Assessing the Thessaloniki Detention Center Project and the Discovery Book/Keşif Defteri
Emre Kolay, Müge ÇiftyürekModern Ottoman prisons had been shaped around the second half of the 19th century, taken on legal identities by issuing relevant legally based regulations, and been handled within the framework of the search. The need to construct modern prison buildings came to the fore at the same time that universal law was implemented in Ottoman criminal law. In this context, one can use the Ottoman archives to access the discovery books (keşif defterleri) and projects regarding the prisons that had been designed for many Ottoman cities. The discovery book prepared for the Thessaloniki prison is the main focus of the study, and the project files located in the study’s appendix come from one of the files that were encountered in the many Ottoman archives. This file, contains the project blueprints for the 1st-3rd floor plans as well as the elevation drawings for the prison building, that was being planned for construction in Thessaloniki, as well as a discovery book that provides the approximate cost of the detention center building and the expenses that would occur during its construction. One can keep track of material amounts, types, and costs in these discovery books, which are important in terms of providing clues about a region’s construction sector. The project files regarding the Thessaloniki detention center are valuable in terms of determining the spatial organization of the building and its position among other prison projects of the period. In this regard, this study contributes to research on the history of art and architecture in terms of presenting original archival documents that had not yet been encountered in a scientific publication.
Selanik Tevkifhanesi Projesi ve Keşif Defteri Üzerine Bir Değerlendirme
Emre Kolay, Müge Çiftyürek19. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından itibaren şekillenen modern Osmanlı hapishaneleri, bir yandan çıkartılan nizamnameler ile hukuki kimliğe bürünürken bir yandan da modern ceza hukukuna uygun mekân arayışı çerçevesinde ele alınır. Osmanlı ceza hukukunda evrensel hukukun uygulanması ile eş zamanlı olarak modern hapishane binalarının da inşası zorunluluğu gündeme gelir. Bu kapsamda pek çok Osmanlı kenti için projelendirilen hapishanelere ait keşif defterleri ve proje dosyalarına Osmanlı arşivlerinde ulaşmak mümkündür. Çalışmamızın ana odağını oluşturan Selanik Tevkifhanesi için hazırlanan keşif defteri ile ekine yerleştirilmiş proje dosyaları da Cumhurbaşkanlığı Devlet Arşivleri Başkanlığı bünyesinde yer alan çok sayıda rastladığımız söz konusu dosyalardan birisidir. İlgili dosyada Selanik’te inşa edilmesi hedeflenen tevkifhane binasının yaklaşık maliyetini ve inşa esnasında yapılacak harcamaların dökümünü sunan keşif defteri ile yapının zemin, birinci ve ikinci kat planları ve cephe çizimlerini sunan proje dosyaları yer almaktadır. Kullanılan malzemenin miktarı, türü ve maliyetini takip edebildiğimiz keşif defterleri, bölgenin inşaat sektörü ile ilgili ipuçları sunması bakımından önem arz etmektedir. Selanik Tevkifhanesinin proje dosyaları ile yapının mekân organizasyonu ve dönemin diğer hapishane projeleri içindeki konumunu belirlememiz bağlamında kıymetlidir. Çalışmamız, bu hususta sanat ve mimarlık tarihi araştırmalarına, henüz bilimsel bir yayında rastlamadığımız özgün arşiv belgelerini sunması açısından katkı sağlamaktadır.
Modern Ottoman prisons were shaped at the second half of the 19th century, took on a legal identity by issuing relevant legally based regulations, and have been handled within the framework of the search for a suitable way to house criminals in modern criminal law. The transition of criminal law from the Sharia-based methods of punishment that had been practiced for centuries to a new penal system oriented around time and space was accompanied by the need to organize new penal spaces. In this regard, constructing modern prison buildings like those in Europe was recommended, after considering how the castles, bastions, shipyards, and idle building groups that had been used since the Middle Ages were no longer suitable as detention areas in modern criminal law. The emergence of prison and detention center projects, in the second half of the 19th century, are frequently encountered in archival documents, and was directly related to the reform process of the penal code. The lack of civil servants with the required qualifications for provide prisons with modern conditions also affected the institution's management system. Reports were prepared by foreign diplomats and soldiers to solve such problems, and the need for new prison buildings to be in accordance with modern health and safety conditions was frequently emphasized. Archival documents show that, the Ministry of Internal Affairs had produced numerous projects in the second half of the 19th century and even developed a number of project types.
A place for temporarily holding people who have not yet been convicted of a crime is called a detention center. After the Tanzimat, various attempts were made to differentiate between and keep in different places those who’d been convicted of crimes and those who had not. For this reason, detention houses were often seen to have been designed within prisons, police stations and gendarmerie departments, and to sometimes have been designed as independent buildings. The detention center building in Thessaloniki has an important place within the framework of Ottoman prison architecture, as it involves a campus of three independent building groups under gendarmerie administration, with both male and female detention centers.
The inadequacy of structures such as the warehouses and towers that had been used as prisons and detention centers in Thessaloniki over time and the emergence of public order and health problems in these structures necessitated the construction of a new detention center. The preconstruction processes related to this building went on until 1907, when the new detention center was finally built on a plot of land behind the government office building. According to the survey books and projects, the detention center building consists of a men's detention center as well as on efor women, a gendarmerie Office, and a grocery store. A survey book, aslo contained calculations describing the construction, dimensions, unit prices, and total costs for these buildings. In addition to these calculations, survey books also contained information about the structural system and socio-economic status of the region or geography. The project file, showed common first floor plans for the gendarmerie office and the women’s detention center, as well as common first and second floor plans for the men’s detention center building. The gendarmerie office has a corridor in the center and four rooms with different functions placed on either sides of the corridor. The men’s detention center building had a "U" shaped floor plan, which presented a plan design not frequently encountered for prisons and detention centers. The plans note the function for practically all spaces in the building complex. The single-storey women’s detention building shows spaces with different functions asymmetrically placed on either side of the central corridor. Rather than being a single building, the Thessaloniki Detention House is valuable in that it has a campus model consisting of multiple multifunctional stand-alone buildings on land bounded by walls. Izmit Prison, Yedikule Prison and Konya Prison are other examples of penal structures with these features.
Examples of detention centers are found, like prisons to have been designed as independent buildings. Two of the best examples of such detention centers are the Sultanahmet Homicide Detention Center and the Üsküdar Detention Center in Istanbul. The Sultanahmet Homicide Detention Center has an "L" shaped floor plan and the Üsküdar Detention Center has a “+” shaped floor plan. The Thessaloniki Detention Center is significant in terms of introducing the "U" shaped floor plan to these designs. The Sinop Prison can also be shown as an example of a prison preferring the "U" shaped floor plan. While similar floor plans can be seen for various other public buildings such as the Istanbul Gümüşsuyu Military Hospital, İzmir Hamidiye Military Hospital, and Adana American Women’s High School as well as the government office buildings in Samsun and Tekirdağ.
While the Thessaloniki Detention Center’s construction was completed in 1907, it no longer exists, nor could any information be found regarding the date of its demolition. Also the Thessaloniki Fire in 1917 is thought to have probably damaged the detention center.
