The Atlas Obscura Podcast

Dylan Thuras 0:04
Turkeys for the birds. I mean, every year, millions of birds migrate from Europe to Africa, by way of Turkey. There are Red Hawks, there are Imperial Eagles there are storks, and so many more.

Unknown Speaker 0:20
And some of these birds like storks passing through the holy cities of Mecca and Medina and also the Jerusalem and people considering this verse it kind of like pilgrims.

Dylan Thuras 0:31
So back during the days of the Ottoman Empire, mainly from the 16th to 18th century, the people of Istanbul who were good hosts to pilgrims generally, they built sanctuaries, where these weary winged bird travelers could rest these sanctuaries. They weren't, birdhouses like you commonly think of them. They're not cute little wooden boxes you hang on a tree. Now, this is Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire, home to soaring domed mosques, imposing stone fortresses and towering minarets. So they did not build birdhouses. They built bird palaces, and they put them up right there. On the side of the buildings.

Unknown Speaker 1:13
The architect tried to show their artistic expression through this bird analysis. Like an example I can say that some art historians even say that it is a form of sculpture

Dylan Thuras 1:34
I'm doing terrace and this is Atlas Obscura a celebration of the world's strange, incredible and wondrous places. And today we go to Istanbul's Old City to wander down narrow lanes, and hear the history of these luxurious homes built for our fine feathered friends, more after this.

Unknown Speaker 2:12
When I was a little kid, I was going to slim on your mosque for some for a gathering. And my father told me that if you just look at a place, you see that there is a small cage for built for the birds. And I looked at it I saw this bird palace.

Dylan Thuras 2:28
That's fatty Tuncer. He is a native of Istanbul. He's a bird lover, and he's a freelance journalist with a passion for Turkish culture. As far as bird palaces go, the one outside of Subramanya mosque is pretty simple. It's almost just a keyhole, it's quite small. But it still sparked something in fighty. And he started looking for more and more palaces. So

Unknown Speaker 2:52
it was kind of both surprising and like, inspiring for me. They are not only on the masks, they're also built on other religious structures like church synagogues, and also some civil architecture, elements, and even modern bank also have this birdhouse on the exterior.

Dylan Thuras 3:15
People started building bird palaces throughout Turkey, especially in Istanbul in the 16th century. But they really took off in the early 18th century, this time of relative peace for the Ottoman Empire.

Unknown Speaker 3:28
It's like the peak in forms of art and literature.

Dylan Thuras 3:34
People throughout the Middle East, were already building certain structures, little houses to collect bird droppings to use as fertilizer. But these were different. These palaces were much more about taking care of the birds. Architects were careful to place these palaces in places that got a good amount of sun that we're not too windy, that we're out of reach of cats and lizards and even people who might bother the birds.

Unknown Speaker 4:03
If you help an animal, it's a really good deed because you did it without any expectation of another goat in return.

Dylan Thuras 4:10
And birds also served this other kind of symbolic importance in Turkish culture.

Unknown Speaker 4:16
The birds in general have a significant role in the eastern literary tradition. They signify lover being close to God, and sometimes the prophets itself.

Unknown Speaker 4:27
Take for example, the nightingale,

Unknown Speaker 4:30
which is which is really important for the also the pros in the Turkish literature, because they signify the lover.

Dylan Thuras 4:37
Nine girls typically sing from April until early June, the time that roses blossom so people began to associate the nightingale with the rose and with romance in general, and another bird has a really special relationship to Turkish culture as well. And that's the parrot.

Unknown Speaker 4:55
The parrot is taking a really important place in the Turkish culture because they can transfer these messages they can memorize it and re say it and they are considered to be, you know a lonely creatures because most of the time parents are taken single and they are being teased to talk. If you contain two parents in the same cage, they will not be talking. So they are kind of pitted in a way.

Dylan Thuras 5:25
At one point there were well over 1000 bird palaces across Istanbul. Some just big enough for a bird to make a home, some relatively massive about three square feet. You can think of them as bird apartment complexes. For example, there's a bird palace at the yazma mosque that has over 20 little doors, stone roof, seven carved out windows. It looks like a miniature version of a beautiful mosque itself. And then there's the one on the Turkish state mint, the building where turkeys coins are made. That bird Palace is Fontys favorite.

Unknown Speaker 5:58
It's really heavily ornamented. It's built like a small mosque, but also it's like a Disney Castle in an Eastern fashion.

Dylan Thuras 6:06
In this case, a Disney Castle might even be underselling it a little the thing has multiple stories, three towers, balconies, railings, dozens of little doors, there's tons of ornate detail in every little area. Every single birdhouse has its own vibe. Some of them look like little apartment buildings. Some of them look like medieval castles. Some of them look like Orthodox churches. They're each unique and special. And they're all spread throughout Istanbul's old city. But today, the relationship between turkeys people and its birds are changing. There were once bird palaces all throughout Turkey, but many of them outside of Istanbul have already been demolished.

Unknown Speaker 6:54
Turkey had the construction boom, like over the last 15 years. And we do not see as much as birdhouses as they built. It's a sad thing to see.

Dylan Thuras 7:07
And within Istanbul, the vast majority of the bird palaces are in the Old City, which is the part of the city with a lot of Ottoman era architecture still intact. It's a lot of tourist sites, and that has helped save a lot of these bird Palaces from demolition. But even so, the symbol in general has become a lot less welcoming to its bird pilgrims.

Unknown Speaker 7:29
Some mega projects are really giving you a hard time for the migratory birds because they are built upon their travel routes. One of them has stumbled a port, the Istanbul airport is built on the root of the migratory birds.

Dylan Thuras 7:46
And fatties says part of it is that people's attitudes towards birds have also changed

Unknown Speaker 7:51
during the modern era, especially beginning with some knowledge about they carry some diseases, the rabies and bird flu etc. People tend to make it stay away from this kind of behavior.

Dylan Thuras 8:08
In the 16th century, people build palaces for these bird travelers. Today, they put spikes on the top of their buildings to deter the birds from landing there. But for some the tradition of welcoming the birds of creating a safe place for them lives on just not quite as playfully as it once did.

Unknown Speaker 8:31
I have a small bird has been made out of wood, but it's on a tree in the garden that's on the building itself because I do not own I'm the rancher.

Dylan Thuras 8:45
The best way to see the Ottoman bird palaces is to visit Istanbul where almost all of them are also it's one of the great cities of the world. So always worth traveling to. And once you're in Istanbul, stop by the Turkish mint or the Suleimani or mosque or many of the old cities notable buildings and you will see some absolutely wonderful bird palaces.

Our podcast is a co production of Atlas Obscura and witnessed docs. This episode was produced by Bowdler Soos. Their production team includes Dylan theorist

Unknown Speaker 9:23
Doug Baldwin, Chris Naka, Camille Stanley Willis, writer Arnold, Sara Lyman Manolo Morales, Gianna Palmer, Tracy Samuelson, John DeLorean,

Dylan Thuras 9:34
our technical director is Casey Holford. This episode was sound designed and mixed by loose Flemming. If you want to learn more, be sure to visit Atlas obscura.com There's a link in our episode description. And our theme and credit music is by Sam Tyndall. I'm doing theorists wishing you all the wonder in the world. I will see you next time. Witness ducks from Teacher