Şanlıurfa Museum of Traditional Handicrafts

Şanlıurfa Museum of Traditional Handicrafts is an ethnography museum established in the city center of Şanlıurfa with the purpose of promoting, preserving, and selling traditional crafts. The museum serves as a center where many traditional handicraft products, ranging from regional copperwork to carpet weaving, felt making to wood carving, are exhibited and where educational activities are also carried out.

History

Şanlıurfa Museum of Traditional Handicrafts was realized by the Şanlıurfa Province Cultural Education Art and Research Foundation (ŞURKAV) founded under the initiative of the Şanlıurfa Governorship. The museum first opened on 24 January 2011 in the historic Sayganlar House located northwest of Balıklıgöl under the name “Şanlıurfa Museum of Traditional Handicrafts and Sales Center.” This historic Urfa house, the museum’s first building, was constructed in the late 18th century and was restored in 1994, after which it was used for a long time as a mourning house.

However, as the need for visitors and exhibition space increased over time, the museum was moved in January 2016 to the Swiss Missionary Hospital building in Atatürk Neighborhood, a larger and more suitable structure. This building was erected in 1901 by Swiss missionary Dr. Hermann Christ; it was restored by the Şanlıurfa Governorship in 2002 and opened as a “Social Center,” and from 2010 onward it began to be used as the “Şanlıurfa Museum of Traditional Handicrafts Center.”

During this historical process, the museum and center functions gradually merged in the same location; it began to operate both as a museum displaying traditional art products and as a center where these arts are taught, produced, and sold.

Architecture

The building where the museum is currently located consists of two main sections arranged around a large courtyard. The building on the south side of the courtyard contains rooms with cross vaults, while the north side comprises a two‑storey structure with arched architectural elements. Stone workmanship and arched passages reflect the building’s distinctive architectural character.

Stone carving

It is one of the crafts with a deep history in Şanlıurfa. The limestone reliefs and statues at Göbeklitepe, which date back to the Neolithic period, are among the earliest examples of stone work in the region. Stone decorations seen in traditional architecture in houses, mosques, fountains and tombs bear the traces of a multilayered cultural heritage. Using material obtained from stone quarries in the west of the city, this craft is kept alive today through restoration and master training.

Copperworking

The copperworking tradition in Şanlıurfa has a history of thousands of years, with archaeological findings extending to the Copper Age (5000–3000 BC). Especially applied with hammer forging and, in recent years, with embossing hammer techniques, this craft was performed in the 1950s by about 300 masters and apprentices in nearly 100 workshops, while today it continues with about 10 enterprises and a limited number of masters. Copperworking, in which products such as kettles, pots, pans, trays, sieves, bowls, basins, ewers and cezve are produced, is still practiced in Hüseyiniye Bazaar, which was founded in 1887.

Jewelry making

Jewelry making in Şanlıurfa is a deep-rooted handicraft based on gold and silver work. The 1894 Halep Province Yearbook mentions the fame of Urfa jewelers. Women's jewelry in the region is called “hışır”; the main products include earrings, necklaces, pendants, bracelets, rings, belts, hizma and halhal. Today, in workshops using 21–22 carat gold, traditional jewelry is produced with techniques such as filigree, engraving, embossing, casting with molds, filigree (telkari), casting, plating, riveting and basket weaving. Production in the city, where about fifty jewelers are active, continues in Pamukçu Market, Kınacı Market and nearby shops.

Kazaz weaving

Kazaz weaving is a traditional handicraft that uses special threads obtained by hand-twisting raw silk. In Şanlıurfa this craft was practiced for many years in the Bedesten known as “Kazzaz Market” in 30–40 shops, and today it is continued by 2–3 masters. In kazaz weaving, products such as pearl inlay, pocket watches and pistol grips, hair ties, tassels, rosary tassels, silk ribbons and ığal are produced.

Culhacılık (Cloth Weaving)

In Şanlıurfa it is a traditional weaving craft in which various women's garments are woven using cotton thread and floş. This production process, carried out on looms with hooks and shuttles, includes 12–13 stages such as dyeing, drying and warp preparation. The shiny thread called floş is brought white from Bursa and dyed in Urfa. This hand art, in which garments such as yamşah (neçek, çefiye), puşu, ehram, vala, fita and izar are produced, is still kept alive today in the Kazaz Market.

Kilim Weaving

Kilim weaving, which has been carried out by women in Şanlıurfa since the past, has lost its importance with the spread of machine production. In places such as Karacadağ, Siverek, Viranşehir and Kısas, kilims produced by traditional methods and “palas” and “karaçadır” made of goat hair stand out, while “şakka” woven as narrow strips for rain‑proof wool tents are also important products. The sack weaving that was practiced by a master in Kısas until the year 2000 has decreased today.

Köşkerlik (Yemenicilik)

It is one of the crafts in which traditional production of yemeni, çarık, bridal boots and postal‑type shoes is carried out. Yemeni shoes, whose upper is goat leather, sole is horsehair, lining is sheep, inner sole is cattle or goat, and edge is kid leather, are made by hand stitching and are especially suitable for soil ground because of their flat‑bottomed structure. The thickness of the soles of these shoes varies according to different age and gender groups; they were intensively produced in the past in Eskici Market, and today they are still kept alive by a master in the same bazaar.