Sinop
Water
Author: İMAMOĞLU HUSEYIN VEHBI
Sinop’s water needs were provided by the Sülük Lake since ancient times. Water canals and aqueducts were built in order to meet the city’s water needs [1]. Today, in the place known as Ada District around the Sülük (Leach) Lake, four (4) cisterns were built and the city’s drinking water was stored in these cisterns. The cisterns were composed by two adjacent spaces and vaulted over. The water channel stretched along the East-Western direction and it was built from rubble and lime stone. The walls were built by using terracotta-lime mortar mix. There was also an old water tank. The water tank was built by rubble and mortar. Transition between the segments was provided with archways. The top of this passage was covered with a barrel vault [2]. Furthermore, if required, water was brought from Erfelek Falls located about 45 km away from Sinop. Water was directed with channels and pipes from Erfelek Falls with the use of the natural slope, was directed to the neighborhoods and was distributed to the public with terracotta pipes.
There were many fountains offered to the public in Sinop, apart from the water brought from the cisterns by channels and pipes. Almost at every street, there were two or three fountains. These fountains were used for the water needs of the people of Sinop. Fountains in Sinop between the years 1780-1910 were as follows [3]:
· Sarımsaklı Fountain: It was built by a person named Hacı Ramazan in 1486 and has two rows of inscription on the front. Foundation was built as waqfiye.
· Public (Halk) Fountain: The fountain was built by the public has an inscription deleted.
· Martyrs (Şehitler) Fountain: It was built as waqfiye in 1858 and its inscription is worn over time.
· Palace (Saray) Fountain: It was built in the Ottoman period, is covered with cut stone and has two vaults.
· Fışkıran Fountain: It was built as waqfiye in 1493. Its dome is ornamental and has an inscription. In front of the fountain it has a cross shaped, cut from the blocks.
· Libra (Terazi) Fountain: It was built as waqfiye in Hijri 1274. It is a wall fountain covered with vault.
· Old Governor’s Mansion Fountain: Square and from concrete plaster, this is a fountain that was built as waqfiye in the Ottoman period.
· Kefevi Mosque Fountain: It was built as waqfiye by Ömer Tufan Pasha, the governor of the period, in 1851.
· Bekir Pasha Fountain: It was built by Bekir Pasha, the governor of the period, in 1910. There is an inscription in the middle of fountain. Over the fountain is straight and has no decoration.
· Chamberlain (Kethüda) Mehmet Ağa Fountain: It is a fountain from Ottoman period in the same time called Balat Fountain. It was built by using limestone.
· Okulaltı Fountain: It was built by using stone and reused materials by the Greeks living in Sinop in 1902. The fountain was placed under a triangle forehead. It embossed and inscribed a fountain.
· Reci Fountain: It was built by the Greek community in 1908. It is a corner fountain.
· Karakum Fountain: It was built in order to meet the water needs of Tahaffuzhane (Quarantine Station). It is a fountain with the break-roofed encased.
· Emir Şehabettin Ağa Fountain: It was built Tavaslı Şahinoğlu Şehabettin Ağa, Seljuk vizier of the period, as waqfiye in 1430 [4].
· Lion (Aslan) Fountain: The fountain was built in 1289 belonging to the Seljuk period by a person named Osmanoğlu İbrahim [5].
There are fountains which can not be reached today but were also available at the time apart from these: İsmail Bey Fountain was built Anatolian Seljuk period. Arasta Fountain, Satır Fountain, Dalbazoğlu Fountain, Hacı Kaptan Fountain, Kara Hasanoğlu Fountain, Kapan Fountain, Şekerhane Fountain, Mahruki Zade Hanım Fountain, Susuz Fountain, Kaleyazısı Fountain, Public Fountain, Hilmi Fountain, Beyaz Kadın Fountain, Tabakhane Fountain and Hoca Kemal Fountain were built Ottoman period.
[1] Yusuf Demir, Antik Anadoluda Bir Kozmopolitik Şehir Sinope, (İstanbul: Çantay Yayınevi 2001).
[2] Sinop Tarihi ve Kültür Envanteri, (Sinop: Sinop İl Özel İdaresi 2013), s. 45.
[3] Deniz Esemenli, “Sinop İli Türk Dönemi Mimarisi”, (Phd Thesis, İstanbul Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, II. Section, İstanbul: 1990).
[4] Hüseyin Hilmi Uluğ, Sinop Kitabeleri, (Sinop: Sinop Matbaası 1339-1341/1920-1922)
[5] M. Ş. Ülkütaşır, “Sinop’ta Selçuklular Zamanına Ait Tarihî Eserler”, Türk Tarih Arkeologya ve Etnografya Dergisi, 5 (1949), Ankara, ss. 131-140.
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