Building History in Turkey
Due to the reason that Turkey has a variety of climate types and geographical features, we see different kinds of local materials on use in the general architecture. Therefore, a building in Mardin, a building in Safranbolu or a building in Konya has distinctive characteristics.
Buldan House… Kemaliye House… Especially, local stones are very common and important in the general architecture. We can say that
Historical Peninsula has lots of varieties of local stones. 1-Bakırköy küfeki stone
2- Marmara Marble
3- İstanbul black limestone 4- Gebze rudist limestone
5- Gebze red and beige marl limestone 6- Hereke pudding stone
7- Bilecik Vezirhan stone 8- Bandırma marble 9- Armutlu granite 10- Şirinçavuş tuff 11- Kestanbol granite
12- Adapazarı black limestone 13- Afyon marble
14- Kozak granite 15- Iasos marble 16- Karamürsel stone
17- Bilecik Gülümbe limestone
Bakırköy Küfeki Stone
AC 3rd century, Gots Column Marmara Marble Hereke pudding stone
Frigya (Iassos) Marble, Ayasofya Kestanbol granite columns , Basilica Cistern
Marmara Marble, floor coverd, Topkapı Palace
Küfeki Stone
Küfeki stone was generally used in İstanbul and Trakya during the Roman and Byzantine period. It was also known as “ lümaşelli kalker” and “maktralı kalker ” or” Bakırköy Taşı” and it is the only kind of stone which could resist for 2000-2500 years long. It is composed of seashells and mainly of oyster shell and it is a kind of limestone.
Küfeki stone had been the main stone of inside and outside of all buildings since the construction of Süleymaniye Building Compound after Byzantine’s construction of Hagia Sophia and City Walls.
Around The Bakırköy, Küfeki Quarry, 1962. During Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman periods this stone was obtained from quarries nearby Bakırköy, and accordingly it was named as ” Bakırköy Taşı” .Although it is limited to a great extent, today küfeki stone production continues.
Usage of Küfeki Stone in aqueduct Valens
( Bozdoğan ) 4th century) ( Dilek D.BİLGİLİ, 2010)
Usage of küfeki stone in indoor arch
Usage of Küfeki Stone on consols and Flemish cross bond Şehit Ali Paşa Kütüphanesi, Vefa Lisesi ( 18.yy başı ) ( Dilek D. BİLGİLİ, 2010 )
Mimar Sinan monument Şehzade Mehmet Mosque and Guesthouse (16.yy ) ( Dilek D. BİLGİLİ, 2010 ) Features of Küfeki Stone
It is an organic sedimantary stone. It is composed of limestone, fossil (such as oyster and mussel) and silica subsidence. Küfeki is a stone which has a color of light beige, light yellow, in grey tones. It looks as sandy and it is fine grained,with fossil, cavernous and crystalized compacted stone. Küfeki stone was used as the main building element in many important architectural assets during the Byzantine and Ottoman. Fo example, İstanbul City Walls, Silivri Bidge, Aqueducts, Topkapı Palace, Süleymaniye Mosque. Mimar Sinan(The Great Architect Sinan), had made specific researches on küfeki stone and he used this material in his architecture owing to the fact that its easy processability, esthetic and durability features. We can understand the places of usage and fineness of küfeki stone in Mimar Sinan’s monuments which are still regarded the most remarkable examples of Turkish architecture. Not only as a material for facades, küfeki stone was also used in indoors, floor coverings, arches, columnes, cases, oriels, wall coping, fire places, landscape, reliefs, portal, mehrab and mimbar. It is used in the restoration of old buildings in nowadays architecture. Furthermore, researches have been carried out for discovering quarries which has the same quality of Küfeki Stone. It is found out that küfeki stone can be used in cement sector as pozzolana.
EXAMPLES OF COUNTRY SPECIFIC PRESERVATION AND RESTORATION TECHNIQUES IN TURKEY
Malakari
Çini ( The art of Turkish tile ) Kündekari
Kalemişi ( Edirnekari, sıva üstü, deri üstü…vb.)
Revzen ( müzeyyen and fevkalade müzeyyen )( traditional stained-glass in Turkey) Kubbe kurşun kaplama ( lead-lined dome )
Horasan harcı ve sıvası ( Horasan mortar and plaster ( grog) )
Malakari
Tomb of Barbaros, 16 th century, Malakari works.
Malakari is a traditional decoration technique greatly used in Ottoman period on domes, ceilings and walls. Malakari is a kind of plaster ornament applied through reliefing plaster. There are four main types of Malakari: normal malakari, müzeyyen malakari, relief malakari, hendese malakari. Firstly, it started to develop in 8th and 9th century in the works of Uygur Turks. 1Later on it was seen on the works of Seljuks, Ottomans and it continued to be the one of the most significant examples of Turkish art till Republican period. 2
1 MEGEP(Mesleki Eğitim ve Öğretim Sisteminin Güçlendirilmesi Projesi),İnşaat Teknolojisi, Malakari 2
Çini ( The art of Turkish tile)
In this world-wide known art technique of Turkish building history, painted patterns are applied to ceramic
surfaces. There are several
types of patters in this art ; hatayi, rumi, clouds, contours, semi-stylate flower patterns, naturalist flowers, margents, geometric patterns. Turkish tile art is divided into two main parts : Seljuks period and Ottoman period. During Seljuks period, especially in mid 13th century, botanical and Rumi patterns took significant part in this art. In this period main colors used in this art were purple, violet, black, gren, gold, brown and different tones of blue. Blue-white tiles are the most significant examples of this early Ottoman period. Ottomans later developed this technique. 15th and 16th century was a new period in the history of Turkish tile. In this period, tulips, carnations, roses started to become prominent through a more naturalistic style. Today, Kutahya has been became an important center of tile and ceramic-making.3Kündekari
Kündekari is one of the Turkish traditional wooden ornament arts. Kündekari is an adornment technique which is acquired by interlocking small geometric wooden pieces. It was improved during the Seljuks period in Anatolia. In Seljuks period wooden assets, which were altar, mosque doors, cabinet doors, were made through compressing sprits and sash bars by grooves without using glue and nail. First examples of Kündekari were seen in the 12th. Century in Anatolia, Egypt and Halep.
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Walnut, pear, ebony, buxus, cedrus libani, rose, apple trees are used for this special technique. There are two types of kündekari : original kündekari, imitation kündekari, embossing kündekari, nailing and cementing kündekari.4
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