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Babayan Culture House
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art and nature
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Babayan Culture House
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art and nature
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WELCOME
The Babayan Culture House is closed in Turkey. |
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CAPPADOCIA
Cappadocia is a surrealistic landscape with tufa stone valleys,
shaped centuries ago by the 'Erciyes' and other volcanoes. A part of this
40.000 square km area is a national park and an open–air museum with many
rock churches and monasteries, restored by UNESCO, because it is an
official world heritage area: Göreme National Park and the
Rock Sites of Cappadocia.On the – 1000 meter high – Anatolian Plateau, where the village is located, a severe land climate rules. This gives a dry heat in the summer and a bitter cold in the winter. Despite this, one can live here very well throughout the year, because the thick stones the houses are built with, are cut from volcanic tufa which keeps the climate outside. If a house is not heated, the temperature inside fluctuates during the year between seven and eighteen degrees Celsius. For this reason the region has been inhabited from times immemorial; and because the famous silk route passed by here, the area has a very rich cultural inheritance. |
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THE RESIDENCE BABAYAN
Newsletters Babayan Culture House Foundation:
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EXPLORING NATURE AND CULTURE
Cappadocia is an area where one can easily spend a number of weeks.
Daily walks take you through lovely valleys with views of old Christian
rock churches and painted pigeon'castles'.The world–famous open air museums of Göreme and Zelve can be visited. And you can swim in the nearby hot water springs of Bayramhaci, this visit can be combined with a lovely bbq. In the town of pottery, Avanos one can stroll along the river Kizilirmak (Red River). Our neighboring villages Ortahisar and Uchisar have high rocks (castles) which can be climbed from the inside and give a magnificent view of the bizarre landscape of Cappadocia. The underground cities (twelve levels below ground) of Kaymakli and Derinkuyu can be visited, as well as the green valley of Ihlara. Also bird watching ('Birds Paradise') in the salt lake near the volcano Erciyes is a possibility, as is horse riding in nature, swimming in a storage lake with blue clean water, and ballooning. Pictures of the trips and trekkings. |
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ART–MAKING AND WORKSHOPS
 Artists and all other art–interested guests can relate to the beautiful nature by drawing, painting, stone carving, photography and pottery making in the well–equiped Avanos studios. Especially the stone carving is a specialty of this region due to the fact that there is the natural material made of tufa, the millions of years compressed ashes of the volcanic outbursts. This light material can be worked on by everybody with an eye for shapes. All necessary materials will be provided. From the house you walk directly into nature with its bizarre valleys and ancient open–air rock churches: the painted iconographic remains of Christianity. Donkey path's lead to several small historical villages nearby. In walking distance of the churches and monasteries one can endlessly wander around in green shaded valleys with small water streams running through. Take a look at some more pictures of the village in spring, summer, fall and winter.
Visual artist Willemijn Bouman has developed a special teaching method for studying the 'primary form' in art in her workshops and lessons. She has been teaching this on all levels and for all disciplines and techniques since 1993. For more information about this artist you can visit her online resume. She also teaches in her studio in Otterlo, The netherlands. |
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ABOUT THE ART–ECO PLATFORM CAPPADOCIA
The Art/Eco Platform Cappadocia is a growing cooperation between artists and organizations who concern unique and historical Cappadocia. By expressing themselves, visual artists, theatre makers and musicians, draw attention in a positive way to protect the vulnerable tufa stone environment from fast developing 'modern world' influences, such as lack of good wastewater and garbage solutions and the misuse of the environment of touristy developments.  Cappadocia is a cultural and historical area, still peaceful and away from a hectic modern world and a World Heritage site of Unesco. The presence of open air museums, beautiful landscapes filled with painted cave churches, pigeon houses and historical sites makes it well to study and to connect to. Breathtaking hand–carved architecture and 40.000 km2 of sculpturally shaped volcanic nature astonish the eye of everyone that enters. Cappadocia slowly starts to get open to the world –tourist area– with all kind of consequences for environmental infrastructure.
In association with NIHAnkara (Netherlands Institute for Higher Education) and KozaVisual, Babayan Culture House developed a project for Water Management in Cappadocia that was initiated with a congress in January 2008. The Art/Eco Platform Cappadocia raised awareness for this Water Management project and aimed for all kinds ecological solutions that fit into the vulnerable volcanic environment of Cappadocia. The yet unspoilt village Ibrahimpasa/Babayan is therefor a pilot village for environmental solutions and the center of artistic activity and cultural exchange of ideas. Artists with Art/Eco based projects will give their artistic commends on these developments... Look at the video A Lunar Landscape. The following theme was starting point for Art/Eco Projects in 2008 and onwards: WATER! = BRIGHT?
SU! = PIRILTI?
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