Abstract:

The Porsuk Village Mosque is located in the Porsuk Village of the Çarşamba district of Samsun province. In addition, the fact that the oldest bell mosques of Anatolia are located in Çarşamba increases the importance of the Porsuk Village Mosque, which was chosen within the scope of this study. The subject of this study is the architectural and ornamental features of the Porsuk Village Mosque and its protection problems. The property of the Porsuk Mosque, which is the most successful example of wooden decoration in Samsun, belongs to the village, and the building is located outside the village center in the village cemetery surrounded by fields. The construction of the mosque, which was built with the Çantı technique, is dated to the years H.1276/M.1859-60 in various inscriptions in the mosque. In this study, the architectural elements and materials that make up the Porsuk Mosque were examined, the problems in the preservation of the mosque were analyzed and solutions were offered. Detection and documentation of the deterioration experienced in the Porsuk Mosque, literature review and field observations are the basic methods used in the study. The deterioration in the mosque are mainly because of climatic conditions, and environmental factors such as floods and human factors. In this direction, the protection problems of the Porsuk Mosque are discussed under two main headings as unqualified interventions and material problems. There are unqualified interventions to the Porsuk Mosque such as reinforced concrete annex building, zinc coatings on original façades, a renovated double-wing wooden entrance door on the east façade, a wooden staircase reaching the mosque’s mahfil floor, opening a gap by cutting the original flooring and beams for the renovated staircase, stovepipe holes on the inner walls, and electrical additions on the inner walls. The cables can be sorted as nails driven into wooden posts. Material problems were determined as cracks, abrasion, pitting, void formation, surface loss, fragment rupture, black layer formation, staining, salt crystallization, blooming, plant formation and moss formation due to various factors. In this study, it was suggested to remove all these deteriorations and additions during the restoration. Porsuk Mosque has maintained its functional originality and the mihrab, preaching platform, pulpit and window elements in the building have preserved their originality. The mosque is unique in terms of its construction systems, and in terms of the high artistic quality of the building elements, its physical originality is in good condition and its durability is expressed as moderate. Although there are many mosques in the region, which are among the wooden construction systems that are widely seen in the Black Sea Region, the mosques built with the “Çantı technique” are immovable cultural assets that are in danger of disappearing rapidly, and the studies carried out in this area are of particular importance. In this direction; the current situation of the Porsuk Mosque, its architecture, plan, decorations and additions have been tried to be revealed in a comprehensive way.

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