Author(s)

GÜLŞEN DİŞLİ

Abstract

Understanding of working principles, conceptual designs and specific characteristics of the functional spaces in historical hospitals is vitally important for improving proper maintenance and preservation programs by which survival of those buildings could be achieved for the sake of next generations. Properly determining of such functional spaces ranging from patients’ rooms, pharmacy, policlinics, latrines, surgery rooms, baths to kitchens regards several comprehensive studies. However, there are only a few studies conducted on the determination of functional spaces in the Anatolian Seljuk and Ottoman hospitals. Furthermore, there is no any specific study yet carried out on how those spaces developed, and on their original furnishing designation. Therefore, this article first aims to portray different functions of the spaces located in the Anatolian hospitals built from the thirteen to eighteen centuries. Portraying of the functional spaces includes examination of their construction history, original furnishing designs and interior fittings as well. As a matter of fact, all those spaces collectively reflect their regional features and developmental stage of their own period. By using an extensive collection of evaluations on functional spaces from twelve historical Seljuk and Ottoman hospitals, this article includes some comparative studies of common and uncommon features of historic hospitals in these two periods in terms of their functional spaces and furnishing design by using primary and secondary sources, together with in-situ observations. Thus, the research also reveals the similarities and differences as well as periodic developments of original functional spaces and their furnishing designs in historical hospitals between Seljuk and Ottoman periods. Furthermore, the research showed that travellers’ accounts, waqf deeds, old pictures, and gravures by which several valuable information on original furnishing of hospital spaces could be obtained. By this study it is clearly revealed that while some of the functional spaces designed in the Seljuk period lost their function, many others were added into Ottoman’s hospitals with an increasing variety of spaces designed nearly for all functions.

Keywords

historic hospitals, Anatolia, Seljuk and Ottoman periods, functional spaces, furnishing, interior fittings