مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Traditional Door Knockers Existant in District Center of Kastamonu Taşköprü

Abstract :

Traditional residential architecture that exists in district center of Taşköprü has a danger of extinction at present. Door knockers occupies important place in traditional residential architecture as indispensable architectural elements. Those knockers that we were accustomed to see on the main doors of the houses in Kastamonu in the past are rarely seen today. Because they are easy to remove and tear off in door wings. So door knockers can be stolen or sold to gain income by house holders to an antique or wrecker shops recently. Beside these problems, one of the other causes is replacing door knockers to modern door rings with rapid technology development. Therefore, the determination of door knockers is indispensable for our traditional residential architecture. Door knockers are used to inform house owner in order to understand who visit. They also provide ornament decoration and complete the design of the doors. These architectural elements are accepted as our ancestor’s heirlooms at the same time. Door knockers have also been part of our traditional residential architecture in Anatolia. The houses of Taşköprü district contain door knockers which have three types of origins. These are geometrical ones, herbal, and with figures. Some of the door knockers in Taşköprü are made by wrought technique others with casting technique. The representation about dating of the door knockers cannot be found, so classification is not possible to reveal. The aim of this study is to identify the door knockers which are indispensable elements in our traditional residential architecture in Taşköprü district.