Running Away From Being Obsolescence

“Anatolia”, which is my counrty, is called “the cradle of civilization”. Anatolia where, settlements and many empires are, such us, Hittite, Trojan civilizations, Greek, Seljuks, Ottoman empires. Source says that; “the name Anatolia comes from the Greek meaning the “east” or more literally “sunshine” . This definition is used for growing up Anatolian states, which had influenced on Anatolia in terms of, language, religious, folk, but especially architecture. Today, everybody who comes to Turkey, is realized of these historical heritage, such us many antique cities which are excavated, are protected thoughtfuly like Ephesus, Laodike, underground cities like Cappadocia, important mosques, churches, madrasas. Altough, many of them are permanently maintained because of their cultural and social significance, Caravanserais need to be revitalized too.

Caravanserais must be revitalized, in Turkey where many Caravanserais are obsolescence , were Anatolian Seljuks Caravanserais, which, define like that; Seljuks Caravanserais provided protection for voyager and their property, and all necessary services were ensured . Today, we don’t need to use Caravanserais, why? Because we don’t need its function. So what is the clue of Caravanserais today? It can be explain by defining Caravanseraies. They reflect thick walls (protective), which were smooth cut stone (ancient technique of anatolia) quality of ancient workship etc... ıt shows that, ancient Anatolia where people were needed to be safe. Book says that; “nothing will happen to you, even if you travel from İzmir to Van with a pot of gold on your head” . Not the mention the fact that; these place like a forum, mosque, shelter, or castle,and all of them reflect our old social organism. So how can we provide their maintenance or can we? Yes, we can, but firstly, we must define a function before restoration. Bektaş says; “determining the future function of a building means something like giving a person a job in order that they may continue to live” . So I offer to make analogy with philosophy of Caravanserais, that is, they were accomodation so it can be used for accomodation again. For example, Alarahan was an interesting Caravanserais where animal and people place were seperated from each other to be more comfortable. Alarahan is settled in very famous tourism city Alanya. Alarahan can be restored as a hotel, thus, it can be more interesting and exciting, instead of other hotels which are contemporary and luxury, surround Alarahan.

Sultan han can be given an example because of excellent condition and maintenance, is used as a Caravanserai museum. Caravanserais can adopt to another functions like, exhibition, restaurants- cafe, hotels, shopping or etc by using contex and its condition.

All in all, Caravanserais are reflection of our ancient culture and social organism, and we must keep its maintenance by adopting to new function, or restorating only, so, needless to say that, we can bequeath our collective memory to future generations.

1 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatolia.
2 - Bektaş, Cengiz. “a Proposal regarding the Seljuks Caravanserais their protection and use”,(İstanbul, Yem, 1999, 22)
3 - Ibid. , 20
4 - Ibid. , 33