Showing posts with label kayseri. Show all posts
Showing posts with label kayseri. Show all posts

Thursday, May 13, 2010

Sultan Han Caravanserai - Kayseri

It is located in the village of Sultanhan (Tuzhisar), 45km along the Kayseri-Sivas road. It is understood from the inscription on the portal of the hall that the Han was built between 1232-1236 upon the orders of Alaaddin Keykubat.

Kayseri Sultanhan, covering an area of 3900 m square, is rather similar to Aksaray Sultanhan in terms of plan.

On both sides of the portal of Sultanhan, the entrance of which faces north, are towers , the lower parts of which are square whereas the bodies are semi-circle columns. Although its partially collapsed portal is an example of the classical Seljuk portals, it has a monumental appearance between these towers.

A square courtyard is reached through a hall with a high arch. The kö?k mescid, located right in the centre of the courtyard, is seated on four piers with arches. Access to the mescid is gained up two flights of stairs on the northern side. The decorations composed of geometrical motifs, rosettes, borders with double knots, and designs of symmetrical dragons on the fronts of the mescid and the arches are examples of expert stonemasonry. The terrace where the calls to prayer were done is reached by a flight of stairs from a niche in the mescid, the sanctuary of which is square planned and barrel vaulted.

The domed bath house, to the northwest of the courtyard, is composed of five divisions. The bath house is reached from the door on the northwest corner of the portico on the right hand side. First the entrance hall and the dressing room, then the domed bathing place with basins is reached. The cistern of the bath house,heated using underground heating, is in a rectangular plan and barrel vaulted. The other places with porticoes on this side belonged to guests and their animals. Opposite this section are the places also used in summer time.

The fronts of the porticoes and vaults facing the courtyard are equilateral arches. The portal of the winter hall, protruding about 2 m into the courtyard, has a monumental appearance, like the outer portal, due to the embellished decorations on its front and the workmanship, although its sides have no decorations.

Above the entrance of the portal, the outer border of which is composed of geometrical decorations, is a nine lined mukarnas. The entrance door is a basket-handled arch. Across the entrance is the middle nave and on the sides are 24 high vaulted arches with square piers in six lines in groups of four.

At the piers of the arches are the 60-70 cm high platforms separating the areas for people and animals. Places close to the walls were for the animals whereas places close to the middle nave were used by travellers and the middle nave was communal for services. The oculus, 6 m in width and quite high, is seated on pendentives. In this section also is a prayer written in a scattered way.

Kayseri Sultanhan was restored to its present state in 1951.

Gumusler Monastery

ESKI GUMUS ( The Monastery of Gumusler)
This is a monastery church carved from the rock in Gumusler, 8km to the northeast of Nigde, 4 km from the Nigde-Kayseri road. This 10th century monastery is entered via a vaulted door. The church is situated to the north side of the courtyard, while rooms carved from the rock line the rest of the courtyard. The church is built on a closed cruciform plan, and has a central dome, four columns, cross vaults and three apses.

Scenes: Nativity and Presentation of Jesus in the Temple scenes are quite articulated. On the apse there are Deesis and the Apostles, several portraits of Mary, portraits of saints and angels.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Late Hittite Kingdom

LATE HITTITE KINGDOM ( 1200-700 BC )
After the Phrygians destroyed all the important towns in Central Anatolia eliminating the Hittite Empire, fragments of the Late Hittite Kingdoms sprang up around central and southeast Anatolia.

The Late Hittite Kingdom in Cappadocia was the Tabal kingdom, which extended over Kayseri, Nevsehir and Nigde. Rock monuments from this age, with Hittite hieroglyphics can be found at Gulsehir-Sivasa (Gokcetoprak), Acigol-Topada, and Hacibektas-Karaburna.

Formation of the Fairy Chimneys

The interesting rock formations, known as "fairy chimneys", have been formed as the result of the erosion of this tufa layer, sculpted by wind and flood water, running down on the slopes of the valleys. Water has found its way through the valleys creating cracks and ruptures in the hard rock. The softer, easily erodable material underneath has been gradually swept away receding the slopes and in this way, conical formations protected with basalt caps have been created.

The fairy chimneys with caps, mainly found in the vicinity of Urgup, have a
conical shaped body and a boulder on top of it.


The cone is constructed from tufa and volcanic ash, while the cap is of hard, more resistant rock such as lahar or ignimbrite. Various types of fairy chimneys are found in Cappadocia. Among these are those with caps, cones, mushroom like forms, columns and pointed
rocks.
Fairy chimneys are generally found in the valleys of the Uchisar- Urgup-Avanos
triangle, between Urgup and Sahinefendi, around the town of Cat in Nevsehir, in
the Soganli valley in Kayseri, and in the village of Selime in Aksaray.