The Use of Water Features in the Palace Landscapes of the Late Ottoman Era

Abstract

Despite palaces reflect the cultural characteristics of their period they also reflect the life styles of people who lived in these sites and the artistic properties and construction techniques of the period. Garden culture has emerged as an outcome of human-nature relationships and changed and developed throughout history with the geographical, historical and socio-economic conditions of each period. Water features have always appeared as crucial design components in Turkish gardens. It is remarkable that fountains and dispensers, designed for meeting water utilization need, were also used for sound and cooling purposes. Water in Turkish gardens emerged as rich forms including dispensers, water pots and stagnant and running water. Pools were in the shapes of foursquare, rectangular or square starting from early Ottoman Period until the 18 th century and subsequently, round and curvilinear-shaped pools took their place. Pool interiors were brightened by various means starting from the 18 th century and for this purpose, islands, grotto made of artificial rocks, waterfalls and passages in the form of bridges were built in the middle. However, fountains and dispensers have been significant water features in every period. In this research, water features (pools, fountains, dispensers, waterfalls and grottos) situated in Yildiz Palace Gardens, erected as the final premises of the Ottoman Empire by Sultan II Abdulhamid and in Beylerbeyi Palace Gardens, constructed by Sultan Abdulaziz as a summer sea-side palace, will be scrutinized. Design and structural characteristics of water features that reached today and are situated in the palace gardens will be discussed based on the collected data and suggestions will be made for the current preservation issues.