Investigation of Kastamonu Principalities Period Rural Mosques in the Context of Architectural Conservation

Rural heritage is a memory created by tangible and intangible cultural accumulations of human identity in the historical process. The traditional, locality-specific, and locality-defining architecture, shaped by the requirements of cultural accumulation, behaviors, and needs, and the data such as topography and materials offered by the natural landscape, represents the rural architectural heritage as concrete evidence of memory. As a product of this representation, when the traces of history in rural Kastamonu are followed through architectural heritage, the first nuclei of Turkish architecture are seen as mosque architecture. For this reason, G & ouml;lk & ouml;y Village & Scedil;eyh Ahmet Mosque and & Scedil;eyh Village Ak & ccedil;a-su Mosque, which are the first examples of the construction movement that started in the countryside in the name of Islamisation and Turkification, and Duru & ccedil;ayVillage Halil Bey Mosque and Kasaba Village Mahmut Bey Mosque, which the commanders of Candaro & gbreve;lu Principality built, were examined within the scope of the study. The study presents an architectural discussion on the mosques that have survived to this day as 13th-century buildings and are located in the countryside. It also conveys the current conservation problems of these buildings that have witnessed history. For this purpose, archive records were analyzed, interviews with users and fieldwork were conducted, and the usage problems of the buildings, intervention methods carried out in the historical process, deterioration, and risks were identified and documented. The problems faced by these buildings, which have existed for approximately 800 years, and the measures taken to maintain their existence are discussed.