This week, I went to Mardin for the second time. It is a very interesting city and I think I will learn new things each time I visit. Last time when we visited with James, we did not have time to all visit museums and monasteries. This time, I walked around in narrow streets, visited two museums and a big monastery in addition to working with Ömerli-ÇATOM.
People from different religions and cultures has been living together in Mardin for thousands of years. So it is possible to see stone carving signs from all religions on the walls of the buildings. This pictures shows carvings of Yezidi, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Mardin is famous with its stone carvings on its buildings. Working with steel chisels, the old stonework masters carved limestone to decorate churches, mosques, monasteries, palaces, mansions and even bridges. The main motifs used in these decorations are: carnations, grapes, tulips, and geometrical shapes. It is great that the stone carving craft is still alive in the city.
Since Mardin has a very rich culture and history, the food is great. They use a lot of different herbs that I have never had before that are very delicious. Meat dishes with vegetables and salads are very healthy and great! Also, their soaps are famous: all natural, handmade from pistachio oil and almond oil.
Mardin’s religious buildings are thousands of years old. The region has been a very important place for religions for thousands of years. This is one of the most famous monasteries: Deyrulzafaran Syriac Monastery. There are still nuns and priests living in it, so we were not allowed to visit every part of it. I thought it is a very mysterious place because there is no building or village close to it.
In Ömerli –ÇATOM, I worked with them on new designs. Choosing the correct color or the material was the main focus for our work. They also made a lot of resin pieces. Soon, I will add the new works they make to our blog. Until then, please check Flickr if you want to see more pictures I took in Mardin: http://www.flickr.com/photos/umetal/
