Old Eskişehir in Odunpazarı, from Meerschaum to Glass

Start the route by entering the outer courtyard of the Kurşunlu Complex. The buildings of the complex are arranged in a U on the east, south and west sides of the mosque at its centre, and they are joined by a wall that forms an outer courtyard. There is a gate on each side of the courtyard, so whichever street you arrive from, you can walk straight in. Keep in mind that the complex was commissioned by the vizier Çoban Mustafa Paşa and that, according to the foundation records, most of its buildings were built between 1517 and 1525. Sources name Acem Ali, chief architect before Mimar Sinan, as its probable architect. As you cross the courtyard, notice that the buildings do not stand on one level; because of the slope of the ground, there are steps between them. The Meerschaum Museum is in the part of the complex known as the hanikah or medrese, and it stands higher than the mosque. Stairs in front of it lead up to the domed hall and the cells, and the portico along the facade facing the courtyard was rebuilt during renovations. Before you go in, pause for a moment under this portico and look across the courtyard to the lead-covered domes. Inside are works gathered from the international meerschaum festivals organised by the Eskişehir Governorship since 1998, from handicraft competitions and from exhibitions. The works were purchased by the Provincial Special Administration, and the museum was opened by the Odunpazarı Municipality in 2008. Sources describe the collection as some 400 works by 60 artists. As you walk past the cases, look first at the colour of the stone; meerschaum is a soft, finely porous material in white or near-white tones. It softens when wet and hardens when dry, so craftsmen carve it while it is damp and it keeps its shape once it dries. Look closely at the fine carving in the cases, the tiny faces and curves, and think about the patience it takes to draw them out with the tip of a knife. Look on the panels for the stone's other names, sea foam, Meerschaum and sepiolite, the last given by a German mineralogist in the 19th century. You can read on the panels that the stone is found at depths of up to 150 metres underground and that, according to archaeological studies, it has been known for about five thousand years. Meerschaum does not burn and gains considerable strength once it dries, which is why such fine carving can last. Dry meerschaum is light enough to float on water, which explains why it has been so sought after around the world for making pipes. The folk legend in which the carvers regard the mole that first showed the way to the stone as the patron of their craft shows how deeply this stone runs through the city. Remember that in this building the rooms once used by students in the Ottoman period have been turned into workshops; on your way out, walk past the cells and look into any that are open. Back in the courtyard, look at the caravanserai building that stretches north; it houses the Hot Glass Blowing Workshop and the Glass Arts Centre and links up with the last stop of the route. The primary school building of the complex has been used as a library since 2010, and this quiet corner of the courtyard is also good for a short break. The museum is closed on Mondays; check admission conditions and hours on its official page. From here, a short walk north brings you down to Atlıhan, where the stone you saw in the museum is worked today.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Lületaşı Müzesi ve Kurşunlu Külliyesi; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Kurşunlu Külliyesi; Wikipedia, Lületaşı.

When you reach Atlıhan, first stop in front of the gate and take in the building as a whole. The inn was built in the 1850s by Takattin Bey, one of the large landowners of Eskişehir. Its purpose was to give lodging to market traders, travellers and villagers coming from the surrounding villages, towns and cities, and to their animals as well. Merchants who came to the firewood market that gave the quarter its name are said to have stayed here, so this courtyard sat right in the middle of everyday trade in Odunpazarı. Because there was a tea hearth inside, the inn became more than a place to sleep; it turned into a place where local people gathered and talked over the issues of the day. Over time it was also known by names such as Tavafçı Hanı and Odunpazarı Hanı. After the second half of the 20th century the inn lost its old function and fell into ruin. The building you see today was rebuilt in 2006 by the Odunpazarı Municipality under its project to keep the Odunpazarı houses alive, following the original architecture, and it was given the name Atlıhan. So as you look at the walls, keep in mind that you are seeing a reconstruction, not an old inn that has survived intact. The inn covers an area of 768 square metres and has two floors, the ground floor and the first floor. Walk around the ground floor first, then go up to the first floor and visit the units there as well. Atlıhan's main role today is to bring together units where meerschaum is both made and sold. Stop in front of a workshop and watch how the craftsman holds the stone, which tool he uses and in what order he carves. Comparing the finished pieces you saw in the Meerschaum Museum with the raw pieces taking shape here is the best way to understand how much work the stone goes through. The source of the stone is not far away; Wikipedia writes that almost all commercially workable meerschaum deposits are in Eskişehir province and that there are more than three hundred mines spread over a hundred square kilometres around the city. The same source notes that meerschaum can take on colour over time, as stone that absorbs nicotine turns yellow. Besides meerschaum there are also silver, earthenware and glass workshops in the inn, so you can see several traditional crafts side by side in the same courtyard. If you want to photograph the craftsmen at work, ask first, because it is important not to distract them at a delicate moment. If you are thinking of buying a piece, remember that the stone softens when wet and keep it away from moisture. The courtyard fills up at busy times; early in the morning the craftsmen can focus on their work more easily and have more time for your questions. Rather than looking for a particular shop here, walk both floors and compare the stalls as you go. If your interest in handicrafts continues, the Odunpazarı Municipality's visitor guide also lists among the quarter's bazaars the Kırk Ambar Bazaar, run by women entrepreneurs, and the Arasta Handicrafts Bazaar, where glass, tile and ceramic works are displayed. The streets around the inn are where the fabric of the Odunpazarı houses, the next stop of the route, begins. Leaving Atlıhan, walk uphill among the houses and head for the square of the quarter.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı; Kültür Portalı, Atlıhan El Sanatları Çarşısı; Odunpazarı Belediyesi, Gezi Rehberi.

This stop is not a building but an hour of free walking through the streets. Odunpazarı was built on the hills in the south of the city, and according to a legend, the first community that wanted to settle in Eskişehir chose these hills because the liver they had hung up spoiled last here. Start the walk at the square of the quarter and spread out from there into the narrow lanes that wind away from it. Winding lanes and dead-end streets are the character of this fabric, so walk without looking at the map too much and let yourself wonder where each lane ends. Wikipedia writes that these houses share architectural features and motifs with the houses of Safranbolu, Beypazarı and Göynük, while Go Türkiye counts them among the finest examples of 19th century civil architecture. The fabric of the quarter stretches south as far as the area known as Bademlik. Notice that the facades facing the street project outward on brackets, with the upper floors leaning out over the lane. Some houses stand out for their brown frames between white walls, others for indigo blue or brick red colours; watch how the colours change from street to street. In these houses the ground floor usually held the kitchen, the stable, the laundry or the storeroom, while the family lived on the upper floors. Sources describe two types of house: those entered directly from the street with the garden behind, and those with the garden in front and the house standing within it. Try to tell the two types apart as you walk; the houses behind garden walls are more closed to the street. The houses are usually made up of a hall surrounded by rooms, and the corner room on the front facade, with windows on two sides, is the largest and most important room of the house. The corners of the bay windows mark these rooms, and you can count them by looking up. Read the street signs knowing that five of the streets mentioned in Evliya Çelebi's Book of Travels still carry the same names today. Evliya Çelebi wrote that the town had 17 neighbourhoods and that its houses had vineyards and gardens. Under the project to keep the Odunpazarı houses alive, 300 houses and 15 fountains on the 30 streets with the densest fabric were restored; look out for the fountains along the way. The TDV Encyclopaedia of Islam also records that some houses were demolished when Şeyh Şehabeddin Street was opened, and that the quarter was afterwards placed under protection as a conservation site. The mansion built in 1717 by the meerschaum master Hafız Ahmet Efendi is also on these streets, and an example of the cane he carved from meerschaum is on display today in the Anıtkabir Museum. If you have time, you can also stop at the Cartoon Museum, which Anadolu University opened by restoring a two-storey Odunpazarı house thought to date from the early 1900s. For photographs, morning light best shows the contrast between the white walls and the wooden frames. Some streets are steep and the ground is uneven, so take care as you walk. These streets are not a museum but a neighbourhood; respect people's privacy in front of doors and windows. The main streets fill up at busy times, so if you want a quiet corner, turn into the side lanes. End the walk back at the square; from here the timber building of OMM is visible just a few steps away.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Odunpazarı Evleri; Wikipedia, Odunpazarı Evleri; TDV İslam Ansiklopedisi, Eskişehir; Odunpazarı Belediyesi, Gezi Rehberi.

Before going into OMM, spend a few minutes looking at the building from the outside, from the square. The building was designed by the Japanese architecture office Kengo Kuma and Associates and brought to life by the Eskişehir-born architect and collector Erol Tabanca. According to sources, Kuma and his team came to Eskişehir to study the fabric of the city, and when they learned that the quarter had been the centre of the firewood trade they built the design around that idea. Notice how the timber beams on the facade refer to the firewood trade of the quarter, and how the volumes cluster without following a single line. The office is known for using as little concrete as possible and for favouring natural materials such as timber, stone and paper; the stadium designed in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics also bears its signature. According to the museum, the office defines its philosophy as blending nature and architecture so as to create a strong bond between a building and its location. The museum highlights four main elements in its architecture: geometry, light, clustering and timber. The design brings together hints of Odunpazarı civil architecture, Ottoman dome architecture and traditional Japanese architecture. According to sources, the pine used in the building was chosen from trees that had reached the end of their life in sustainable industrial forests in Russia. The museum opened its doors on 7 September 2019 and, together with the other city museums around it, created a museum square. Inside, the three-storey building holds exhibition spaces, event venues and workshops over an area of about 4,500 square metres. As you walk through the exhibitions, look not only at the works but also at the light that the timber structure filters into the rooms; the museum describes light as one of the sources of inspiration for its architecture. The museum shows modern and contemporary art from Türkiye and around the world, with works from the collection alongside temporary exhibitions by artists from different disciplines. The museum describes itself as a meeting point where works by artists from Türkiye and around the world are shown with a universal outlook. Sources also mention an installation designed for the museum by the Japanese bamboo master Tanabe Chikuunsai IV; since the layout changes, ask the staff where it is on the day of your visit. Temporary exhibitions change often, so check the museum's programme on its official website before you go. The museum also runs guided exhibition tours on certain days and at certain times; if you can catch one, you will hear the stories behind the works in more depth. Workshops, seminars and artist talks for children, young people and adults are also part of the museum's education programme. Photography is allowed in the museum, but read the museum rules at the entrance and take pictures in the permitted areas. Move between the exhibition floors without rushing; the ninety minutes are set aside so that you can give time both to the building itself and to the exhibitions. Find out the museum's days and hours, admission conditions and ticket information on its official website before your visit. If you get the chance to take another walk in the evening, see the building at night too, when the lit timber facade takes on a look quite different from the daytime. On your way out, walk a few steps on the side facing Atatürk Boulevard to reach the last stop of the route, the Contemporary Glass Arts Museum.

Source: OMM, OMM Binası ve Ziyaret Bilgisi; Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, OMM; Wikipedia, Odunpazarı Modern Müze.

The last stop of the route is the Contemporary Glass Arts Museum, which stands right near OMM among buildings in the style of the Odunpazarı houses. The museum opened on 1 December 2007 and is known as the first museum of contemporary glass art in Türkiye. It was founded through the cooperation of the Eskişehir Metropolitan Municipality, Anadolu University and the Friends of Glass group. Wikipedia writes that the museum is part of the Odunpazarı Houses City Museum complex and that its building was formed by joining three restored Odunpazarı houses. The Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism states that the museum was founded to meet a need for the social, cultural and artistic development of the city. The Odunpazarı Municipality's visitor guide also writes that with this museum Eskişehir joined the rare cities in the world that have a glass museum. The guide gives particular weight to the museum opening in Anatolia, which it describes as the land where glass craft was born. The museum has three halls; according to sources, two of them are given to the permanent collection and one to temporary exhibitions. As you walk through the halls, pay attention to the techniques used to make the works; the collection covers pieces made with techniques ranging from hot glass blowing to cold shaping. Comparing the flowing form of a blown piece with a cold glass work built up by cutting and bonding, side by side, makes the difference between the two techniques easy to see. Read the labels knowing that the works were donated to the museum by Turkish and foreign artists. Works donated by Japanese, Polish, Latvian and German artists are also part of the collection. Kültür Portalı writes that works by 58 Turkish and 10 foreign artists are on display, while Wikipedia speaks of 42 artists and 125 works. Sources give different figures for the number of artists and works, so the best way to learn the current scope of the collection is from the museum itself. To see how glass works with light, look at the pieces from different angles and watch how their shadows fall on the wall. When the United Nations declared 2022 the International Year of Glass, the museum joined a collaboration run by the Museum With No Frontiers platform with 39 countries. Thanks to this project, some selected works from the museum can also be viewed online, so you can look again at what you saw after you get home. Photography is allowed in the museum; because glass reflects, shooting without flash and from an angle gives better results. The museum is closed on Mondays; check admission conditions and hours on its official page. Keep in mind that the Odunpazarı Municipality has opened a separate Glass Arts Museum in the quarter, on İmamzade Street in Dede neighbourhood, and the two should not be confused. The Hot Glass Blowing Workshop you saw in the morning in the caravanserai of the Kurşunlu Complex, and the International Odunpazarı Glass Festival held there, show how the art in this museum lives on in the quarter. So, as the route begins with stone and ends with glass, you complete the line in Odunpazarı that runs from craft to art. When you leave the museum, you can walk down to Atatürk Boulevard and take the tram from the Atatürk Lisesi stop, or walk on towards the banks of the Porsuk.

Source: Eskişehir İl Kültür ve Turizm Müdürlüğü, Çağdaş Cam Sanatları Müzesi; Kültür Portalı, Çağdaş Cam Sanatları Müzesi; Wikipedia, Çağdaş Cam Sanatları Müzesi.