While Safranbolu was living with its traditional structure untouched until 1950, it was facing new developments. The population, which was stable between 5 thousand and 6 thousand until 1950, started to increase after 1950.
While the population was stable between 5 thousand and 6 thousand until 1950, it started to increase after 1950.
Karabük, which was established 10 kilometers away from Safranbolu, had reached a population of 46 thousand. Demir Çelik Fabrikası (The Iron and Steel Factory), was also growing with new departments added to the factory. So the recruitment of workers was on the agenda. ‘Being a worker’, which no one in Safranbolu had ever considered before, was becoming important. Apprentices working in the guild bazaars began to leave one by one, jeopardizing the future of Çarşı.
As a result of all these developments, changes gradually began to take place in the social structure. Culture change had begun. The old houses in Safranbolu, which were examples of traditional architecture, were increasingly described as ramshackle houses. An understanding called ‘modernization’ was adopted. Accepting every innovation without thinking about what it was was called ‘modernization’. Karabük was the example.
Karabük was caught unprepared when it reached a population of 46 thousand in 10 years. It had neither a plan nor a program for the future. Karabük bazaar consisted of two parallel streets starting from the train station. It had a municipality, but a municipality without a zoning plan could not control the construction. Squatters were approaching the bazaar. Karabük Demir Çelik Fabrikası had planned its own site. According to a city plan by the famous French urban planner Henri Prost, it was a discrete city with houses located in large gardens. The buildings were modeled after the 19th century housing plans that had been implemented in England. Some of the houses were planned as two-storey houses with four flats and some were of the two-storey type. The gardens were well-kept and the inhabitants were elite. There were clubs and movie theaters.
Safranbolu was living in all its beauty in its century-old solitude. Mayor Ömer An did not touch the houses, streets or walls. In the Bağlar District, majestic mansions were rising behind high garden walls. The area called Köyiçi was beautiful in its old form. There were shops and coffee houses in the neighborhood. The water from the Bulak Cave was gurgling.
The workers employed at the Demir Çelik Fabrikası (the Iron and Steel Factory) in Karabük were proud of working at the state gate. Being a worker had become very important. The values of Safranbolu people were beginning to change. Previously, they would not give girls to foreigners. That’s why Safranbolians were related to each other. They were afraid of foreigners. The culture of production was being replaced by the culture of consumption.
A popular nursery rhyme illustrates this phenomenon very clearly: Smokeless chimney / Husband without a mother-in-law / Pressure cooker / Modern window. A smokeless chimney meant a house with heating. A husband without a mother-in-law meant a nuclear family. The era of the big family was over. A pressure cooker meant a stove that was lit with a match and a pot of food that cooked on its own and a whistle that signaled that it was done. No one cared about the cauldrons. A modern window meant replacing the beautiful traditional window with a disproportionate window of unknown origin.
In those days, there were wall-to-wall curtain campaigns. These curtains were the new fashion. The value of lace carved curtains was changing for the sake of this fashion. This fashion was also causing distortions in the architectural texture. The large windows that upset all the proportions of the Çarşı houses made the house unrecognizable.
In 1967-68, the construction of the Safranbolu-Karabük zoning plan had begun. Gündüz Özdeş, professor of urban planning at ITU’s Faculty of Architecture, prepared the zoning plans and it took until 1971 for them to come into force. The plan accepted the Çarşı District as a protocol zone and left it untouched. The wide arteries and green areas in the Bağlar District disrupted the traditional old texture of the vineyards with a disregarding approach. The Hastarla District was turned into a high-density residential area and Safranbolu was projected to have a population of 80,000. In those years, the ‘condominium law’ had also come into force and this law seemed to ignite construction. Buildings began to multiply like mushrooms. In Safranbolu, construction started in Hastarla, which was opened for development by the zoning plan. This meant that danger bells were ringing for Safranbolu.
“If there was a demand for the old, the flea market would be in heaven”
In the 1970s, Kızıltan Ulukavak was elected mayor of Safranbolu. He was a lawyer and agricultural engineer. He was an enlightened person. He loved Safranbolu. In those days, I was also publishing articles in local newspapers and magazines. The articles were all about lost values and disappearing culture. I met the mayor and had the opportunity to discuss issues related to Safranbolu. The mayor suggested establishing a commission and asked me to be a member of this commission, which I accepted. In those days, the mayor’s office received approval from the Directorate of Zoning and Settlement. The draft commission was sent to the ministry. The commission’s task was to protect architectural cultural values and to put this under the responsibility of the municipality. The response from the ministry was as follows: “If there was a demand for the old, there would be a flea market.” Naturally, the commission could not be established. Thus, an initiative that started well ended in disappointment.
Emir Hocazade Ahmet Bey House
In early 1974, I went to see Emir Hocazade Ahmet Bey’s house in Değirmenbaşı in the Bağlar District of Safranbolu. It was a rainy day. I climbed up the ruined staircase with difficulty. All the rooms had collapsed and the roof had fallen down. Only one room was standing. There was a roof over it, just enough to cover the room. It was also taking water from everywhere. When I entered the room, I was astonished. The room was an 18th century house with skylights and wooden decoration on the walls. Water was running down the walls. The ceiling had not yet deteriorated. Even the ochre on the ceiling was intact. I thought, ‘It needs to be saved, but how!’ I met the owner of the house, Nezihe Aycan (Kadıoğlu). They lived in another house in Değirmenbaşı. In our meeting, I got the impression that her and her mother’s approach would be positive. I explained that in order to save the building, first a survey would have to be made, then a renovation project would be prepared and an application would be made to the municipality.
It was decided that the project would be done. After the restoration project was completed and a license was obtained, construction was to begin. But who would do the restoration? Since the craftsmen were now working in apartment buildings, there were no knowledgeable craftsmen to deal with traditional architecture. There was an old master who had a shop in Değirmenbaşı. His name was Mehmet Usta. He wasn’t very willing, but we finally convinced him. He knew the old version of the room. We found another helper and we were finally able to start the restoration, but the craftsmen were also alienated from their culture. Work was going normally in the head room, but the windows in the kitchen room had become modern windows. I had them fixed and converted to traditional windows, and the work began like a jigsaw puzzle.
During the restoration, her neighbors said to Mrs. Nezihe, “Why spend so much money on this ramshackle building, let’s burn it! It was possible to see the extent of cultural alienation.
The Importance of Local Organization in the Protection of Architectural Heritage and a Sample Safranbolu
The Dean of ITU Faculty of Architecture was Prof. Dr. Doğan Kuban. In 1974, a seminar on ‘Organizing the Protection of Architectural Heritage’ was organized. I was also asked for a paper. I prepared a paper and attended the seminar. The subject of my paper was ‘The Importance of Local Organization in the Protection of Architectural Heritage and an Example of Safranbolu’. There were beautiful photographs from Safranbolu on the slides. In my paper, I stated that organizing the conservation of architectural heritage from the center had various difficulties, whereas local organizations would be in close relations with the public, and thus the conservation could be more successful. Finally, I described the difficulties encountered in the restoration of the Nezihe Aycan house in Safranbolu. In order to solve the problem of the resources needed for the restorations, I stated that socio-economic development through tourism would contribute to conservation.
1975 UNESCO World Architectural Heritage Year
Some professors objected to these views. They said that they did not believe that tourism would create resources. At the end of the seminar, the participants came together to discuss the fact that 1975 was the World Architectural Heritage Year and that it would be possible to go to UNESCO with a project. It was decided to prepare Safranbolu and Süleymaniye and to organize a ‘cultural week’ in Safranbolu at the end of the summer of 1975. We agreed that Safranbolu Municipality and ITU Faculty of Architecture would organize this cultural week in Safranbolu together. We immediately formed a preparatory committee.
At ITU, work was being done with the help of Prof. Metin Sözen. The Institute of Architectural History and Restoration, of which I am a member, had members all over Turkey. I returned to Safranbolu with a list of names of people who would participate in the Safranbolu week. In those days, there were no hotels or pensions in Safranbolu. We planned how we would accommodate the nearly 100 guests who would come. We wrote letters to the people of Safranbolu and asked them if they would accept guests. We met with an incredible demand. Which guests would stay in which houses was determined one by one.
Safranbolu Architectural Values and Folklore Week
The official name of the first week we organized was ‘Safranbolu Architectural Values and Folklore Week’. It was vintage time in the vineyards in September. Guests were taken to the hall of the old People’s House, now the Public Education Center. The distribution office would deliver the guests to the hosts, and the host would joyfully take the guest home. We learned that although the hosts had been told in advance that they would only serve their guests bed and breakfast, on the second day, banquet tables were set up in the houses.
The next morning at 10.00 am, the guests were scheduled to visit Safranbolu. Under my guidance, they set off towards Çarşı. When the bus passed through Çarşı and headed towards the cemetery, everyone was astonished. They were passing through a city where history stood still and the architectural texture had been preserved intact since the 17th and 18th centuries. When we reached the terrace of the cemetery, from which the whole of Safranbolu could be seen from a bird’s eye view, everyone’s curiosity had reached its peak.
A group of about 100 intellectuals was in Safranbolu. For the first time in Turkey, intellectuals were uniting with the public around an opinion. The friendships that started in the houses lasted for years. The people of Safranbolu tried to learn how to protect these houses. The guests had an opinion about the people of Safranbolu.
On the afternoon of the first day, we were sitting in the garden of the Arslanlar Local. Prof. Nezih Eldem came there. They had seen the restoration of Emir Hocazade Ahmet Bey House: ‘This is not the way to restore, it would have been better if it had been demolished!” said Prof. Nezih Eldem. In a later seminar, Cengiz Bektaş expressed the same opinion. Mrs. Nezihe Aycan, who was in the audience, was crying in a corner out of sadness. Because she had sold her field and used it to finance the restoration. This was not her sadness either. It was the attack on the restoration, which was the product of the devoted work of an architect. This was his real sadness.
In the evening, a man’s wedding show prepared by the Seğmen and Safranbolu folk dances team of the Yoruk villagers attracted great attention. Ali Rıza Baykal (deceased), the head of the Seğmen, was cheering up his team and enlivening the dances. This performance was followed by a ney concert by Niyazi Sayın. It was a small concert that the people of Safranbolu and the guests enjoyed. Then a small group of us were at the poolside in Faruk Demir’s garden. Niyazi Sayın gave another very special concert. The mystical effects of the sound of the ney mesmerized the audience. The next day something was happened that had never happened before. A special presentation of women’s wedding customs in Safranbolu was held in the hall. Guests watched the show. On the night of the same day, there was another show in the Arslanlar area. The multivision show presented by Reha Günay was watched with interest by the people of Safranbolu. Because it was their homes that were shown in the multivision.
For the first time they saw their homes through the eyes of a photographer. They recognized their beauty. Everyone was showing each other their houses and seeing their neighbors’ houses. This show was repeated once more upon request. During the 1975 World Architectural Heritage Year, there were some activities on a world scale. Reha Günay’s Safranbolu photography exhibition traveled to the major capitals of Europe with the help of UNESCO. The repercussions continued throughout the year. The people of Safranbolu were informed about the developments.
In 1975, Zoning Works in Safranbolu
With the introduction of the zoning plan, operations started, especially in Bağlar. Municipality works such as widening roads and taking back garden walls were being carried out. Even though it was explained that the street texture should not be changed, the municipality was doing its own thing. This led to deterioration in the urban fabric.
Although there were not many interventions in Çarşı, interventions were made for buses and cars to turn around and park. What happened in Hastarla was more important. The first build-and-sell application emerged as six-story apartment buildings along Sadri Artunç Street. These high blocks, which were foreign to Safranbolu, were phenomena brought by the zoning plan.
In 1976, the ‘Safranbolu Architectural Values and Folklore Week’ again took place as a beautiful example of the hospitality of the people. Again, dear guests arrived one afternoon. Those who had come before again went to houses they knew.
Time in Safranbolu
At the 1976 seminar, the speakers spoke in a language that the public could understand a little more, because this time 5,000 people had gathered in Arslanlar Field. The problems of conservation were explained. People were advised to protect their own culture.
Then the movie ‘Time in Safranbolu’ directed by Süha Arın and financed by the TURING Automobile Corporation was shown. This film had won the documentary of the year award in Italy.
This documentary, which was very popular with the public, was also saddening. Time in Safranbolu was told with the chimes of the clock tower. It was seen how beautiful houses were destroyed and changed in the passing time. The people of Safranbolu were very impressed by this movie.
In 1977, Safranbolu Week was solved with the guests staying in the houses. The guests who came to Safranbolu Weeks every year were again guests in the houses where they stayed every year. Now friendships were formed beyond being a guest.
What had been done in Safranbolu up to that day was seen and evaluated. The year 1977 was remembered with an event organized for the first time. Under the presidency of Mr. Nurettin Sözen, Dean of Cerrahpaşa Faculty of Medicine, valuable professors came to Safranbolu. They established a field hospital and examined patients free of charge.
Prof. Mütfüoğlu gave a conference to women of Safranbolu on iron deficiency in the body. The lecture, which was given not in complex medical language but in the language of the people, aroused a lot of interest. Women asked questions freely.
The first screening of Süha Arın’s new documentary film ‘Two Seasons of Urartu’ was held in Safranbolu.
Kemal Gökçe, the Undersecretary of Culture and Tourism, also came to Safranbolu that year. Among various events, the first step was taken for Safranbolu’s Conservation Zoning Plan. The Conservation Zoning Plan was prepared by a team headed by Prof. Dr. Doğan Kuban. Teams of young people went from house to house in Safranbolu for weeks, making determinations. Street textures and houses were photographed. Detailed receipts were prepared about the houses. The Tourism Board, chaired by Mübecccel Kuray, also conducted surveys in the neighborhood and prepared a tourism plan, which was submitted to the ministry. The local organization of the Supreme Council of Antiquities and Monuments is established in Safranbolu.
A local organization consisting of Urban Planner Baran İdil, Municipality Zoning Manager Mustafa Gümüşgil and Architect Yavuz İnce began to work. Thus, the public’s applications were immediately evaluated and finalized within a week.
The next step was to train the craftsmen who would do the restoration. We prepared a certificate of mastership, listing the do’s and don’ts. It was reported that the masters who did not comply with these would be stripped of their mastership authorization. The people became conscious and became the owners of their own culture again. In the past, people who were afraid to say ‘I am from Safranbolu’ would say ‘I am from Karabük’. Now they were saying ‘I am from Safranbolu’ with their chest beating.
Safranbolu was first designated a protected area in 1977. Prof. Doğan Kuban was also a member of the High Council of Monuments. Upon his request, the protected areas were identified and sent to the board. This is how the site decisions came into force. The decisions imposed conditions on new construction. Buildings were limited to three stories. Eaves continuity was to be observed. No living spaces were to be built on the roof. Old historical houses were to be preserved and the smallest parcel size in Bağlar was to be 1500 m². This rule also applied to new buildings. The cutting of trees of a certain diameter was prohibited. These rules would apply until the Conservation Zoning Plan was drawn up.
The decision on the protected area was taken after three years of work, after the people of Safranbolu had been encouraged to embrace their own culture. Safranbolu is an example of conservation implemented for the first time in Turkey. Until then, conservation efforts managed from the center had been directed against the people and had failed. The method of conservation together with the people had succeeded in Safranbolu.
In 1979, the Minister of Culture Ahmet Taner Kışlalı came to Safranbolu. For the first time in Safranbolu’s history, a Minister of Culture was coming to visit the city. I had the opportunity to visit Safranbolu with the minister and tell him about the city. In his speech at the Çarşı Area, he said that the Arasta, the Kaymakamlar Mansion and the Saracoğlu Mansion would be expropriated. He said that the other shops in Arasta would be expropriated, except for Ahmet Usta, who was still working. As soon as Mr. Kışlalı returned to Ankara, he assigned a task to the Expropriation Department. Those concerned came to Safranbolu. They made expropriation with the prices of that day. Tender procedures started immediately and restoration began. Only Saraçoğlu Mansion could not be expropriated. The family opposed the expropriation because they believed that the ministry would destroy the house while restoring it.
Çelik Gülersoy, General Manager of TURING Automobile Association, was one of the people who loved Safranbolu. He had supported the organization of Safranbolu weeks. They wanted to buy the Asmazlar Mansion. It was bought for 300 thousand TL at that time. The mansion had previously been used as a TEKEL warehouse. The pool on the selamlık floor was emptied and used as a liquor store. The floor above the hall with the pool was burned. The roof covering the pool was not original. Restoration projects were prepared at the ITU Faculty of Architecture. The floor above the hall with pool was completed with restitution and the building was restored to its original state. The restoration took seven years. Asmazlar Mansion was a symbol among the people. When the restoration of the Asmazlar Mansion was completed, Safranbolu’s path would be paved.
After September 12, 1980, new decisions were being taken on conservation issues. The Supreme Council of Antiquities and Monuments and its local organizations were disbanded. A new law and a new board were established. Boards divided into regions were established in places far from conservation zones. Safranbolu was connected to the Ankara Regional Board. The mayor attended the regional boards and the board was called to meetings when Safranbolu issues came up.
Muzaffer Ecemiş was appointed as district governor. He understood the importance of Safranbolu. He wanted to do something.
The new board did not accept the prepared Conservation Zoning Plan. The new formation had the participation of METU. A new conservation plan was to be prepared. Members of the High Council came to Safranbolu. They reduced 2 thousand registered buildings to 1500. They de-registered many valuable buildings. City planner İsmet Okyay undertook the Conservation Plan. He benefited from previous studies. He evaluated the building slips. The plan was completed within a year and sent to the High Council, which approved it and put it into effect. The conservation works to be carried out in Çarşı and Bağlar districts were to be in accordance with this plan. If the historical building on a 1500 m² area was properly restored, a new residence could be built in the garden. Bağlar District was to be freed from wide roads, meaningless green areas and high density. The old plan would be abolished.
Safranbolu’s fame was spreading around the world. World televisions and magazines started to take an interest. National Geographic magazine, one of the biggest magazines in the world, sent one of its chief photographers, James Stanfield, to Safranbolu in July 1986. He took hundreds of photos of Safranbolu. He took pictures from the terrace of the cemetery at 06.00 in the morning and from the bazaar at night by the light of street lamps. Nezihe (Aycan) Kadıoğlu’s house was the main subject. The room looked like a palace room. Safranbolu was to be included in a special issue to be prepared for the Suleiman the Magnificent Exhibition to be opened in the United States. A few months later, a separate team from NBC television arrived. They filmed the places photographed by James Stanfield. In the early hours of the morning, they took the sounds of Çarşı from the terrace of the Cemetery with sensitive sound equipment.
TRT’s special teams prepared a documentary titled ‘Old Houses and Old Masters’ under the chairmanship of Ertuğrul Karslıoğlu and the consultancy of Metin Sözen. ‘Variations from the Black Sea’ was a long-term documentary. Later, Semra Sander filmed in Safranbolu and Yörük Village. Her documentary on ‘Women’s Headdresses’ was shown on TRT.
Text: Yavuz İnce, Photos: İsmail Şahinbaş
– Yavuz Ince, Master Engineer and Architect