Α “Resurrection of building lots”, or the possibility of reconstructing the parcellation of Venetian Candia, based on the 1669 Ottoman Register TT-798 and questions on its transformation up until 1901. (original) (raw)
Related papers
The Ottoman architecture in Greece then and now: quantitative approach
SHEDET (Annual Peer-Reviewed Journal Issued By The Faculty Of Archaeology, Fayoum University), 2019
Usually, of most studies on the Ottoman architecture in the Balkans are done by comparing between the numbers of buildings then and now. This paper discusses such method with regard to its comparative advantage and maximising its use in understanding Ottoman architecture. With Greece as a case study, the present paper identifies change in the quantity of Ottoman buildings considering the archetypal, functional, chronological, and geographical evidence, in the changing context of the nature of the Ottoman rule over centuries. The scholar provides new statistics presenting the numbers of Ottoman buildings in Greece over centuries, with special reference to three periods: the second half of the 17th century (time of EvliyâÇelebi), the late period of the Ottoman rule in Greece (based on Iyverdi’s statistics, the Ottoman slanames, and Kamûs-ülÂ'lâm of Şemseddin), and the existing architectural heritage in light of the recent publications and fieldworks’ results. Through statistical methods, this research identifies quantitative change of several types of buildings, proper to each region or in Greece as a whole.It observes the growth or decay of the pace of construction on the basis of three main factors: type of building, period, and region. The most significant results come from the comparison between the numbers of the Ottoman buildings in Greece dating to Evliyâ’s time at the end of the 17th century and the last decades of the Ottoman rule. The statistic table and the two charts with function and region indexes clarify to what extent the change in the number of buildings according to their function and region summarises the different phases of the Ottoman rule and the nature of each phase. The paper shows that the change in the numbers of buildings according to their function summarizes the alteration in nature of the Ottoman policy over the centuries, and the numbers of extant buildings strongly relate to the history and site of the corresponding regions. The paper clarifies that the reasons beyond the demolition of ottoman buildings in Greece include both human and natural factors, and concludes with a recommendation of preserving and reuse of extant ottoman structures.
The Ottoman urban model in the Morea: Convergences and divergences
The text is the draft of the chapter B.III.1 (Part B) of the forthcoming English edition of my book: Mora, olim Peloponnesus. Spatial organisation and morphology of the city during the Ottoman era, Athens: Refections Architects’ Files, pp. 952-981, 2024
The urban structure and morphology of the cities of the Morea during the centuries following the first Ottoman conquest display variations due to factors such as topography, the geometry of fortifications (where they existed), urban fabrics from earlier periods, the ethnic-religious composition of their populations, and the defensive or economic role each settlement held within the network of urban centers on the peninsula. It should be noted, however, that behind these variations lies a common background of processes of transformation of the urban space of the conquered region, aiming at its integration into the Ottoman core. These processes represent the distinct Ottoman approach to urban development. It appears that, in the case of the Ottoman conquest of the Morea in the second half of the 15th century, a similar process of reclaiming urban space and “Ottomanization” of the conquered Christian settlements was followed, akin to the process documented in the cities of northern Greece a few decades earlier, at the end of the 14th century. The book “Mora, olim Peloponnesus” deals with the urban structure of the cities of the Peloponnese during the three and a half centuries of the Ottoman conquest and explores the morphological imprint of the Ottoman urban pattern in this region, choosing as case studies nine urban settlements (Tripolitsa, Patras, Corinth, Argos, Mistra, Nafplio, Navarino, Methoni and Coron). The research is largely based on original cartographic and drawing archival material, which have been in many Εuropean Archives and Libraries. The book is structured in two parts. In the first part, research of the urban function and form of the nine selected examples is attempted based on historical texts, travel accounts, manuscript drawings, maps and topographic plans that are combined, evaluated and juxtaposed, to lead to corresponding graphic proposals for the reconstruction of the residential fabric of the nine case studies at the end of the Ottoman era. In the second part, a synthetic approach is proposed that attempts to integrate the urban phenomenon in the Ottoman Peloponnese into the wider context of the Ottoman city in the Mediterranean world. Production - editor: Panayotis Tsakopoulos Graphic design - art direction: Ioanna Kostika | finedesign Editor: Refections Architects’ Files E: pantsa@otenet.gr
2018
The paper is a preliminary study of the register Tapu Tahrir 798 located in the Ottoman Archives (Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi) in Istanbul. In 1669 it surveys the newly conquered town of Candia (Crete) in great detail, from quarter to quarter and from building to building. The register provides rich information for the Venetian Candia, since it includes the public buildings of the town that passed to the Ottomans, as well as the names of the previous owners of the town dwellings, who had evacuated the town after its surrender, and the names of the current owners. Thus, this source provides us with the tools to study the spatial transformation of the town during the transition from the Venetian to the Ottoman rule, the settlement patterns of the religious and social groups, and the social use of space.
∆he settlements that developed in the Athenian plain under Ottoman rule are the subject of the following paper. According to the written sources and the surviving monuments, 25 villages and 14 monasteries were spread throughout the area. After a remarkable period of prosperity in the sixteenth century, most of them fell into a continuous state of decline, until the end of the Ottoman era. The history and the organisation of these settlements, the road network that connected them and domestic and church architecture are put under investigation, in order to reconstruct as much as possible the map and the picture of the area during this long period.
Mastering the Conquered Space: Resurrection of Urban Life in Ottoman Upper Thrace (14th – 17th c.)
PhD Dissertation, 2013
This dissertation examines several cases of urban development in the Ottoman Balkans aiming to demonstrate the existence of an established Ottoman model for urban modification and creation of new towns. Focusing on the morphology of four towns rebuilt or established from scratch the dissertation finds a normative pattern in the methods applied by the Ottomans in reclaiming urban space in the conquered territories. The Ottoman central power and the semi-autonomous border raider commanders in the Balkans applied a program for changing of the inherited spatial in order in the Byzantino-Slavic cities in the Balkans through a conscious attempt for shifting of the existing urban core away of the fortified parts. The concept for changing of the spatial order through architectural patronage has followed a long evolutionary path and certainly predates the Ottoman state. The T-shaped multifunctional imaret/zaviyes used in the Ottoman urban program as colonizers of urban space constitute the important novelty that came into being in Ottoman Bithynia and was subsequently transferred to the Balkans. Keywords: Ottoman Balkans, urbanism, urban morphology, architectural patronage, historical demography, Filibe (Plovdiv), Tatar Pazarcık (Pazardzik), Karlova, Konuş
SIMOU, X. (2023) Ottoman fortification works at Koroni castle, Messenia, Greece (1500-1685)
Koroni (gr. Κορώνη, eng. Corone), a diachronically prominent city of southwestern Messenia region at the Peloponnese peninsula in Greece, gained significant attention under Venetian rule from 13 th century as an intermediate naval station for important trade routes of eastern Mediterranean. It consisted together with the neighbouring city of Methoni (gr. Μεθώνη, eng. Modon) the so called "eyes of the Republic in the East." Following the Ottoman conquest by Sultan Bayezid II in 1500, Koroni became a strategically important ottoman city and the castle undergone new fortification and restoration works in order to host up-to-date artillery provisions. Ottomans constructed the eastern-front complex of Livadye-kalesi with round tower-bastions and a moat and implement reinforcements at the acropolis and at selective places of the northern outer section of the castle. A big part of these sophisticated and experimental works can be dated at the first half of 16 th century, mainly based on comparative typological characteristics and sparse archival references. The current essay examines the ottoman fortification works at Koroni from 1500 till the reconquest of the castle in 1685 by the Venetians, who delivered rich archival records on the castle's condition. The study presents the results of the Ph.D. research on Ottoman fortifications at Peloponnese during the first period of ottoman occupation and recent elements deriving from the writer's involvement in restoration project of the Messenia Ephorate of Antiquities for Livadye complex.
Suna ÇAĞAPTAY, M. ÇAĞHAN KESKIN Ιn the aftermath of the Timurid sack: Buildings and builders in Bursa While the use of alternating brick-and-stone masonry is a distinguishing feature in the early religious as well as nonreligious Ottoman buildings of Bursa, during the reign of Bayezid I the architectural culture shifted to stone-marble ashlar masonry. In this paper, we would like to argue that the Timurid sack of 1402 did not disrupt the Ottoman empire-building project so much as herald a continuation carried out with similar materials but an evolving vocabulary. The Ottoman project was resumed in full when Timur left Anatolia about a decade later in 1413 to pursue his longtime ambition of conquering Asia itself. The new architectural style included many borrowings from the Mamluk, Timurid, and local Anatolian-Balkan elements, as showcased by the Green (Yeşil) Convent-Masjid (1419-21) established by Mehmed I (r. 1413-21). Using a nuanced re-reading of the archival, epigraphic and visual evidence, we aim to chase the identity of the builders. Whatever the limitations of the Mamluks' work, it demonstrates that not just Byzantine but also other masons and builders added their efforts to Ottoman buildings through elevation and plan, decoration, and construction techniques. Indeed, a wide range of Mamluk, Timurid, and local Anatolian-Balkan elements also appear in the early fifteenth-century architecture of Bursa in the aftermath of the Timurid sack and during the interregnum period. Patricia BLESSING Bursa and beyond: On the fifteenth-century origins of Ottoman architecture This paper examines Ottoman architecture in the long fifteenth century, against the backdrop of major historical events such as Bayezid I's defeat against Timur in 1402, the interregnum, and Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople in 1453. It argues against a teleological narrative that moves from the first extant Ottoman-sponsored monuments to the major intervention of Sinan in the mid-sixteenth century. Rather, the paper focuses on the diverse and multi-valent nature of the emerging Empire's building program. Paschalis ANDROUDIS Early Ottoman architecture in Greece. The so-called "Bursa" period The monuments of the early Ottoman architecture in Greece share some common elements such the cloisonné brickwork system (the use of alternating brick-and-stone masonry). The presence of this system which is a distinguishing feature in the early Ottoman buildings of Bursa, led some Greek scholars to speak about the "School of Bursa" in Greece and "buildings of small scale and rather provincial character in comparison with major works in the Northern Balkans, Bursa and Edirne". This paper will present some early Ottoman monuments in Greece that share some common, mainly external features that can be found in the buildings of Bursa and its sphere and why the term "Bursa period" in Greece should not be used any more.