Conservation of Rural Religious Heritage in the Western Mediterranean Region of Türkiye: Yukarı Kırlı Village

Abstract

Rural religious heritage is an important value for the future of historic villages and for their conservation. The religious heritage in rural areas of Burdur province, located in the Western Mediterranean Region of Türkiye, deserves special attention in this field both for its monuments and for the settlements and landscapes surrounding them. Documentation studies carried out in the rural area of Burdur show that the religious heritage assets and the historic villages in which they are located have mostly conserved their authentic values and identities. However, structural problems, interventions of poor quality, loss of traditional construction knowledge, inability to provide original material, abandonment, neglect, disuse due to the socio-cultural, economic, political and climatic transformations and depopulation are some of the risks faced by this heritage. Within the scope of the study, Yukarı Kırlı Village and its mosque will be discussed. It is a historic Turkmen village on the Taurus Mountains, which has lost its population over the years due to socio-economic changes. In the village, traditional buildings and areas have become out of use due to depopulation. Yukarı Kırlı Village Mosque, which was closed to worship after being damaged in the 1971 earthquake, is, despite its modest dimensions, one of the rare examples with its well conserved earthen masonry system supported by wooden beams and posts, original roof covering and local ornament details. Architectural surveys were carried out with both traditional and advanced methods at the scales of site, building and architectural element and in addition to archival research, an oral history work was conducted with local people. It is aimed to identify and document the rural religious heritage and the historic villages in which they are located, in the selected region with an analytical study and to reveal the conservation issues.