Sisler Kovulunca (1986) - full transcript

The Houses and Craftsmen of Old
The Eastern Black Sea Region

"When the Fog is
Swept Away"

We want Mother Good Luck,
From God we want the sun.

To him who gives -
A thousand bounties.

May foul rats devour the butter

and cheese of him
who does not give.

When fog descends
and you can hardly see

The children come out and say
the Sun Prayer

When the fog is swept away...

"We want Mother Good Luck,
From God we want the sun."

The children receive gifts of
butter, cheese



But we want the heroes of
tomorrow's tales,

the houses and craftsmen of old.

Tastan Temur, the master-builder
from Savsat. He's 104.

He worked until he was 60,

and gave up smoking at 75.

He's glad to see his
grandchildren's grandchildren,

and that the houses he built are
still standing.

He can't remember just
how many.

My memory's gone. I'm getting
old.

The man who taught me was
Master Sukru.

Houses were built according to
the log - cabin system,

can be found mainly on the high
plateau

and inland areas of the region.

In the buildings where nail-less
dovetail technique is applied,



generally chestnut and pitch pine
are used.

There is a corridor on the first
floor.

On the left, there are stables,
cowsheds and fold.

The floor slopes and channels
to make cleaning easy.

On the right are the winter
quarters.

The fireplaces in these rooms
are used only in winter,

open into stone chimneys.

In summer, an important part of
everyday life is spent

in the porch of the second floor
entrance.

From the porch we enter into
a large hall,

of which a number of rooms
open.

The stoves on this floor open
into the same chimneys

as the ones on the floor below.

At one end of the hall, with
a very high threshold,

there is a storeroom comprising
many sections.

In the bedrooms, under some of
the divans,

there are bathtubs covered by
a flap.

To keep everything stinky out of
the house,

the lavatories are, cell-like
structures with a shutter,

suspended from the balconies.

Well, we built things - houses,
schools,

peace be to you!

In Eastern Black Sea region,

villages tend to be rather spread
out.

Densely built villages can only be
found

on plains at the foot of mountains

or on inland areas on high
plateau

Even in August, snow can be
seen on high plateau

of the mountain ridge.

Small water falls and
streams flow

by the snow that melts

and the rain that falls
all year round.

Because of the steep slopes

and the shortage of cultivatable
land

the settlements tend to have
a dispersed pattern

and the villages and small towns

generally consist of scattered
units.

Because natural conditions are
very harsh,

the local people are very
enterprising and very creative.

In places where there are
no bridges,

They have to be creative enough
to improvize cable lifts

powered by simple motors, or
even by their own muscles!

When summer comes a migration
starts from the coastal area

to the plateau on the mountains

in order to escape from
the unbearable heat and humidity

to find new pastures from
the animals,

to prepare hay for winter

and to take part in festivities
that are held

on the mountain tops on certain
days of the year.

Neighbourhoods, villages and clans

that have been separated from
one another for a whole year

by streams, valleys, peaks
and the struggle of everyday life,

come together, embrace
and relieve the pain of separation.

It is here that young men choose
their future wives.

On the temporary settlement
which is a stopping place

during the migration,

or on the plateau, the houses are
made of timber

and are simple in design.

Even the roofs are clad with
shingles.

Nowadays, these old wooden tiles
are replaced by sheet iron.

This is Ali Yagci the master-builder
from Camlihemsin.

He is 60. He can build a house
in 1,5 - 2 months

with the aid of his 3 assistants.

I learnt my job from my uncle.

I've built 87 houses far.

I taught myself to read and write.

We just visualize the sort of
house we want here.

There's no need for drawings.

We use wooden pins here.

We use dovetail joints in the vital
points of the structure.

Those particular joints

stay tightly integrated
-no matter what happens

Houses where this joint
technique is used

stand up to earthquakes or blows
of any kind.

Concrete buildings aren't healthy
to live in.

Because it's damp here.
You need to use wood.

Chestnut is a very sound wood.
It'll last for 150-200 years.

When you're choosing a plot,
you've got to remember that

it snows a lot here, you've got to
watch out

for avalanches, blizzards,
landslides, flooding.

My name is Kasim Tavukcuoglu.
I'm 98.

I learned the building
trade from my father.

Kasim Tavukcuoglu, who gave up
his job

8 years ago when he was 90,

still lives with his wife in the house
he built himself

60 years ago in the village
of Ikizdere.

Among the building techniques
that Kasim uses are

cellular half-timbered construction,
a common practice in the region.

Cells are infilled with a mixture
of stone and adobe.

The infilling is then plastered
with lime.

I do a sound job.
I've built 160 houses,

and nobody has ever complained.

Everybody said:
"May God reward you"

A house that Kasim and
his father built

in 3 months in 1919 is still
standing.

My father was Halil.
He was a real craftsman.

They said, "Master Halil, your
apprentice is better than you!"

"You are right," he would say.

"Sons are always better
than their fathers."

In the cellular half-timbered
construction technique

wealthy people prefer infilling

with special hewn stones...

The infilling is of either stone,
adobe or hewn stone,

it was all done according to
a certain standard.

Whether the house was
to have 9 or 99 windows,

certain standards were borne in mind
when building these old houses.

And no master-builder ever deviated
from these standards, he couldn't.

Master builder Kasim
Tavukcuoglu says:

"if there's no infilling, the house
is cold

Despite the interior wooden
paneling

the cold gets in between
the timbers.

When it's filled, the wind
can't get in.

You can't live in concrete
in this region

because of the humidity.

The concrete will pull you like a magnet.

Stone and wood...

The people of the Eastern Black
Sea region

use those two basic building
materials

throughout the house,
for health purposes.

With those two noble elements,
The masters have achieved new synthesis

reflecting aesthetic values.

An inseparable part of
the old houses

is the "serender", or barn.

Foodstuffs such as hazelnuts,
maize, flour, potatoes

and beans are kept in these
buildings.

"Serender"s are built with
the nail-less dovetail technique

like most wooden houses.

When necessary, they can be
dismantled and rebuilt elsewhere.

All necessary measures are
taken to prevent vermin,

mainly mice from getting at
the foodstuff in the serender.

At the same time, it has grids
which ensure

constant ventilation to protect
the stored food

from mold and rotting due to
the humidity.

Another component is "merek"

a structure where hay or straw
can be stored.

The creative intelligence of
the people of this region

can also be seen in their
tobacco-drying racks.

These racks are set on wooden
slipways

which enable them to be brought

to a vertical position under cover

when it starts to rain.

With a similar creativity, movable
drying racks have been

installed on the balconies of
some houses.

Dilaver brothers: Muslim
the master builder is 78

and his brother Ismail is 68.

They live in the house they built
themselves

in a village near Surmene.

The technique they mostly use
is "muska"

subdivision of a half timbered
structure.

The triangular frames are filled

with a mixture of mud
and stones.

As a rule, metal nails are used
to fix the diagonals

in this type of construction

which is wide-spread
in the region.

The Dilaver brothers have built

more than 400 houses to date

They are proud to say that not
a single house

they built has ever collapsed.

Nobody has ever said there was
a defect in the work

I did for him.

I've built 487 houses - it's written
in my diaries

My father always said to me:

"One window in a room should be
without bars.

If there is a fire, you can't get out

if all windows have got bars"

Omer Kelesoglu is from lkizdere.
He is 81.

Because the active population
of the village has gone away

to work in big cities,

he volunteers for a number
of jobs

such as making the stairs
for the village school.

Since it's too rainy during
the school season,

The children would often
slip and fall

down coming to school,
he says.

Omer also deals with running repairs
on his neighbours' houses

Omer's expertise is seen mainly
in the houses he built,

where he used the "cakatura"
technique.

This involves filling the spaces

between the vertical members of
the structure

with a mixture of mud
and stones.

Omer says that he always
visualized the house

in his mind, and never
made any drawings.

I'm getting old. My life is
coming to an end,

and so is my work.

If had my life all over again, I'd
go into the same trade.

I'd like to learn my trade
even better

and make even better buildings
for the prosperity of the people.

I had no education, and
education is an important thing.

This is Ali Riza Alioglu,
the master-builder from Surmene,

and the house he built

using the "muska" technique.

This house was his first work.

This old house and its creator
have withstood

the ravages of time
together for 70 years

and continue to do so.

Ali Riza, who is 92, says:

I built this house first of all.

I spent my wedding night here...

My wife died in this house...

I shall die in this house, too.

I started to learn my trade when
I was 13.

Ali Riza, who started

with triangular framed half
timbered construction,

later built houses using the
"bagdadi" technique.

Ali Riza says that he owes
his health

and sprightliness to the house

that he built with his own hands

and has lived in ever since.

As he said: The houses and
barns that he built

are just like living people
- they breathe.

Fifty years ago, when Ali Riza
was adding an extra storey

to a house in Surmene, he
became famous.

I didn't add that extra floor to
the top of the house,

but to the bottom! he says

I raised the house

and propped it up on both sides.

The whole of Surmene crowded
round to watch.

The mayor himself came
and warned me

if anyone got hurt,
I would got the blame.

And I got the job done
in 2 days!

That famous house, has been
standing for the past 50 years!

The craftsmen of old made
everything themselves,

from door and window frames

to the decorations on the eaves.

Ali Riza wanted to immortalize

the hand of his beloved daughter,

who was just 3 days old
at the time:

this he did by carving

the hand reaching
a bunch of grapes

on the door of a house he built

The old town houses in the
Eastern Black Sea region were

usually built according to the
"bagdadi" technique.

In this technique thin
strips of wood

that have been nailed to
"muska" or "cakatura" type walls

plastered over.

It provides heat and sound
insulation.

We can see a large number of
welcoming houses in Akcaabat,

built according to the "bagdadi"
technique.

The layout of these houses,

which do not block one mother's
outlook,

are constantly ventilated by
skylight windows

adheres to the traditional division

into women's quarters (harem)
and men's quarters (selamlik)

The two rooms which open into
the entrance hall

were the "men's quarters" of old.

On the second floor
there were bedrooms

that also belonged to
the "men's quarters"

In the "women's quarters" there
was kitchen accommodation

and living rooms opening off
the ground floor corridor

and bedrooms on the either side of
the corridor above.

This is master Kahraman,
the mason. He is 60.

He has been wielding a hammer
since he was 9.

It is intelligence that matters
more than

strength in a mason's work.

Your intelligence tells you

how to tum a stone easily that a
wrestler couldn't turn.

Kahraman learnt his craft
from his father

and he in turn learnt it from
his own father.

Two master builders can built
a normal house

with stone walls in a month.

If there is going to be
stone carving,

it'll take two master
builders three months to do it.

The old stone masons

would proudly sign their names

on all their works.

In this region, stone was the symbol

of nobility, wealth and power.

The craftsmen of old
have created

magnificent examples of harmony
in wood and stone.

The climatic conditions
in this region

require the eaves of a house
should be as broad as possible.

This to a great extent prevents
rainwater

from running down the walls.

Some builders, in order to ensure
ventilation for the house,

do not cover the facing boards
on the underside of the eaves.

Others do, especially where the
location is windy.

But the covering of the facing
boards would be left convex,

in accordance with the rules of
aerodynamics.

The fireplace occupied
a very important place

in these old houses

and while the house was lived in,
it never went out.

The big room which the
fireplace was located

was the place where the family
and their guests

took their meals together and
enjoyed themselves.

The rooms and halls on this floor

were also placed around of this
common area.

In this region at one time

there were waterside
residences too.

Houses built by old craftsmen

that has faced the rough waves
of Black Sea for generations.

However, in recent years

many of them have been
rooted by the coastal road

and only a handful have survived
to tell the tale.

This is 86 year-old master
builder Mustafa Turna from Rize.

He is also known by his
carpenter's tools

which he made with his
own hands.

I started in this trade
when I was 15.

I built my own house

without even serving as an
apprentice to a master.

After that, people said:

"It's not acceptable, you must
serve as an apprentice."

Then I joined to a master and
worked for him.

After making a few houses
we split up.

Mustafa says that the good old
days are gone for them.

When our Patron Saint "Habib-un
Neccar" made a mistake then.

According to the myth,
our Patron came across Saint Elijah.

His basket was full of money,
he had earned.

Saint Elijah asked him what was
that in his basket.

He didn't say there's money in it.
He said, "There's sawdust."

Elijah said:
"May God bless your sawdust!"

Since then, whatever we make
we get a pile of sawdust!"

One day in 1940
he had been asked

to build a house
with large windows.

But he refused to build such a
non-standard house.

When the landowner insisted,

He made his first compromise

and it was he who built Rize's
first large-windowed house.

On the other hand, 92 year-old
Ali Riza who became famous

by adding an extra storey to
the bottom of a house in Surmene

still refuses to compromise.

Until now, he has denied to even
set foot

in the modern building designed and
built by his architect grandson

in the garden of his house.

"This region is so damp
and rainy.

So we can not live in concrete
buildings.

If you go to that house,
the doctor goes in, too." he says,

and is then lost in thought.

It's hard to understand

whether he is thinking about
the past or the future.

When fog descends
and you can hardly see

The children come out and say
the Sun Prayer

When the fog is swept away...

We want Mother Good Luck,
From God we want the sun.

As gifts for the children,

We want tales of the houses and
craftsmen of old.

Director
Suha ARIN

Assistant Director and Editor
Cahit SEYMEN

Cameraman
Turhan YAVUZ

Assistant Cameraman
Yusuf Ziya GUMRUKCU

Location Sound Recording
Sevda AGAOGLU

Narrator
Sureyya ARIN

Research
Ulge GOKER

Advisor
Prof. Dr. Metin SOZEN

Advisor on Local Architecture
Dr. Cengiz ERUZUN

Local Guides

"Tulum" Player
Mustafa GARIBOGLU

Music
Nadir GOKTURK

Sound Mixer
Mehmet KILICEL

Laboratory
Sinefekt

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MTV