The Tombstones of Gulbahar Hatun Mosque and the graveyards of Tavanli Mosque, the Graveyards of Küçük İmaret in the city of Trabzon

Tombstones, based on the origin of beliefs reflect a cultural tradition, but also in terms of Turkish history constitute an important proof of identity.There were 340 graves established in Trabzon Gulbahar Hatun Mosque, Tavanlı Mosque?s graveyard and Küçük Imaret?s graveyard. In the graveyards it?s been worked on, were 490 gravestones established. 298 of them are head stones and 192 of them are footstones. 180 of them belong to men and 99 of them belong to women. But 18 of those gravestones could not identified.196 of the established stones have dates on. Because the date lines of 102 of the stones are remained under the ground, their dates could not identified. But the gravestones date between 1060 A.H. / 1650 A.D. The gravestones belong to the era between the 17th and 20th century. 2 of them belong to the 17th century, 62 of them to the 18th century, 117 of them to the 19th century and 15 of them to the 20th century.Mainly, marble was used for the gravestones. As technique was used carving and scraping. Linear style, high and low reliefs are seen at a small number of works. In the cemeteries which were examined, were established four kind of grave styles: tombstones, sarcophagis, framed and covered graves. There are also diversities for the forms of the tombstones: plate-bodied, cylindrical and square prismed tombstones.The tombstones are crowned with turban, fez and mushroom formed heads or with arches, triangles, badges or floral motifs. The text inscriptions on the tombstones are shown in general between an arch form, surrounded by borders or columns.The lines of inscriptions are placed between arc moldings, parallel to each other. On a small number of grave stones are also the names of poets or calligraphers.The tombstones have a wide repertoire for their ornamental program like floral and geometric motifs, a variety of objects, ornaments, textiles and architectural elements. The floral decoration involves palmette, roses, tulips, stars marshmallows, enamel, poppy, daisy, chrysanthemum or, besides them, acanthus, cypress, palm, depictions of pomegranate tree, vine-grape clusters, sycamore branch, girland and depictions of bowls full of fruit. Geometric forms such as stars, diamonds, studs, medaillons, passion flower and rosettes are used together with floral decorations. Necklaces, curtains, fabrics, ribbons or muqarnases are used less.Neither the Trabzon Gülbahar Hatun Mosque, the Tavanlı Mosque nor the Küçük Imaret?s graveyard show any style differences peculiar to their region. Whereas the material, techniques, forms and decoration reflects the style of the capital city Istanbul. These works, reflect the common characteristics of their era and also the gravestone tradition of Turkish art.