|
Turbes,
meaning ‘tombs covered by domes’ in Arabic and ‘a
building with a dome shaped roof’ in Persian, are
mausoleums built for important people such as sultans
and emirs. These type of buildings were inspired by the
art of tents of the Turks in the land of Turkomans and
then applied in architecture. Prior to Islam, the dead
would first be washed and then would be wrapped up in a
shroud despite the different burial traditions they had.
The corpse would be mummified and put into a coffin and
kept in the tents until the following spring or autumn.
The tradition of burial resulted in the emergence of
monumental Turbe, mausoleums.
 The turbe's,
the first examples of which were built using bricks or
stone, were later built only with cut stone. However,
there is also a great number of turbe's built with using
both stones and bricks. Turbe's could be built as
individual buildings or in the mosque and medrese
complexes. Turbes usually have two stores. The lower
floor, access to which is gained by a flight of stairs,
forms the base of the Turbe. This is the cell like tomb
room where the mummified corpse is put into a
sarcophagus or buried. In this room, used for visiting
or worshipping, can be a mihrab niche as well as a
symbolic sarcophagus. Its impressive door, in the
direction of east, west or north, is reached by one or
two flights of stairs. Along with polygonal and
cylindered turbe's, which sometimes have different
internal and external plans, there are also examples of
square planned ones.
However, the
square planned examples emerged after the 13th century.
Their ceilings are domed whereas they have conical or
pyramidal roofs. Somewhat embellished geometrical and
floral decorations can be observed on this type of
building's outer surface, door, windows, fringes and
roof.
The important
turbe's in the Cappadocia region are the Doner Kumbet ,
the Hunad Hatun Turbesi, The Cifte Turbe in Kayseri, the
Hudavent Hatun Turbe in Nigde, the Taskinpasa Turbe and
the Alti Kapili Turbe in Urgup.
THE
DONER KUMBET
The Doner Kumbet (Kumbet: conical roofed tomb) in
Kayseri is believed to date from 1276 or later. The
marble inscription, consisting of two lines, over the
entrance states that it was erected for Sah
 Cihan
Hatun. The Turbe, built only with cut stone, has a
square planned base, an exterior with 12 blank arches
and a cylindered interior. The Doner Kumbet, which
resembles a monumental tent, has a conical roof
decorated with reliefs. On the facade of the portal is
the relief of a two-headed eagle figure between the
figures of two winged leopards with human heads. To the
left of the portal, above the date palm is a
doubleheader eagle and on either side lion figures and
to the right is a date palm in relief.
THE
HUNAD HATUN TURBESI
The Turbe, built in 1238 between the medrese and the
mosque as an addition to the Hunad Hatun Kulliye,
houses the remains of Alaaddin Keykubat I’s wife, i.e.
Keyhusrev II’s mother. Access to the Turbe is a flight
of stairs from a room in the medrese. The octagonal
Turbe, crowned by a pyramidal roof, was built using cut
stone and has as its base a marble pedestal with six
lines of mukarnas. On each corner of the body is a
column, completely decorated, with conical capitals.
This type of column on the corners was also used in
Ottoman turbe's. The inscription in relief with Sulus
writing, below the fringe with mukarnas decoration on
the top border, surrounds the Turbe. The fronts of the
six doublearched windows between the marble columns are
flat with no decorations. However, these surfaces are
framed with arched borders with two lines of geometrical
motifs, and the voids on the corners are filled in with
swastika motifs and in this way the outer surface is
embellished. The decorations on the corner columns and
on the fronts consist of different types of motifs. The
interior of the Turbe has a semi dome and niches with
five lines of mukarnas. Each surface of the mihrab,
which has five corners, is decorated with geometrical
motifs composed of octagonal stars. The biggest of the
three sandukas, the one with a cover of a sarcophagus of
the antique period, belongs to Hunad Mahperi Hatun.
THE
HUDAVENT HATUN TURBE
The Turbe, being one of the most beautiful examples of
Seljuk architecture in Nigde, was erected for Hudavent
Hatun, the daughter of Seljuk Sultan Rukneddin
Kilicarslan IV in 1312 -during the Ilkhanid reign in
Anatolia. The Turbe rests on an octagonal base, 80 cm in
height. Between the base and the main part is one line
of mukarnas. The main part is octagonal, crowned by a
sixteen sided roof. Its portal, which can be reached
with two flights of stairs, each with three steps, is on
the eastern facade of the Turbe. On both sides of the
door are the columns and capitals in high relief,
decorated with geometrical motifs. Same type of columns
are found on each corner of the main part. At the upper
part, the octagonal main part is divided into two
bending outward and in this way, the octagonal body is
turned into an 16 sided one.
The human figures hidden among the lion figures, a two
headed eagle, some fabulous creatures and floral motifs
in bas relief and high relief are interesting. Two of
the four lion figures are on the southwestern facade, in
high relief, symmetrical and sitting on their rear legs
whereas the other two on the western facade are in bas
relief, walking into opposite directions. The
doubleheader eagle figure is in the arched niche on the
western side. The tips of the wings, in the shape of
dragons, are characteristic of typical Seljuk style. Two
of the four fabulous creatures are symmetrically placed
above the window arch on the southwest side of the Turbe
and the other two, again symmetrically, above the
window on the north side. Each of them is with the head
of a human and the body of a bird.
According to beliefs of Shaman of Central Asia, these
motifs are creatures in the shape of birds accompanying
and protecting people traveling in the underworld and
the sky.
go back
|
