Antakya’nın Tarihi Su Dolapları “Naura”lara Işık Tutan ‘Alvân Su Kemeri Kalıntısının Mimarî-Tarihî Analizi ve Restitüsyonu

Abstract

Constructed for the purpose of water-lifting through the rivers to the high residential areas and fields, naura (noria) is a type of monumental water wheel in which a wooden wheel and masonry elements comprise a functional features as well as aesthetic aspects. The researches and investigations conducted on the ruins of the aqueduct which is located by side of Asi River in Haraparasi district of Antakya city have shown that this structure descends from a naura type that has not survived to the present day. Suggestions related to the original condition of the aqueduct remnants whose layout plan and facade surveys are produced after an on-the-spot-check by making consistent restitution plans and three-dimensional modeling with some historical records, old photographs and measurements are put forward. Accordingly, the aqueduct remnant, which is resolved and reviewed as the set-out part, arched and solid part having diverse features from the west to the east, originally belongs to a twin wheel naura structure. The wooden wheels, existing among the towered pillar units jointed to the west end of the aqueduct and raising water from the river to the aqueduct by means of the divisions within by turning with the driving power of the river current, serve to water the famous Alvân Gardens of the region. Naura and the aqueduct belonged to a big complex which consistsed of two buildings of a mill. The proposed naura bears the characteristics special to Antakya region's surroundings having different features of samples which are widely known and available in Hama