Kızılcakaya: Traditional Architecture in a Protected Ensemble

If you are interested in traditional village architecture, the protected ensemble of Kızılcakaya is a clear starting point for planning your trip. Houses, barns, ovens, serenders, a mosque and a school building together shape the architectural character of the village. Kızılcakaya is 35 kilometres from the centre of Ayancık District and 77 kilometres from the provincial centre of Sinop.

An ensemble with several types of buildings

Kızılcakaya Köyü Kentsel Sit Alanı includes 40 houses, 20 serenders, 13 ovens, eight barns, a mosque and a school building. Together, the 83 registered buildings bear witness to the way of life of the periods in which they were built. This makes the village structure as a whole the focus: the houses do not stand alone but form part of a collection of different building types. So, when considering Kızılcakaya from an architectural perspective, it is worth looking at both the residential buildings and other building types and communal structures in context.

Materials and construction

The residential buildings are predominantly three-storey, though some have two storeys. Their interior partitions are made entirely of wood. Wood therefore also shapes the layout of the interiors. The barns in Kızılcakaya are also built of wood. Regional stones were used for the ovens. Slate stones were used for the roofs of the ovens, whose roofing has retained its original form. Houses, barns and ovens thus offer different accents in their choice of materials and construction details.

The village mosque of Kızılcakaya was built using the wooden Çantı construction technique; some areas were clad at a later date. The building makes it possible to consider the construction technique and subsequent alterations together. Another detail concerns a house in Ayancık Kızılcakaya: there, the spaces between the so-called Minaz posts can be left open on sloping ground. This shifts the focus from the construction technique of a named building to a possible detail of a particular house.

Traces of the village’s history

The ensemble was placed under protection by a decision of the Samsun Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural Assets on 29 September 2021. Most houses in Kızılcakaya are no longer in use. The former school building is also part of the village’s history: it is single-storey and built of reinforced concrete. The school closed in 1996 after the number of pupils fell below ten; the building now stands empty. Thus, the architectural character of the village encompasses both its houses and their materials, as well as the former use of the school.

Landscape and cultural influences

A local interpretation links the name Kızılcakaya to rocks on the hill above the settlement. Because of the dense woodland, they are now barely visible. Kızılcakaya is also regarded as a place where traces of traditional Black Sea village life and a local culture shaped by migration can be perceived. This perspective adds cultural and landscape connections to the architectural details.

If you would like to include the landscape as well as village architecture, one option in the wider Ayancık area is to take walks through the region’s characteristic vegetation and woodland. In this way, the village ensemble of Kızılcakaya and a broader landscape perspective on the Ayancık area offer different interests side by side.

Discover more destinations: Hüseyinbey Köyü, Türkeli, Ayancık, Boyabat, Hacıoğlu, Gerze, Hacıselli, Sinop

Go to the main travel overview: Sinop.