Turkish Tourism

Traditional Turkish Hand Crafts has formed a rich mosaic by bringing together its genuine values with the cultural heritage of the different civilizations which were coming from the thousand years of history of the Anatolia.

Traditional Turkish Hand Crafts can be listed as; carpet making, rug making, sumac, cloth waiving, writing, tile making, ceramic-pottery, handwork making, making embroidery, leather manufacturing, music instrument making, masonry, coppersmith, basket making, saddle making, mining, felt making, weaving, wood handicraft, cart making etc.

CERAMICS

Pottery, the first common preoccupation of societies, is the most important invention of the Neolithic Era. This handicraft has become a cultural treasure by developing in Anatolia throughout history. Throughout the time from the first ages, with its enhancing motifs and raw material being clay; a mixture of metal, nonmetal and oxide, it has turned into a work of art that reflects societies’ sensitivity, cultural accumulation, religious beliefs, relationships and lives within society. The art of ceramics which developed in Anatolia reached its highest level of technique and aesthetic especially during the Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Other branches of ceramics could be grouped as the art of tile making, brick and roof tile production..

METALWORK PRODUCTS
Metalwork, which has a very important place in our traditional handicrafts, has a long period of improvement. This improvement that starts from central Asia continues with the great Seljuk, Anatolian Seljuk and moves on to the Ottoman empire. Copper which has a very important place in Anatolian art is a metal suitable for ornamenting. It has been used as apart of daily objects like kitchen utensils, jewelery, and helmets and as part of building like doors and door ornamenting. Copper is the most used metal in metalwork. There are four techniques that are used in making copper utensils; pounding, moulding, turnery and milling. Copper which is currently the most processed metal has a wide span of usage as kitchen utensils with its tinning technique.

GLASS PRODUCTS

Selected the European Museum of the Year in 1997, the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations is located on the hill with Ankara’s ancient Citadel, in the district called Atpazari (the horse market). The Museum occupies two Ottoman buildings which have been specifically renovated and altered to suit their new role.

In accordance with the suggestion by Atatürk that a Hittite Museum should be established, an Anatolian Civilizations project was initiated to gather all artifacts, remnants and other findings of the Hittite civilization in Ankara. Thus launched, the project has grown into one of world’s most significant museums sheltering unique collections.

The museum has Paleolithic, Neolithic, Chalcolithic, Late Bronze Age, Hittite, Phrygia, Urartu and Late Hittite sections.

EATHER – BONE – HORN PRODUCTS

It is possible to classify handicrafts that are made of leather, fur, horns and bones according to the materials used and their purpose of usage. Other types of handicrafts that can be added to this category would be; making of yemeni (hand-made authentic leather shoes) and çarık (rawhide sandals), bookbinding, shadow-show puppets, utensils and wool handicraft.

WOODWORK PRODUCTS

Having improved in the Anatolian Seljuk period, wood carving has its own unique characteristics and was first meant to cater for needs rather than aesthetics or taste. Wood carving was used in architecture during the Seljuk and Beylic periods and later on during the Ottoman period it was used in both architecture and for daily objects. The trees that are used for woodwork are walnut, apple, pear, cedar, ebony and rosewood and as for ornamenting techniques like inlay, painting, kundekari, embossed carvings and lattice are used.

TEXTILE PRODUCTS

Embroidery is a form of art that reflects the Turkish society’s cultural richness, strength and talents totally. Embroidery has arisen from the taste of ornamenting daily objects or clothing. Turkish embroidery has a 2000 year history and the oldest sample belongs to the Seljuk period. Embroideries are done by applications of threads like silk, wool, linen, cotton, metal etc with various needles and application techniques on to materials like felt, leather, and woven fabric etc..

CARPETS – KILIMS

“The Art of Carpeting” that started with the Pazirik carpets has always been lead by Turks throughout history. Carpets that are the fundamental traditional form of Turkish art have a special place in our art history. As being our traditional art, Turkish carpets, that have existed until today with their everlasting textile motives and techniques of knots, have a unique characteristic that has enabled them to develop regularly and constantly. While Kilim weaving is a type of weaving called ‘weft-facing’ i,e done by drawing the weft yarn under and over warp yarns tightly so that they hide the warp yarns. On the other hand, carpet weaving is a type done by lining threads like cotton, animal hair, silk and wool to form the warp frame and by tying knots to every double warp yarn with wool, silk, floss threads with different techniques and by tightening the weft yarns on top.

STONEWORK

“The Art of Carpeting” that started with the Pazirik carpets has always been lead by Turks throughout history. Carpets that are the fundamental traditional form of Turkish art have a special place in our art history. As being our traditional art, Turkish carpets, that have existed until today with their everlasting textile motives and techniques of knots, have a unique characteristic that has enabled them to develop regularly and constantly. While Kilim weaving is a type of weaving called ‘weft-facing’ i,e done by drawing the weft yarn under and over warp yarns tightly so that they hide the warp yarns. On the other hand, carpet weaving is a type done by lining threads like cotton, animal hair, silk and wool to form the warp frame and by tying knots to every double warp yarn with wool, silk, floss threads with different techniques and by tightening the weft yarns on top.

MARBLING

The art of marbling on paper, or ‘ebru’ in Turkish, is a traditional decorative form employing special methods. The word ‘ebru’ comes from the Persian word ‘ebr,’ meaning ‘cloud.’ The word ‘ebri’ then evolved from this, assuming the meaning ‘like a cloud’ or ‘cloudy,’ and was assimilated into Turkish in the form ‘ebru.’ Marbling does actually give the impression of clouds. Another possible derivation of the word ‘ebru’ is from the Persian ‘âb-rûy,’ meaning ‘face water.’

Although it is not known when and in which country the art of marbling was born, there is no doubt that it is a decorative art peculiar to Eastern countries. A number of Persian sources report that it first emerged in India. It was carried from India to Persia, and from there to the Ottomans. According to other sources, the art of marbling was born in the city of Bukhara in Turkistan, finding its way to the Ottomans by way of Persia. In the West, ‘ebru’ is known as ‘Turkish paper.’

CALLIGRAPHY

The first thing that comes to mind whenever calligraphy is mentioned is the decorative use of Arabic letters. This art emerged after a long period between the 6th and 10th centuries as Arabic letters evolved.

After turning to Islam and adopting the Arabic alphabet, the Turks failed to play any part in the art of calligraphy for a long time. They first began to show an interest in it after moving to Anatolia, and the Ottoman period was one of the times during which it flourished most. Yakut-ı Mustasımi was particularly influential in Anatolia from the beginning of the 13th century to the middle of the 15th. Şeyh Hamdullah (1429-1520) made a number of changes to the rules introduced by Yakut-ı Mustasımi, thus giving Arabic letters are warmer, softer appearance. Şeyh Hamdullah is regarded as the father of Turkish calligraphy, and his style and influence predominated until the 17th century. It was Hafız Osman (1642-1698) who produced the art’s most aesthetically mature period. All the great calligraphers who came after basically followed in Hafız Osman’s footsteps

ILLUMINATION AND GILDING

Known as ‘tezhip’ in Turkish, this is an old decorative art. The word ‘tezhip’ means ‘turning gold’ or ‘covering with gold leaf’ in Arabic. Yet ‘tezhip’ can be done with paint as well as with gold leaf. It was mostly employed in handwritten books and on the edges of calligraphic texts.

The art of ilumination has been practiced as widely in the West as it has in the East. In the Middle Ages in particularly it was widely used to decorate Christian religious texts and prayer books. Gradually however, picture illustrations became more popular, and illumination became restricted to decorating the capital letters in main headings.

Among the Turks, the history of illumination goes back to the Uyghurs, and first began to be seen among the Uyghur people in the 9th century. The Selujks then brought it to Anatolia, and the art saw its culmination in Ottoman times. Mameluke artists in 15th century Egypt developed their own style, and great advances in the art of illumination were made at the same time in Persia and then in such cities as Herat, Hive, Bukhara and Samarkand which were ruled by the Timurs. The style that developed in Herat later had great influence on the Persian art of illimunation. As a result of growing ties with Persia in the 15th and 16th centuries, the Ottomans adopted many of the features of the Herat School in their own work, and created new syntheses. In the 18th century, the Ottoman art of illumination began to fade, with crude decoration replacing the classical motifs. In the 19th century, the Western influence that could be seen in almost all areas of art also began to make its presence felt in the art of illumination. For example, flower motifs that used to be employed singly on vases during the classical period now began to appear in groups in pots.

MINIATURE WORK

This is the name given to the art of producing very finely detailed, small paintings. In Europe in the Middle Ages, handwritten manuscripts would be decorated by painting capital letters red. Lead oxide, known as ‘minium’ in Latin and which gave a particularly pleasant colour, was used for this purpose. That is where the word ‘miniature’ derives from. In Turkey, the art of miniature painting used to be called ‘nakış’ or ‘tasvir,’ with the former being more commonly employed. The artist was known as a ‘nakkaş’ or ‘musavvir.’ Miniature work was generally applied to paper, ivory and similar materials.

The miniature is an art style with a long history in both the Eastern and Western worlds. There are those, however, who maintain that it was originally an Eastern art, from where it made its way to the West. Eastern and Western miniature art is very similar, although differences can be observed in colour, form and subject matter. Scale was kept small since the art was used to decorate books. That is a common characteristic. Eastern and Turkish miniatures also possess a number of other features. The outside of the miniature is usually decorated with a form of embellishment known as ‘tezhip.’ Paint similar to water colour was used for miniatures, although rather more gum Arabic was used during the mixing process. Very thin brushes made from cat fur known as ‘fur brushes’ were used to draw the lines and fill in the fine detail. Other brushes were employed for the painting itself. White lead with gum Arabic added was applied to the surface of the paper to be painted. A thin coat of gold powder would also be applied to the surface to make the various colours transparent.