TRAVELOGUE

ALI SAIP PASHA STREET TRAVELOGUE

TRAVELOGUE Travelouge 2020 | Conservation Theory | ARCH 332 | Ä°smet SAYIN

Talas

General Overview

Talas is also the name of an old Turkish City in Central Asia, and it is thought that the area was named after one of the tribes living in that city came to the region by the Seljuk period.

It is stated in the sources that Talas was a Turkish village with 500 digits in 1180.

Due to its geographical location, Talas witnessed many cultures and civilizations that dominated this geography due to its location in an important residential area shaped by the Pre Asian civilizations.

On this occasion, it possessed a significant amount of cultural heritage of different qualities belonging to these civilizations. In the historical process, our city has been a particularly preferred area for life and settlement in the Late Roman-Early Byzantine Period and the Late Ottoman Period. In Talas, in order to meet the need for shelter and defense, firstly, places with rock carvings shelters were created in the slopes and valleys.

At the same time, some of the underground cities were connected to the water galleries and used as water structures called “cisterns�.

The structures that were created in the following processes, where the settlements developed and expanded, were integrated into these infrastructure values in some points during the settlement adventure and XVIII. It has created a traditional residential culture that gained a particularly qualified character after the 19th century. Today, two separate Talas are mentioned, up and down. Armenians and Greeks lived in the high part of the district called Upper Talas, and Muslims lived in the less rugged part called Lower Talas.

Ali Saip Pasha Street Ali Saip Pasha Villa | Art Gallery | SimkeĹ&#x;han Jewelry

The majority of the Armenians who had successful works especially in craftsmanship and trade lived in Talas. Enriched with commercial activities, Armenians built large stone houses in orchards and vineyards in Upper Talas and street is narrow.

In the memories of European travelers, Talas is described as the Versailles of Cappadocia.

Ali Saip PaĹ&#x;a Street is known for its historical houses built about 2000 years ago.

The houses have the characteristics of Ottoman houses in the late 1970s and have historically been linked with each other underground. There are cisterns under each neighborhood square underground.

We went to Ali Saip PaĹ&#x;a Street on Wednesday, February 26 for the first time. I had visited this street with my friends before, but the information I learned that day taught me to study historical sites from different perspectives and explained the importance of cultural heritage.

We had the opportunity to learn the history of many historical places in the area with the help of Ă–zcan Bey which is responsible for the historical areas in the government. And also he gives us some information about the structural technique of Ali Saip Pasha street.

Mr. Ă–zcan said that many races live together in the area. In addition, the presence of mosques and churches in the area made this evident. He also mentioned many restoration projects during the trip.

We had the opportunity to see the stone structure of the historical building and our travel opportunity. Some of these were arched structures, some had underground tunnels.

Ali Saip Pasha was an Ottoman vizier who lived in the 19th century. He was born in Talas, studied in this city and was sent to Istanbul. When he became Minister, he became rich but never won his hometown, so he built a monument. The Ali Saip Pasha mansion is a ruin now, but the municipality has a rstoration project.

Another important new building of the street is the conversion of Tol Church to the Art gallery.

We went back to the street a week later (4 March), and this time, accompanied us for a short time, Muhammed Ali Bey. After getting some information, we moved to our conservation project area.

The conservation project was carried out at the SimkeĹ&#x;han Jewelry house in Ali Saip PaĹ&#x;a Street. The house has been restored and now houses the jewelry house and many shops to revive the tourism of the municipality. During the trip, I made sketches about the conservation project and tried to understand the building's relationship with the street.

TRAVELOGUE Travelouge 2020 | Conservation Theory | ARCH 332 |

Ä°smet SAYIN