Lighting for Historical City: An Example of Safranbolu

Nurhan Kocan

Lighting is one of the most essential needs for human being. A number of developments have occurred in the sector of lighting since the invention of the light bulb. The importance of lighting applications for perceiving the city silhouette and that for the aesthetic and functional necessities of natural and cultural landscape elements has increased. Historical cities have carried the traces of different cultures and life’s and the character of the cities with details and because of their rich formation including general silhouettes and different styles and forms, the historical cities have been the indicator of the creativity of the societies. The city of Safranbolu a historical Turkish city having an international importance, due to its social, cultural, scientific and economic aspects which has been designated by UNESCO as a city of world heritage for its historical, natural, architectural and urban characteristics. In this study, that integration of natural areas with architectural elements composing the historical landscape of the city and that contribution to the silhouette of the historical city functionally by emphasizing the architectural individuality and esthetical value of it is intended by proposed lighting procedure with lighting devices. For that purpose, a lighting procedure is proposed for perceiving the city of Safranbolu which has a rich cultural heritage with natural and historical properties in the landscape context.