Publication Date
13th / 19th century
Type
Other
Language
Undetermined
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
No
Library
Museum With No Frontiers
Record ID
monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;32;ar
Library Location
Birgi, Ödmeş, Izmir, Türkiye
Date
13th / 19th century
Notes
The house building consists of three floors and is located on Cakiraga Street, parallel to the Birgi River. The house takes the shape of the letter U, with the second and third floors attached to shelves. Its roof, made of wood and tiles, is equipped with a cornice that protrudes outward. The main facade overlooks a corridor from the western side and has three protrusions based on four eaves. In the lower part of the facade there are two entrances, and there are windows above the two entrances and the eaves. The eastern facade of each floor overlooks the garden courtyard, and contains an L-shaped diwan. The middle and upper floors each contain, in the middle of the long side of the diwan, a prominent balcony surrounded by a railing. There are similar, but smaller, balconies in the middle of the short sides. The upper floor includes three iwans separated from each other by two rooms. The middle iwan, the main one, is open to the diwan through three arches. The middle floor has the same layout, but contains three rooms. The rooms are all covered with wooden ceilings, but the ceiling of the middle floor is lower than the others. The two facades of the upper floor of the Jakiraja House are decorated with various frescoes: free-standing buildings, sailboats, landscapes, still lifes, flowers, trees, decorative frames, molded medallions, garlands, curtains and recurring motifs. The most striking paintings in the house are the panoramic views of cities. In one of the rooms there is a [panoramic] painting of the city of Istanbul, executed with a high sense that makes it possible to consider it one of the most wonderful panoramic wall paintings of the Anatolian city of Istanbul. There is a panoramic painting of Izmir in another room, which presents with extreme realism famous scenes such as the fortress and the barracks of Qadi Feyqal. On the upper floor, the Diwan contains a fresco of a coastal city and a fortress, in which a wharf and sailboats are seen. Although the location is not specified, it can be assumed that the artist painted an imagined coastal city in a hypothetical location that may have been Gishmi or Foggia on the Aegean coast. The main facade and the walls of the Diwan on the upper floor are decorated with depictions of various houses from the countryside. There are drawings of flowers arranged in the form of individual branches or within vases, there are pots filled with fruits and flowers, and curtains that deceive the eye. The main façade also contains drawings of trees, sailboats, windmills, and springs, and pictures of small houses that illustrate the richness of the overall decorative character of the house. What also draws attention is the woodwork done in the house. On the upper floor, the wooden ceilings were decorated with panels of geometric shapes formed from long, narrow wooden strips on which crescents, stars, flowers and fruits were painted. The Cacırağa House, with its rich decoration, occupies a prominent place among Turkish Anatolian houses, and its paintings are considered authentic examples of the art of wall painting, which enriched the architectural decoration of Anatolia in later eras. Today the house is used as a museum supervised by the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Sample Text
"Jagiraga House" within Discover Islamic Art. Museum Without Borders, 2026. 2026. https://islamicart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;ISL;tr;Mon01;32;ar
