first medresses (Muslim theological schools) were constructed in the 11th century by the famous minister Nizamülmülk, during the time of Alparslan and Melik Shah. The most important ones are the three government medresses in Nisabur, Tus and Baghdad and the Hargerd Medresse in Horasan.

Another area in which the Seljuks contributed to architecture is that of tomb monuments. These can be divided into two types: vaults and big dome-like mausoleums.
The Ribati- Serif and the Ribati Anasirvan are examples of surviving 12th century Seljuk caravanserais, where travelers would stop over for the night. In Seljuk buildings, brick was generally used, while the inner and outer walls were decorated in a material made by mixing marble, powder, lime and plaster.
In typical buildings of the Anatolian Seljuk period, the major construction material was wood, laid horizontally except along windows and doors, where columns were considered more decorative.
Turkish architecture reached its peak during the Ottoman period. OttomanSeljuk, Byzantine and Arab architecture, came to develop a style all of its own.

The years 1300-1453 constitute the early or first Ottoman period, when Ottoman art was in search of new ideas. During this period we encounter three types of mosque: tiered single-domed and sub line-angled mosques. The Junior Haci Özbek Mosque (1333) in Iznik, the first important centre of Ottoman art, is the first example of Ottoman single-domed mosques.
The architectural style which was to take on classical form after the conquest of Istanbul, was born in Bursa and in Edirne. The Great Mosque (Ulu Cami) in Bursa was the first Seljuk mosque to be converted into a domed one. EdirneOttoman capital before Istanbul, and it is here that we witness the final stages in the architectural development that culminated in the construction of the great mosques of Istanbul. The buildings constructed in Istanbulcapture of the city and the construction of the mosque of Sultan Bayezit are also considered works of the early period. Among these are the mosques of Fatih (1470), the mosque of Mahmutpasa, Tiled Pavilion and Topkapi Palace.
In Ottoman times the mosque did not exist by itself. It was looked on by society as being very much interconnected with city planning and communal life. Beside the mosque there were soup kitchens, theological schools, hospitals, Turkish baths and tombs.

During the classical period mosque plans changed to include an inner and outer courtyard. The inner courtyard and the mosque were inseparable. The master architect of the classical period, Mimar Sinan, was born in 1492 in Kayseri and died in Istanbul in the year 1588. Sinan started a new era in world architecture, creating 334 buildings in various cities. His style was to have a considerable influence on future epochs. Mimar Sinan's first important work was the Sehzade Mosque completed in 1548. His second significant work was the Süleymaniye Mosque and surrounding complex, built for Kanuni Sultan Süleyman. The Selimiye mosque in Edirne was built during the years 1568-74, when Sinan was in his prime as an architect. The Rüstempasa, Mihrimah Sultan, Ibrahimpasa, and Sinan mosques and the Shehzade, Kanuni Sultan Süleyman, Hürrem Sultan and Selim II mausoleums are among Sinan's most renowned works.
Examples of Ottoman architecture of the classical period, aside from IstanbulEdirne, can also be seen in Egypt, Tunisia, Algiers, the Balkans and Hungary, where mosques, bridges, fountains and schools were built.
During the years 1720-1890, Ottoman art deviated from the principles of classical times. In the 18th century, during the Lale (Tulip) period, Ottoman artOttoman art. Fountains became the characteristic structures of this period. An eclecticism set in. The Aksaray Valide mosque in Istanbul is an example of the mixture of Turkish art came under the influence of the excessive decorations of the west; Baroque, Rococo, Ampir and other styles intermingled with and Gothic style.
In Turkish architecture, the years 1890-1930 are looked upon as the neoclassical period. In this period, Turkish architects looked to the religious and classical buildings of former times for inspiration in their attempts to construct a national architecture. Nationalism, developing strongly after the second Ottoman constitutional period, freed Ottoman architecture from the influence of western art, and thereby brought about a new style based on classic OttomanGazi Institute of Education by architect Kemalettin, the Foundation Apartments and architect Vedat's old parliament buildings are all works of the new classical school.

These notable works were followed by a new approach directed towards contemporary architecture. The Ismet Pasa Girls' Institute, the Ankara Faculty of Letters, the Saracoglu district, the Grand Theatre and the Istanbul Hilton paved the way for recognition of contemporary architecture. During this period, Sedat Hakki Eldem built the Istanbul Science-Literature Faculty and Emin Onat designed Atatürk's Mausoleum in Ankara.
After 1950, the trend in constructing buildings came to depend more on their purpose, the requirements of the age, awareness of town planning and the practicality of construction materials. The National Library designed by Sevki Vanli , The Turkish Historical Society building by Turgut Cansever, The IstanbulAnatolian Club, Behruz Çinici's Erzurum Atatürk University, Ankara's Middle East Technical University, the Oren and Bodrum coastal strips, the Houses of Parliament, the Kayseri Surgical Clinic designed by Affan Kirimli, the Adana Social Security Headquarters and the Ankara Medical Faculty Hospitals are all examples of Republican architecture.
By the 1970's, restoration work on old buildings notable for their architecture had been carried out to convert them into hotels and restaurants for public use. Also during this period there was a return to classical Turkish architectural styles, blended with contemporary techniques in search of new syntheses.

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Safranbolu and traditional Turkish houses

Topics

• Safranbolu
• Traditional Turkish Houses

Safranbolu

The known history of Safranbolu, located near the north western Black Sea coast of Anatolia, in Karabük near by Zonguldak, dates back as far as 3000 BC.
Once a city of Roman Province of "Paphlagonia", Safranbolu has hosted many civilizations including the Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman Empires throughout its history. During the Ottoman era the town served as an important junction on the Kastamonu - Gerede (Bolu)- Istanbul route of the famous silk road. Safranbolu was at the same time a popular residence for Ottoman Royalty close to the Sultan and Grand Viziers.

The city received its name from the saffron which is native in Safranbolu. The powder obtained from its flower is a very strong dye. Used in very small quantities, saffron adds a delicate flavor, distinct aroma and a very unique color to deserts and other food in the Turkish Cuisine. It is also used for some Turkish carpets as a unique dye. Also unique in Safranbolu is the famous Çavus grapes with its extremely thin skin and sweet flavor.
Safranbolu displays its extremely rich historical and cultural heritage through 1008 architectural structures displaying a good example of Turkish architecture, all preserved in their original environment. These structures include the public buildings such as Cinci Hodja Kervansaray and Cinci Hodja Hamam, Mosques of Koprulu Mehmet and Izzet Mehmet Pashas, The Tennaries Clock tower, Old hospital premises, The guild of shoe makers, The Incekaya aqueduct, The old city hall and fountains as well as hundreds of private residences. Rock tombs and tumulus just outside the city are also of interest.
Safranbolu was placed in the world Cultural Heritage list by UNESCO in appreciation of the successful efforts in the preservation of its heritage as a whole. Safranbolu has deserved its real name for its houses.
These houses are perfect examples of old civilian architecture, reflecting the Turkish social life of the 18th and 19th centuries. The size and the planning of the houses are deeply affected by the large size of the families, in other words a total members of a big family living together in one house. The impressive architecture of their roofs have led them to be called as "Houses with five façades". The houses are two or three storied consisting of 6 to 9 rooms, each room is entirely detailed and have ample window space allowing plenty of light. The delicate woodwork and carved wall and ceiling decorations, the banisters indoor knobs etc. all come together to form an unmatched harmony of architectural aesthetics and Turkish art.

Traditional Turkish Houses

Being strong and durable, functional, economical and aesthetic are the basic characteristics of the traditional Turkish house. The houses are built along the roads and on the edges of the squares in an order which reflects a strong respect for the neighbors. In most cases, the houses on both sides of the roads, which follow the configurations of the land, are separated with high walls and have overhanging sections on these walls, reaching towards the street.
Entrance to the house is generally through an inner door which opens onto the garden. When household chores permitted, the lady of the house, whose privacy is ensured with the high walls, would go upstairs and look around and chat with neighbors from the overhanging windows of the hall which face either the street or the garden. The large windows of the upper floors protected with bars or grills allowed this outlet.
Inside, the rooms were placed around a common space called sofa (hall), either on one or two sides or all around it. Sofas were in a sense interior court yards. It is an area which provides work space during the daily life as well as facilitating circulation among the rooms. They are opened to the outside sometimes completely on one side and sometimes on both sides.
The rooms were arranged to meet all the needs of their occupants. There, one could sit and rest, sleep, eat, worship, work and even take a bath. The recessed cupboards, open shelves, storage cupboards and places for washing lining the walls functioned as built in furniture. The divans placed in front of the windows were both seats and beds and left centers of the rooms free. The main living area of the house was the upper floor while the ground floor was allocated to service spaces.
The materials used in the houses varied according to the regions and climatic conditions. Wood and stone were used in the Black Sea Region, while it was stone and wood according to the locale in the West and the South and combinations of mud brick and wood in the Center and the Eastern parts of the country.

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Houses Of A Yoruk Village

In the principal room of Sipahioglu House in the village of Yoruk near Safranbolu in northern Turkey and above the great wooden cupboards fitted around the walls, ran a frieze of painted decoration. From the windows of this lovely house, which has been open to the public since 1999, could be seen others of the traditional Ottoman Turkish type, of which examples are to be seen in many parts of Anatolia and the Balkans. Although the oldest houses in the village were constructed in the 17th century according to their date plaques, the majority date from the late 19th century. They have lower floors of stone, timber framed upper floors, tiled roofs with broad eaves, windows with shutters and lattices, and jettied bays supported by long corbels. Some have belvederes set into the roof. The last representatives of a past way of life, these houses were built according to an unwritten but ubiquitous law based on the principle that human lives are shaped by the houses they live in. Traditional respect for on'se neighbours is manifested in the way that no house blocks the sun or view of another, none invades their neighbouedu privacy by windows overlooking the nextdoor garden, or has a gutter that empties rainwater over the boundary.
Each room is designed as an independent living space for a nuclear family, in the days when extended families occupied these large houses. The wooden cupboards served not only for clothes, but to pack away the mattresses and bed linen during the day, so transforming bedroom into living room. Concealed inside one cupboard is a tiny washroom like a modern shower cubicle, known as a yunmalik, and each room has a fireplace. At meal times the room became a dining room, simply by bringing out a low portable table known as a sini. This multifunctional concept derived from nomadic culture in the days when the yoruk people were tent dwellers, and gave the individual members of large families a personal world of their own, even when living under the same roof with grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins. The living quarters of the houses are on the upper floors, the ground floor being occupied by the hayat (an open or covered area used for diverse domestic tasks), kitchen, storage rooms and stables. Depending on the prosperity of the owner, the upstairs rooms may include a bas oda (principal room), library and prayer room. The number of windows and even the width of the floorboards are indicators of how wealthy the family was. The inhabitants of the village trace their ancestry to the Karakecili branch of the Kayi clan, itself a branch of the Oguz Turks who were the principal settlers in Anatolia.

<<< More Information About Nomads (Yoruks) >>>

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Safranbolu Houses

Safranbolu is the best preserved town in Anatolia. A rare blessing for those who would like to picture how an Ottoman town looked 200 years ago, Safranbolu, with its little-changed cobbled pavements and authentic marketplace is a virtual open-air museum.
The sloping terrain at Safranbolu, which is situated in a deep canyon carved out by three rivers, produced interesting architectural solutions. The stone-built ground floors of Safranbolu houses, most of which are two- or three-storey mansions, generally follow the natural gradient of the street. The upper stories meanwhile, supported by buttresses, may project over the street. Although the houses are built on small, oddly shaped lots, thanks to this building technique the upper level rooms are nevertheless rectangular and spacious. Another aspect of the technique is that the house’s axis can be rotated slightly on the upper stories according to need or exposure to the sun! The houses along the narrow streets of the marketplace thus rise twisting and turning like screw shells over the narrow and sloping plots of land to which they cling.
The interiors of the houses are as elegant as their exteriors. The low-ceilinged middle stories used in winter are cozy and warm like a womb while the upper floors, used in summer, are airy with high ceilings. The master bedroom, the most beautiful room with the best view, is usually situated on the topmost floor. This room, decorated with woodwork and stenciling, is where the master craftsmen exhibited all their skill. In typical Safranbolu houses, each room was furnished in such a way as to meet all the needs of the nuclear family. It is not for nothing that Safranbolu residents called each one of these rooms a ‘house’ since they could be a sitting room in the daytime thanks to divans running around the wall, simultaneously a kitchen thanks to the hearth, a bedroom thanks to the floor mattresses taken out of the cupboard at night, and a bathroom thanks to the washstand concealed in the cupboard! Because they were designed as independent units, each of the rooms was assigned a name such as ‘storage house’, ‘guest house’ or ‘dining house’.
During the years when Safranbolu was becoming a popular destination for tourists, there was a constant stream of visitors to the traditional houses. The house owners, who at first welcomed the tourists hospitably, naturally tired of this human traffic with time. But just at that point the museum houses came to the rescue. The first of them, and perhaps the most beautiful, is the Kaymakamlar Evi, a house that was opened to visitors in 1981 following a restoration by the Ministry of Culture. This mansion is one of the most flawless examples of the Safranbolu house. Meanwhile the Turing Havuzlu Konak, or Mansion with Pool operated by the Touring Club of Turkey, which began serving guests in 1989, is the first historic mansion in Turkey to have been converted into a hotel. The nicest surprise of this mansion, which greets visitors at the entrance to the town and was once owned by one of its wealthiest families, is the approximately 1.8 meter-deep pool that holds several tons of water in the living room—restored and used as a café today.

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Eastern Black Sea Houses

Eastern Black Sea villages nestle against the slopes of the valleys that run down to the sea from the mountain ranges parallel to the coast. Finding a patch of level ground in these villages is extremely difficult, and people are forced to climb up or downhill for all their activities. If the particular spot where you live has no view of the sea, then you won’t find even a single horizontal line among the trees, hills and mountains on which to rest your gaze. The road that follows a rushing stream along the valley floor is shared by all the villages in that valley. Since such roads only meet at the shore, the people living in one valley have virtually no relations with the inhabitants of even the next valley. In other words, each valley is virtually a closed ‘cultural basin’.
The houses of the Eastern Black Sea are so scattered within the boundaries of their village that there is usually not even a tiny central square. Why then are houses built so far apart on the Black Sea? The reason naturally is not that people want to avoid each other. The sole explanation is the rough terrain. Consequently, any spots suitable for building are snapped up with no concern for proximity to a neighbor. This insular and solitary way of life is universally acknowledged to be responsible for the temperamental, contentious and ruggedly independent nature of the Black Sea people, which has endowed them with a capacity for solving their own problems without seeking help from others. With building materials gathered and techniques gleaned from the environment, these people have succeeded in constructing houses that are perfectly suited to the region's natural conditions. In this region, where erosion has thinned the topsoil, houses are built wherever a patch of cultivable land can be found. Another factor that influences the location of houses is water, sources of which tend to be scattered all over the village.
The building traditions and house-plans of the Eastern Black Sea take a variety of forms within the region, exhibiting yet other variations along the coast. In the Far East, for example, in Savsat township of Artvin province, the houses are made completely of wood. In Yusufeli on the other hand the side and back walls are of stone. In the township's coastal sector we begin to find walls built by the 'goz dolma' technique. This technique, which is widespread along the coast of Rize, gives way to timber again as one travels inland and upward. The minute you enter Trabzon, the 'goz dolma' technique is replaced by the 'muskali dolma' style, consisting of amulet-like triangles that appear to be made of tiny cubes. (Both of the so-called 'dolma' styles are based on a building technique of 'filling' in timber frames with stones or other materials.) In the sparsely forested Arakli and Duzkoy valleys of Trabzon province, there are houses, albeit few in number, whose facades consist entirely of, stone walls. The timber exteriors encountered on the coast from the Georgian border to near Trabzon do not appear again all the way to Ordu. Meanwhile the interior dividing walls of houses throughout the region are made exclusively of wooden materials. All along the coast the roofs are made of tiles, whereas in the higher villages they are covered with thin wood shingles known as 'hartama' or 'bedevra'.
The layout of the Eastern Black Sea house is its back to the hillside, its front overlooking the valley. The Black Sea house's underground level is a stable for the dairy animals. Above this is the owner's living space. Known for their innate resourcefulness, natives of the Eastern Black Sea build their bedrooms over the stable to take advantage of the heat radiated by the animals on cold winter nights. On the ground floor, in the part of the house that rests against the hillside, they make use of an earthen floor. This section, called the 'ashane' ( kitchen), is where all the daily activities are carried out. An open fire burns in the center of this room, where food is cooked and consumed and guests are entertained. There are no windows in this area and is therefore a dark space, the only light being that coming in through the door. The bedrooms are in the other half of the house which overlooks the valley. While bedrooms in villages west of Trabzon open onto the kitchen, in the eastern regions a corridor separates the two areas in an arrangement that affords more privacy. Meanwhile, in the coastal villages of Artvin and Rize, this corridor becomes a large living room called a 'hayat', a light and spacious area affording a panoramic view of the valley and a place to pass the time on boring winter days when one is cooped up inside. This section is heated by a stove, from whose warmth the bedrooms benefit as well. All daytime and nocturnal activities are carried out on the ground floor of Eastern Black Sea houses. Besides the usual household chores, people are constantly busy raising vegetables, tea, hazelnuts and tobacco, procuring firewood and feeding the animals. An upper floor would naturally increase the burden of, and the fatigue caused by, these tasks. The tradition of having an upstairs can be seen only in the villages of Ardesen and Camlihemsin in Rize province. Here the bedrooms are on the second floor, which results in a substantial increase in living space.