SAFRANBOLU - CAN AKIN
SAFRANBOLU * CAN AKIN The cities show us that how a nation lived, what they succeesed in the past. Safranbolu was taken to the World Heritage List by UNESCO in 1994 and there are 1131 historical monuments well protected in Safranbolu.
At the OWHC Meeting in Rhodes in 2003, Safranbolu was selected as one of the best preserved cities among 20 cities in the World. There are a lot of historical buildings in Turkey and some of them are scattered in another cities except for Safranbolu. The city of Safranbolu and its historical buildings, houses and culture are different. Safranbolu is very sumptuous with its historical houses and streets. You can feel history in Safranbolu.
Safranbolu is a treasure and most important example of preservation. It is like a time tunnel with its houses, fountains, castle, clock tower, mosques, inns, baths and bridges which have rich backgraund.
While you are walking on the streets, you can see historical houses, lean the old walls and drink water from old fountains.
Except for unigue historical buildings, Safranbolu has caves, canyons, plateaus, king graves, villages, grape and saffron gardens and delights. Safranbolu became important tourism centre.
We read history from books and see it in the museums. When you are in Safranbolu, you can feel, smell and see history. Would you like to look the history from this window opens from past to present?The Houses of Safranbolu and
Architectural Features of them
The most important thing that brings Safranbolu to the forefront in Turkey and the world is the Safranbolu houses which are an example of Turkish architecture. These houses are important due to their place in urban life and their architecture. In other terms, the Safranbolu houses are an important structure that continue to survive centuries-old to our modern day urban life.
The houses are in two parts of Safranbolu. The first are the houses in the Şehir (the town Centre and Kıranköy) and these are used in winter. The second are the houses in Bağlar and they are used as summer houses.
Almost everybody there has a winter house and a summer house. The residents in the region live in the town during winter and go to the summer houses in Bağlar when the weather starts to warm up. The production and trade in the Town Centre - Çarşı continues through the summer months as usual.
Three factors contrbute to the sizes and designs of the houses in Safranbolu: large families with many members, raining climate, cultural and financial richness.
Architects of today often emphasise the design of respect for the environment of the Safranbolu houses has. The relationships between nature-human-home, street-house and street-town is very structured and balanced. There is a great respect not only fort he environment but also to neighbours. No house prevents the view of another. In short, the view is equally shared in Safranbolu.
Stone, mud brick, timber and turkish roof tiles have been used to build the houses that are not only functional for use by people but also logically designed. No matter what the shape of the land is, the upper floors of the house are always contructed appropriatly geometrical.
The gardens are separated from the street with stone walls. The double wing doors lead to the garden and sometimes straight into the house. It is possible to see the grandeur at the entrance, the door.
As a result of the tradition of the separate quarters for men and women, some house have two entrances.
At the entrance of the house, there is the courtyard or foyer on the ground floor. Here, there is a wooden cage called a gliste to allow light to come inside and to help in drying out the wood which is stacked behind it. Also on the groud floow is the stables, large boilers and cellars.
A stairway, displaying skillful mastery in wood handicraft, takes you to the upper floors. İkinci kat diğer katlara göre daha basıktır. On this floor, there is a kitchen that can also be used as a bedroom. There is a wooden cylindrical turning cupboard between the kitchen and the mens quaters used for serving of meals. The daily living quaters are on the middle floor. It is easier to heat this floor on cold winter days.