The Tandirevi (Kitchen) and Architecture in Traditional Erzurum Houses

Abstract

Traditional Erzurum houses are the best samples reflecting the plan of houses having an interior court and a tandirevi and including the one-stored type, two-stored type and multi-sectional type of Anatolian Turkish houses architecture. The most important part of the Erzurum houses is tandirevi (kitchen) with tandırbaşı a small oven, seki (a kind of divan on which the inhabitants sleep and sit), kurun (the store watertank), kiler-ambar (the store room for food), terekler (the system of shelves). It has a covering called kirlangiç örtü which has a dome with a lantern. Tandirevi which is a place serving several purposes like cooking, eating, sitting, resting, accepting guests, and sleeping and is used by the members of the family, especially women, with the function of a haremlik. In the design of the place, climate, economic and regional conditions besides traditional and religious beliefs are remarkaldy effective. The association of tandirevi with Central Asia- Anatolia and the intensification of this association with tandirbaşi, tandir and kirlangiç örtü makes the effect of the elements clear.