Bezirhane (Oil Workshops) and Seten as Representatives of Vernacular Architecture in Kayseri

Ozbek Y.

MILLI FOLKLOR, sa.90, ss.164-175, 2011 (AHCI, Scopus, TRDizin)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Basım Tarihi: 2011
  • Dergi Adı: MILLI FOLKLOR
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Arts and Humanities Citation Index (AHCI), Scopus, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.164-175
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Seten, Bezirhane (Oil Workshop), Vernacular Architecture, Kayseri
  • Akdeniz Üniversitesi Adresli: Hayır

Özet

This study explains the architecture of bezirhane (oil workshops) and eaten of Kayseri, which have been unexplored buildings until today. Satan is a production workshop which is configured for grinding cereals such as wheat and other oily plant seeds. It is composed of a circularly-designed tough basalt stone placed inside a through for grinding seeds and cereals. Seten may be placed either in interior or in exterior spaces. Bezirhane is an oil production workshop which is composed of spaces which are carved out of the volcanic terrain. Some parts of it are built up with stone masonry on the surface of the earth. The oily seeds of plants such as linum (zeyreh), tamarix (ilgin) and bluebottle (belemir) are processed in the bezirhane for producing oil. Historical sources such as charters of waqf and taxation archives indicate that, especially in Kayseri, bezirhanes were waqf properties, and that the oil produced here was used in the oil lamps of the mosques. Bezirhane is constituted by the spaces called kiln, seten / kavut harmani (millstone), hezen dami (squeezing room) and stable. After being broiled in the kilns, the seeds are grounded by the millstone (seten) to produce flour. After this water is added to the flour in order to produce dough. Then in the space called hezen damt, dough is squeezed by a pressing mechanism made up of timber logs and oil is produced. In the examples of Kayseri, it is observed that the spaces are carved out of rocks or shaped underground by digging the soil. The space is generally covered by pointed-arched stone vaults.