Hurufat registers are important archival documents that show the regional practices in a city. The dervish lodges and zawiyas in Izmit were recorded in those registers between 1711-1806. This study mainly focused on four dervish lodges, three zawiyas, and one tekke. The units in the derwish lodges and zawiyas that have survived today are shrines and public baths. According to the obtained registers, the dervish lodges and zawiyas in the Izmit district were mostly located in the central neighborhoods, and a (...) few were in villages and hamlets. This study dealt with four dervish lodges, three zawiyas, and one tekke. As can be read in the registers, the study findings showed that the sects of "Mevleviyye," "Halvetiyye," and “Bayramiyye” had several lodged and zawiyas in the city that were categorized under three groups (i.e., dervish lodge, zawiya, and tekke) in our study. The name and duty of founders (bâni) in archival documents are acknowledged as historical documents. This study aimed to present information about the appointments, positions, founders, and assets in structures that have not survived to the present day, thus enlightening the period. It also gave information about the restorations, construction plan and material, and the current status of the surviving dervish lodges and zawiyas, supported with images, archive documents, and field research findings. The mentioned structures (i.e., the dervish lodges and zawiyas) were architecturally classified in the light of archive documents and old images. The regional plans were also considered in describing the locations of the lodges and zawiyas in the city. In this sense, the topographical and architectural information about the dervish lodges and zawiyas in İzmit was valuable information sources. (shrink)

Bath structures, which emerged as a result of the importance given to washing since ancient times and which mean "place to wash", provided continuity with the style created in the Roman and Byzantine periods. Turkish baths, shaped on the bath tradition of the Roman and Byzantine periods, gain a unique form in time, especially after the adoption of Islam. It is seen that with the differences with the beliefs and behaviours brought by Islam the important changes in the structure of (...) the Turkish baths emerged with the new arrangements made of the plan typology in the Ottoman period. In addition, some another various functions are attributed to these structures in the Ottoman Empire and baths are generally built for income. After the Ottoman-Russian war between 1828-1829, the "Turkish Bath" built by the Russian Tsar Nicholas as a message for his own political purposes carries traces of the aforementioned Ottoman baths. The Turkish bath, which the tsar ordered to be built in the park of Ekaterinburg, becomes a product of the project on which the important Russian architect Monigetti meticulously emphasized. Although the structure in question differs from the Ottoman bath formation, it has similar features in terms of function and decoration details. However, the external appearance of the work, which is the subject of our study, with the form of the minaret next to it, resembles the Turkish Mosque architecture. In terms of decorative features, an oriental arabesque style of decoration dominates the building. As a matter of fact, our aim in this study is to first explain the characteristics of a Turkish structure built in Russian and completely from a Russian point of view, and then reveal the similarities and differences between both the two constructions. (shrink)

In general, the prayer (hacet or niyaz) windows that open to the body or courtyard wall of tombs have a majestic appearance that attracts the attention of people. The rooted visitation folklore, which encompasses praying and making requests to Allah in front of such windows, in the presence of and for the benefit of the buried person, is an important piece of religious ritual. In Istanbul folklore, Eyup Sultan Mosque and Mausoleum are places of visitation, where the public favor and (...) crowd on holy days that have religious significance. The epitaphs on these windows conclude with a call to perform a Fatiha prayer. It is understood that the prayer windows, which are located in positions that connect the hazirs with the street, were placed in order to request prayers by attracting the attention of passers-by that are visiting mosques and shrines. This study intends to determine the place of prayer windows in the discipline of Istanbul folklore and art history. The primary motivation for this study is to fill a gap in the literature by examining prayer windows, which were not present during the early stages of Islam but later developed into a sophisticated practice, especially during the Ottoman period. The first chapter of this study discusses the religious ritualistic and visitation folklore aspects of Eyup Sultan Mosque and Mausoleum. The second chapter discusses the reasons behind prayer windows being built and their importance, as well as the examination of these construction elements' morphological, material, technical, textual, decorative, and identifying constituents. Thus, as an example of an application specific to the Ottoman period in Islamic architecture and art, the prayer windows opened in the cemeteries around the Eyüp Tomb were examined, measured and drawn with AutoCAD programme within the scope of the survey, and the Muslims' view of death and the cultural heritage developed within this framework were tried to be understood. (shrink)