VIRTUAL: Prague Heritages
Abstract
Honaz is an abandoned historic castle town in Denizli, Turkey. The main intention of this study is understanding the evolution of Honaz and its landscape in the historical process. Qualitative research methods of the discipline of architectural restoration were used. Honaz was called Chonae located five kilometers north of Collosae, one of the Phrygian settlements of the Hellenistic period. The inhabitants of Collosae moved to Honaz for security reasons, hereby Honaz became one of the important Byzantine castle towns. Honaz castle town had a sloping land in a narrow, steep, rocky area and surrounded by walls and towers. A tight lot organization was formed due to a limited area. Thus, the settlement expanded from the castle to the plain along the hill side in time. Fertile agricultural areas located treat by the Honaz inhabitants. The sense of security was provided by mountains, isolated hills, and cliffs. These natural and manmade elements consisted of the cultural landscape of Honaz when it was used as a castle town. Although Honaz had been a preferred settlement because of its strategic location, the importance of the castle declined in the 19th century. Criteria for selecting settlement location changed based on economic and scientific reasons. Thus, Honaz was abandoned and demolished. Today, it is very difficult to observe the physical and spiritual traces of the castle town, which is the most important element of the Honaz cultural landscape. This caused Honaz cultural landscape to become neglected and the spirit of the place to be lost.
Recieved her B.Arch in Architecture from Dokuz Eylul University, Faculty of Architecture (2006) and recieved her M.Sc. in Architectural Restoration from İzmir Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture (2015). Currently she is a PhD student and works as a Research Assistant at İzmir Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. Her current research interests are cultural landscapes, historic landscape characterization, preservation of historic rural and urban environment, and documentation, restoration and conservation
Recieved her B.Arch in Architecture from Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Architecture (1990) and received her MSc. in Architectural Restoration from Middle East Technical University, Faculty of Architecture (1994). Earned her PhD. Degree in Architectural Restoration from İzmir Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture (2000). Dr. Mine Hamamcıoğlu Turan currently works as a professor at İzmir Institute of Technology, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage. Her current research interests are documentation, restoration and conservation of historic structures, archiving of conservation data, historic structural systems, preservation of historic urban environment and cultural landscapes.