Basic Elements of the Traditional Garden Identity in the City of Van

Abstract

Garden culture in the architectural patterns in and around the city of Van in the East Anatolian region of Turkey has been a tradition from the Urartian Iron Age Kingdom in Eastern Anatolia to the present. Until the end of the nineteenth century, the city of Van had an exclusive residential area where houses were surrounded by gardens. In this study, by exploring the texture of the old gardens in some current residential areas of the Van city center and its surroundings, we evaluated depending on the house-garden relationship, the street-house relationship, and size, garden elements, types of the plants. In this study the garden culture and understanding of the landscape will be brought from the time of the Urartians to our time and to the future. Further, an understanding of the traditional use of plant types in the city and their ornamental use will be recorded and perpetuated for regenerating into garden culture.