25.ULUSLARARASI ORTAÇAĞ VE TÜRK DÖNEMİ KAZILARI VE SANAT TARİHİ ARAŞTIRMALARI
THE ARMORY BUILDING OF AN OTTOMAN BARRACKS IN THE BALKANS: THE BITOLA ARMORY
Yayıncı:
Necmettin Erbakan Üniversitesi Yayınları
Bitola, which remains within the borders of the Republic of North Macedonia today, is an important Balkan city with many architectural monuments built during the five centuries long Ottoman rule. Bitola became the center of the Rumelia Vilayet in 1835; sanjak center in 1844- 1868 and housed the Headquarters of the Third Army. The Janissary Corps was disbanded by Mahmud II in 1826 because of the Ottoman military reforms and a new army named Asakir-i Mansure-i Muhammediye was established taking the models in Europe as an example. The attempts for the formation of a modern army gained momentum and became permanent with the declaration of the “Tanzimat” during the reign of Abdülmecid. The modern army which exhibits a completely different organizational structure than the previous one, needed new military buildings to meet its facilities. Barracks were built for the soldiers of the newly formed army in many parts of the empire which was renamed by Abdülmecid as Asakir-i Nizamiye-i Şahane in 1843. New barracks were planned with units that met all the needs of the soldiers, whereas armory buildings were usually placed in an area far from the main structure for security reasons. In this paper, the armory buildings in Bitola, which we think belong to the barracks built for the Asâkir-i Nizamiye-i Şâhane Army of Abdülmecid will be introduced with their architectural and decorative features, accompanied by surveys and photographs. These structures will also be compared with the armories built for the modern Ottoman army.
