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ANKARA: Upper And Lower Fountains Re-Opened

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  • ANKARA: Upper And Lower Fountains Re-Opened

    UPPER AND LOWER FOUNTAINS RE-OPENED

    BIAnet.org
    http://www.bianet.org/english/minorities/134411-upper-and-lower-fountains-re-opened
    Nov 30 2011
    Turkey

    Two historic fountains of the Habap village were restored upon the
    efforts of the Hrant Dink Foundation. The fountains were now re-opened
    in a ceremony attended by lawyer Fethiye Cetin, Governor Arslan,
    Mayor Yanılmaz and district headman Yarmadelen.

    Habap/Palu - BİA News Center30 November 2011, Wednesday The Habap
    village (today Ekinozu) saw an opening ceremony that took the attendees
    back in time to Fethiye Cetin's grandmother Heranus (later on renamed
    as Seher) who was exiled to the village 95 years ago. The restoration
    of two historic wells was now finished after a two-year work carried
    out by the Hrant Dink Foundation.

    The restoration project was run on a voluntary basis by architects
    Nihan Sağman, Mehmet Erkok and Savaş Ekinci and art historian Ozge
    Altınkaya Erkok.

    On Friday (25 November), the Lower and Upper Fountains were re-opened
    in a ceremony attended by the Elazığ Provincial Administration
    Secretary General, Nazif Bilginoğlu, the Kovancılar District Mayor
    Bekir Yanılmaz and the Habap village head, Hayati Yarmedelen. The
    restoration work was supported with monetary sources from the Ministry
    of Culture, the Chrest Foundation, the Open Society Foundation,
    General Energy and individual patron of arts.

    Lawyer Fethiye Cetin said at the opening ceremony, "My grandmother
    Heranuş drank water from these fountains a hundred years ago".

    Students of the Habap Village Primary School contributed to the
    ceremony by performing a traditional dance.

    The restored fountains feature several springs and arches. Experts
    see in the wells a classic example of Armenian architecture. The fact
    that the village of Habap has got two wells suggests that the place
    was a bigger settlement at the time the fountains were built. Today,
    the village of Habap/Ekinozu comprises 200 buildings with a population
    of 1,450 people.

    Habap in the old times

    Habap or Hebap ('Havav' in Armenian) was a place with 500 buildings
    in Ottoman times. When the village was inhabited by Armenians it had
    three churches, a monastery and two fountains. These two fountains
    were called the Upper and the Lower Fountain.

    An inscription on the Upper Fountain in Armenian points to the
    year 1634.

    In recent times, most of the buildings collapsed and the fountains
    were not functioning any more. The fountains are still registered in
    the name of the Halil Beyler and Rufekası Beyler Foundation.

    The water for the village comes from a very cold spring strong enough
    to run a mill. It rises two miles off the village in a broad valley.

    Since the well is located at a low level it has to be cleaned every
    spring in order to avoid a reduction of water. The well that was
    filled with soil in spring was cleaned every year after Easter. The
    stream was running a few mills and once a week the gardens and fields
    below the village were irrigated.

    The fountains were sacred for the villagers. There were two sweet
    water springs in the village. One was in the upper and one in the
    lower part of the village. The water for the fountains came a very
    long way through underground stone pipes and small cisterns. The
    cisterns could be reached via a gallery behind the fountains. They
    needed to be cleaned once a year.

    The water of these fountains is cool in summer and lukewarm and
    sweet in winter. The fountains and the surrounding floor were made
    out of cut stones. (Dikran S. Papazyan, Badmutyun Palu Havav Kyuği,
    [Palu Habap Village History] Beirut 1960). (BA/VK)

    Click here to visit the photo gallery of the restored fountains of
    "Grandmother Heranuş":




    From: A. Papazian
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