The
word “kilim” refers to a flatweave rug
or rug without knotted pile. Essentially
nomadic in origin, kilims were made as
a provision for the practicalities of
everyday tribal life. They served as rugs,
tent bands,
bags, food covers, eating cloth and prayer
rugs. They also were an integral part
of a young woman’s dowry. Each article
would contain symbols and motifs of family
traditions and tribal or regional identity.
Nowadays kilims are still widely used
in Turkish houses.
The
Kilim is the best-known flat-woven
rug, but there are also three other kinds
of flatweaves: the Cicim (pronounce
djidjim), Zilli and Sumak.
ARCHITECTURE
The
Seljuk
Turks were skilled builders who applied the
iwan-shaped hall architectural plan, of Iranian
origin, to their different constructions: mosques
, medreses (Muslim
theological schools), orphanages,
hospitals or caravansarais
(which offered shelter to the travellers),
were all characterized by a rectangular plan with
a flat roof, a large horseshoe shaped (iwan) porch
opening onto an inner space either open with a
central courtyard surrounded by storied galeries,
or entirely covered with a roof supported by pillars.
They also combined this basic plan with some Byzantine
and Arabic elements such as the dome, the vault
or the multiple arcatures. The tomb monuments
( türbe and kümbet )
are cylindrical with a flat roofed dome, or polygonal
with a conic roof. Their ornemental decoration
is graphic and based on interlacings, ribbon effects,
repeteted geometrical motifs, floral and animal
stylization, heraldic patterns. In addition to
woodcarving and stonecarving, the Seljuks mastered
the technique of painted and glazed brick
and tile making.
The
first mosques and theological schooling institutions
called “medrese”, appeared in Anatolia
(Konya and Aksaray) during the time of Kiliç Arslan
(1092-1107). Among the finest examples in Anatolian
Seljuk architecture are the medreses of
Sirçali, Karatay and Ince Minare in Konya,
Gök, Buruciye and Cifte Minareli in Sivas,
Cacabey in Kirsehir, and the mosque and hospital
in Divrigi,
all built in the 13 th century.
The Ottoman Turks,
heirs of The Seljuks, in
turn were
great builders. Two main schools florished in
the 14 th century:
The school of Bursa (14-15th century) is the
period when Ottoman style mosques are built. A
square structure on the ground is combined with
a dome. A porch, a minaret and sometimes a convent
or a hospital are added. This kind of great mosque
is beautifully ornemented with polychrome tiles
from Iznik.
Murat
I Mosque (1360-1389) - Bursa
The school of Istanbul or school of Sinan
(16-17th century): the great architect Sinan,
influenced by the discovery of Haghia
Sophia, intended to surpass them, and started
a new era in architecture. Cubic volume is converted
into hemispheric faceted volume. Outside, volumes
rising skilfully in tiers create a silhouette
effect (Süleymaniye Mosque
in Istanbul). Inside, geometric or floral tile
decorations become more and more elaborate. The
architectural development culminates in the construction
of the great mosques in Istanbul
and Edirne.
Süleymaniye Mosque
Topkapi Palace, fountains, caravaserais, private
residences in which freestone, carved wood and
enameled ceramics were used together, are beautiful
examples of civil architecture.
Topkapi Palace
Tophane Fountain (1732)
hammams: the Ottoman conception of public
baths was different from that of the Romans
and Byzantines,
who considered that thermaes
was a place of meeting and relaxation, mainly
reserved to the high society. On the contrary,
hammams built by sultans, vizirs or rich merchants,
had a religious and popular origin deriving from
both Koran (ablutions ritual) and the use of steamrooms
by the Turks and the Mongols. They hold three
rooms: a vestibule, a first temperate bath, and
a steamroom heated by a stream of watersteam circulating
under the slabs. Initially its plan was cubic
with a dome, and was bare of any kind of ornementation.
In the harems of
palaces and rich houses, the hamam was a place
of leisure and relaxation where women spent a
lot of their time.
Sketch
of a hammam
“Bath”
painting by Gerôme,
1880
Modern
hammam
Caravanserais
and hans: the
same remarks can be made for these richly sculpted
monuments built along the Seljuk
roads which offered shelter to travellers. They
became purely utilitary edifices under the Ottomans
who included them into the urban context where
they were used as market places, each han specializing
in a different type of marchandise (silk, spices...).
They generally had two or three storeys around
a central coiurtyard, and included a prayer room
or a small mosque.
During
the end of the 18th and 19th centuries, Ottoman
art deviated from the principals of classical times,
and came under the influence of the excessive decoration
of the western Baroque and Roccoco styles. Fountains
became the characteristic structures of this period
which can be found later in the Dolmabahçe
and Beylerbeyi Palaces.
In the 20th century, Turkish architecture adapted
its classical elements to the needs of a new era.
