Home Intangible Cultural Heritage Traditional Craftsmanship of Çini-Making
  • Traditional Craftsmanship of Çini-Making

  • Traditional Craftsmanship of Çini-Making

    Traditional craftsmanship of Çini-making in Turkey includes glazed tiles, ceramic household items, or wallboards of many colors and motifs, which are often found on the facades of buildings and homes throughout the country. The production of Çini involves a series of processes, where the clay is first shaped, then lined, dried, and finally fired in ovens specifically for çini making.
    Designers drill designs that represent customs and beliefs on paper and transfer them to the surface with coal dust. The outer contours of the patterns are drawn by hand, and the surface is dyed in different colors before being glazed and fired.
    Çini workshops include a group of craftsmen, supervisors, and apprentices, each with a specific role. The craft of Çini-making is an art form that is a symbolic aspect of Turkey's cultural identity.
    The tradition is practiced in workshops as well as in homes, public education centers, vocational schools and universities all over the country where age, gender or ethnicity are not an obstacle to skill development and knowledge transfer and sharing.
    Traditional Craftsmanship of Çini-Making was inscribed in 2016 on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in Turkey.
    Intangible Heritage
    by Faqscl, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    by Sailko, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
    by Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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    Traditional Craftsmanship of Çini-Making

    Date of Inscription

    2016