Bitlis/Ahlat stonework in terms of the Convention for the Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage

Stonework is the name given to the processing of natural stones by extracting them from the mines and processing them with traditional methods. As a result of processing the stone, which is an important material in the formation of cultural heritage assets, and making the motifs of the culture it belongs to, it becomes the transmitter of the culture. The handicraft that constitutes this cultural transfer tool is explained as stonework, stonework or stone decoration. This study focuses on the conservation approaches of Ahlat stonework with a folk-scientific understanding, which has a thousand-year history in Bitlis/Ahlat district, has become a tradition, and has developed beliefs and practices around it. The city of Ahlat, famous for its historical stone structures and tombstones, gave its name to handicrafts due to its rich stone mines. The examples of folk architecture formed around the art of Stonework, which started to take shape with the arrival of the Turkish nation in Anatolia in the 11th century, determined the history of Bitlis/Ahlat district and its place in Turkish culture. The historical process and developments of stonework are explained in the light of the inscriptions of these stone structures, with the information given by the masters who built the building. The need for preservation of the handicraft tradition, each of which is a work of art, and the conservation approaches that can be applied are explained in this study. The approaches to the protection of cultural heritage, which started with the 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Heritage, are explained chronologically, and the additions to the term protection are detailed. In this context, the new meaning and new protection approaches brought by UNESCO in the 2003 SOKUM Convention to the cultural heritage are discussed in particular on Stonework. Stonework tradition, which continues its existence in a local dimension today, finds its place in the handicrafts that need protection within the scope of UNESCO's 2003 Intangible Cultural Heritage Convention. In terms of the convention's conservation approaches and the term cultural heritage, the cultural transfer role of Ahlat Stonework and the knowledge and practices it will leave to future generations are explained. Starting from the master-apprentice relationship, Ahlat Stonework has been explained how it affects the society and the city. The importance of keeping Ahlat Stoneworking alive as a traditional profession has been mentioned in terms of folk architecture.