Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkiyat Mecmuasi, cilt.34, sa.1, ss.353-403, 2024 (Scopus)
Historical sources often do not extensively feature architects, builders, and construction workers. In particular, written texts that focus on a structure itself and the patron who commissioned it either make no mention of the builder at all or content themselves with referring to these builders with generic professional titles such as architect, master, or apprentice. Architects’ names are rarely mentioned, and even for legendary and productive architects such as Mimar Sinan, information is quite limited. In fact, Sinan stated that he had dictated his autobiographies over time to ensure he would not be forgotten. Meanwhile, oral tradition revolves around architects’and construction builders’ daily lives, achievements, and professional challenges, even their relationships with religious-mythological elements, which are aspects often overlooked in historical sources. Fictional narratives passed down through oral tradition often draw from real events rarely reflected in written sources, deriving stories from both well-known architects and anonymous builders, characterizing a semi-fictional architect or master. In a way, oral tradition, where the structures themselves and even the narratives serve as direct sources, complements the gaps in the history of architects and builders that do not appear in historical sources. This text focuses on compiling, classifying, and researching origins through written sources, as well as comparing the narratives of architects, craftsmen, and builders that are reflected in the oral tradition within Turkish culture and that are primarily shaped around 14 different motifs. The study aims to draw a fictionalized portrait of the history of Turkish architecture.