Interior Furnitures Used in Traditional Turkish Houses

In the architecture history, the interiors of the houses where people can live with their families have emerged depending on the cultures, traditions, habits, geography of their communities, climate, religion.

Although Turks had settled in Central Asia before the drought, they came to settled life after they came to Anatolia. In Central Asia, during summers, they stayed in tents they built in the highlands and during winters they set their tents in the mountain slopes and valleys where they could be protected from cold and snow. The tent where the people stayed was called ”Yurt” and the tent where the ruler stayed was called“ Otağ”. While nomadism was more common in the north, there were settlements in arable regions where water was abundant. The building technic of the houses of Uyghur Turks was with mudbrick and brick, the carpet was laid for isolation in the houses and people should take off their shoes to be entered.

When moving home from the tent, interior spaces were arranged in a way that would allow many functions in one area. For this purpose, home furniture is designed to be portable, simple and with multiple functions. Cushions, low-ground tables, floor mattresses and the large cupboards which these beds and quilts are stored in the morning are the interior units that arise in accordance with the needs.

In Turkish houses, the closets which are built in the walls where people put their belongings in, that are called “gömme dolaplar”, the closets for the mattresses and the quilts, that are called “yüklük”, the built-in shelves where people put their daily stuff, that are called “ağzı açık” or the shelves that are called “kuşak” and the built-in narrow shelves with the mirror at the back, that are called “çiçeklik”, were the furnitures of the interior space.

  One reason that the couches used for the seating function are placed by windows is to provide space for the bed when necessary. The coaches are called “sedir”. The fact that the couches are low is due to the tradition of the Turks being close to the land since the nomadism and the living habits. It is also an extension of it that the low and portable dining table and sitting on the cushions. These habits have also changed as they live settled over time.