Proceedings of the 2nd ICAUD International Conference in Architecture and Urban Design Epoka University, Tirana, Albania, 08-10 May 2014 Paper No. 236 Konuralp: A Town Between Antiquity and Today (Türkiye) Esra OKUR COŞKUNÇAY Gebze Institute of Technology (GIT) Department of Architecture, Çayırova, Gebze, Kocaeli, Turkey [email protected] ABSTRACT The Anatolian geography comprises several historic buildings as components of our cultural heritage and also many urban/rural patterns which were constituted by these monuments. Konuralp is one of the most important settlement with its 2000 years history which is located on the 8 km. north of Düzce province on the western Black Sea region in Türkiye. Its history goes back to before Christ. The city’s first name “Hypios” was changed as “Kieros” and later the name turned into “Prusias” in the period of 1st. Prusias (3rd. Century B.C.) who was the king of Bithynia. After the Roman Emperor governance on this region about 74 A.D., the city was called as “Prusias ad Hypium” which signifies “Prusias on Hypium river”. The city was under the Byzantium ascendancy until the conquest of Turkish commander “Osman Gazi” in 1323 who gave the control to the commander “Konur Alp Bey”. In Ottoman period, “Üskübü” became the new name of the town but after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the town name was changed lastly as “Konuralp” but the inhabitants still call the town as Üskübü and also as “Kasaba” which means “town”. With its 6.000 residents, today the town cultural heritage is comprised of traditional architecture and the Greek/Roman ruins. Its Antique Theatre is located in the center of the town and has an important place with its upper cavea and scena walls which was dated to early Ancient Roman period. Besides, the ramparts from Roman and Byzantine times, a gate which was a part of the ramparts known as “Atlı Kapı”, the ruins of Byzantine and Ottoman Aqueduct are observable monumental buildings in the town. The vernacular houses in traditional architecture still exist in the danger of extinction because of urbanization policies but there are many examples of those traditional buildings which were constructed in wooden frame systems with brick or wooden filling wall systems. KEYWORDS: Konuralp, Prusias ad Hypium, Ancient City, Traditional Housing, Vernacular Architecture 1 INTRODUCTION Konuralp is a subdistrict of Düzce province which is on the West Black Sea region. The distance between the city and Konuralp is 8 km. and its location is on the north of the center of the province, on the northeast side of Düzce plain situated on the south hillside on a low hill which was surrounded by forests on the north. The city center is in the middle of the highway between İstanbul and the capital Ankara. Today despite being a subdistrict, Konuralp’s history goes back to earlier than the province according to the historic documents. 236-1 Konuralp’s history between its establishment and Roman period is unknown but Memnon1 indicated that the ancient city was a settlement which was dependent to Pontus Heracleia. But being the location of the city far from the coast shows that it wasn’t established clearly by the colonists who had come to coast of Black Sea (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). The first name of the city was referred as Kieros / Cierus by Memnon during Heracleian period. In Memnon’s notes, after Bithynian King I. Prusias had taken the control of Kieros from Heracleians, he gave his name and changed the city name as Prusias (Web -2). Bithynia was located in the northwest corner of Asia Minor and was bordered on the south by the province of Asia, on the north by the Black Sea, on the east by Galatia and Pontus and on the west by the Propontis (modern Sea of Marmara) (Web-3). After the conquest of the city, Prusias started to improve and built up the city, constructed extensive architectural monuments and settled down new tribes (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). Because of there was another Prusias / Prusa (modern Bursa) in Bithynia state, the city’s name was started to called as Prusias ad Hypium. This name was comes from the river Hypius2 which was passing through the city (Umar, 2004). According to Piliny, the mountains on the north of the Düzce plain also called Hypius (Cramer – D,D, 1832). In 75 B.C., when Bithynia’s last king Nicomedes III, willed his kingdom to the Roman people, it became part of the Roman Empire (Web-2). Due to the inscriptions found in Prusias ad Hypium, the Roman city was autonomous in their internal affairs after the Vespasianus period when they produce their own money but dependent to Roman Empire in their foreign policy. The location of the city was on north way which was one of the main roads from the center of the empire to the eastern part of the country. At the beginning of the 5thcentury Prusias ad Hypium was become to belong to the new state called Honarias. After 451 A.D. the city lost its richness until the end of the its late Roman – Byzantine period (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). Figure 1: Heracleia and surrounding area in Figure 2: Bithynia (Ainsworth, 1839) Hellenistic times (Web-1) The Ottoman Government was established in 1299 by Osman Ghazi and southeast part of the Marmara Sea was the settled area. Konuralp Bey was an emir of Osman Ghazi and he was active on the east side of the Sakarya River and he conquered the territory of Prusias of Hypium included Akyazı and Mudurnu regions. Another emir Akça Koca Bey took the north of Prusias ad Hypium region on the coast. 1 Memnon may have lived in the first century A.D. He wrote a local history of the city of Pontus Heracleia (the town of Zonguldak province which is called Ereğli now) an important Greek colony on the south coast of the Black Sea. The surviving portion of the history covers the period from the tyrant Clearchus (364-353 B.C.) down to the capture of the city by the Romans (70 B.C.) (Web -1) 2 The modern river “Melen”. In the beginning of 19.th century on the notes of Ainsworth (1838), the river name was “Milan”. 236-2 After the conquest of Ottoman Empire, the region new name changed as “Konrapa” (Uzunçarşılı,, 1994). The city center was partly abandoned and started to called Üskübü/Üskübi3 from the Ottoman dominance (Rollas, 1967).There was no settlement in modern Düzce in the beginning of the Ottoman period. The Düzce Pazarı which was a market place was administrated by the Konrapa district of Bolu Province in 1530. The convenience of the location, small villages and a considerable number of nomadic people living around Düzce were the reasons to establish a market in Düzce. In 1727, Düzce Pazarı was seen as a district (Egawa – Şahin, 2009). Düzce became a municipality in 1871 (Özlü, 2009). When the Republic of Turkey was established, Üskübü became a subdistrict of Düzce town of Bolu Province. The formal name of the subdistrict is “Konuralp” now but the inhabitants are still call Üskübü or Kasaba (town) to their settlement. 2 THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF THE TOWN From the ancient Greek – Roman era to the modern time, there have been many architectural monuments and architectural fragments preserved in Konuralp. Different cultural layers seen in the district makes the settlement extraordinary and uncommon compared to other archaeological or vernacular sites. 2.1 Ancient Greek and Roman Period We do not know how the plan of the city because there is no enough survey made about it. Probably there was a grid system adapted to hillside which was formed around main streets (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). The available remains and finds show that the ancient Prusias had a Hellenistic Polis character. So like all Polis, it has a territorium which is a center surrounded by ramparts and the region outside the ramparts. The plain on the south was included this territorium. The first establishment area had been on a low hill of Mount Hypius, and then it expanded to the plain which is on the south. But the remnants of the buildings were under the modern settlement at the present time. Theatre, aqueduct, some parts of ramparts, a rampart gate and a Roman Bridge are the main remains which can be easily recognise between the Konuralp vernacular architecture. By the help of inscriptions, Gynasium, agora and temple existence was proved as the other Hellenistic cities (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). a- b - Figure 3: Ancient Theatre a-The Survey and Restitution drawings of Theatre by B. Fernardo in 1970 (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005) b- General view (Okur Coşkunçay, 2013) 3 Üskübü / Üskübi name come from “Eski Bağ / Bahçe” which means “Old Gardens”. 236-3 Ancient Theatre is the most important monument that shows the richness and development of the city. It is the most preserved and single monumental building from the ancient times. The cavea stands on the hillside in the center of the city. Its cavea is oriented to the south and this orientation protects the spectators from stream of air and makes a wonderful view. Like the other theatre buildings it consists 3 parts; cavea (rows of seats), scena (stage) and orchestra (area between cavea and scena). The materials of the cavea blocks are limestone (Zeyrek – Çelik, 2005). The dimensions of the theatre is 100 m. x 74 m. (Rollas, 1967). The cavea has 3 parts and the half of the upper cavea is protected well. The scena has rectangular shape and the east part of scena walls were exposed in 1941 by the İstanbul Archeology Museum work.