A Town Hospıtal in the Last Period of Ottoman Empire: Dedeağaç Gurebā Hospital with its Building Process and Architecture

Abstract

Dedeağaç (Alexandroupolis), which is within the borders of Greece today in Western Thrace, passed under the Ottoman rule in 1360 and maintained this position until 1912. In the Sultan Abdulhamid II Period (1876-1909), the importance of the Dersaadet-Selanik (Thessaloniki) railroad with the connection of Dedeağaç increased. Dedeağaç has gained the appearance of a modern city where many architectural works were built in this period. The reconstructed government building and its attached structures, educational buildings, military buildings, and consular buildings have changed the face of the city, which was the banner center during this period. These new buildings include the gurebâ hospital, which is a part of the innovative approaches of the Tanzimat Period, the modernization movements in the field of health, and was built to serve the civilian population. The first modern health institutions in the Ottoman Empire, as in other fields, are hospitals established in the military field. The hospitals, which were established for the civilian people, apart from the military, were originally named as “gurebâ hospital” with a special definition. Gurebâ hospitals continued to be built in almost every part of the Ottoman geography during this period and afterward, especially during the Sultan Abdulhamid II period. Gurebâ hospitals, which are masonry buildings, usually have single or double floors. These hospitals have different plans and façade arrangements. Unlike the common architectural language in other public buildings, different plans and especially façade arrangements are encountered in gurebâ hospitals. The Gurebâ Hospital in Dedeağaç was started to be built in in 1896. Separate apartments of the hospital are planned for “the poor and stray,” for women, for men, and for infectious diseases. It was stated in the correspondence in the period that the hospital, which was originally planned as fifty-bed and sized to fit a hundred-bed, was later built with a hundred-bed. The hospital building was built with “iane-i tedarik”, that is, with the aid collected. The building must have been completed at the end of 1898. In a document dated 1899, it is stated that the “big hospital construction” made with aids for the women and men in the town of Dedeağaç, which has the capacity of a hundred-bed, two hundred beds when necessary, has been completed and it was officially opened. The plans of Dedeağaç Gurebâ Hospital and the photos of the period they were built have survived. The hospital, which is located in a large garden according to the plan, has a single floor on a rectangular plan, high basement. It is seen that the hospital has a middle hall plan scheme and this scheme is repeated on both floors. Units connected to the middle corridor on both sides were added to the short sides of the main building of the rectangular shape. There are two independent departments/wards for infectious diseases in the garden. The hospital has a very symmetrical façade with a door opening in the middle of the facade and a rhythmic window arrangement on both sides. The entrance with a triangular pediment is accessed by double-arm stairs. In the doors and windows, the movement has been added to the facades with the stone weave used in different colors. The hospital building is covered with a tile gable-roof. The gurebâ hospitals, which offer modern health services in a European sense, are different from those of the Ottoman era health facilities. It is known that the first examples of modern hospital buildings were applied in military hospitals during the Selim III Period. Following the military hospitals built in parallel with the innovation movements in the military field, gurebâ hospitals have also started to be built to serve the civilian population. It is understood that there are some criteria in the construction process and planning of these hospitals. As a matter of fact, there are definitions and drawings about the hospitals in the Fenn-i Mimari (Technical Architecture) books prepared for being taught in the military schools of the period. In these books, although military hospitals were mostly defined, gurebâ hospitals were also mentioned. As a matter of fact, it is understood that some criteria such as where they will be located, building material, plans, space distribution, dimensions, and being in the garden were also applied in civil hospitals of the period. Dedeağaç Gurebâ Hospital is a large-sized masonry building located in a specially arranged large garden. It reflects the modern hospital architecture of the period with its attached spaces, bathhouse, and departments for infectious diseases built separately for the garden. It is seen that the planning scheme of the hospital in Dedeağaç was applied in the hospital structures as well as its use in other public buildings of the period. It was also common practice for modern hospital buildings of the period to be located in the garden.

Keywords

• Ottoman
• Hospital
• Gureba Hospital
• Dedeağaç
• architecture

Osmanlı’nın Son Döneminde Bir Kasaba Hastanesi: İnşa Süreci ve Mimarisiyle Dedeağaç Gurebā Hastanesi

Abstract

Batı Trakya’da, bugün Yunanistan sınırları içinde yer alan Dedeağaç (Alexandroupolis), uzun yıllar Osmanlı hakimiyetinde kalmış; Osmanlı Devleti’nin son yüzyılında da önemi artmış bir yerleşimdir. Bir liman kenti olması, İstanbul’a yakınlığı ve Sultan II. Abdülhamid Dönemi’nde İstanbul-Selanik demiryolu hattının Dedeağaç bağlantısının sağlanması ile birçok imar etkinliğine sahne olan şehirde bir de hastane inşa edilmiştir. Osmanlı sağlık hizmetlerindeki modernleşmenin bir parçası olarak Tanzimat Dönemi’yle birlikte inşa edilmeye başlanan ve sivil halka hizmet vermek amaçlı “gurebâ” hastanelerinden olan Dedeağaç Gurebâ Hastanesi, XIX. yüzyılın sonlarında, bu amaçla inşa edilmiş ve açılmıştır. Kârgir, yüksek bodrum kat üzerine tek katlı olarak inşa edilmiş olan hastane büyük bir bahçe içinde yer almaktadır. Bulaşıcı hastalıklar için ayrı daireleri ve büyük bir de hamamı olan hastane oldukça modern bir sağlık tesisidir. Bu makalede, orjinal belgeler ışığında, hastanenin inşa süreci, planı, mimarisi ve dönemi içindeki yeri, diğer gurebâ hastaneleri ile karşılaştırılarak değerlendirilmiştir.

Keywords

• Osmanlı
• Hastane
• dedeağaç
• gurebâ hastanesi
• mimari

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