Mason’s Signs in Doğubayazit Ishak Pasa Palace

Ishak pasa palace which blends in with its surroundings is built with straight face stone, rubble stone and sporadically with wooden material. stone which is taken to be an indispensable material in construction is present in nature in abundant amounts and can also carry a lot of weight, is resistant to weather conditions, and has a rich visual plastic impact and thus has been a material of choice in construction. in building the palace, six different stone kinds were used in different places. however a simple craftsmanship ensured the harmony of materials and all stones used in wall coverings of the palace were sculpted with great precision according to preset dimensions. moreover, when the surfaces of the stones used in the construction of the palace are carefully examined, a number of symbolic signs can be seen. it is possible to see more than 150 unique mason’s marks carved on stones in total in various parts of the palace dated hijri 1199 (a.d. 1784). these marks which are infrequent in ottoman buildings are frequently used between xii. - xv. centuries in the turkish architecture of the middle ages in stone buildings by those who processed stone. these “identity signs” (mason’s marks) made by masons to identify and take responsibility for the stones they carved and also the symbols carved by masons to help those who would use the stones after them in the quarry or construction site are used in various shapes on almost all stones. these mason’s marks which we do not encounter in xviii. century buildings, are surprisingly frequent on stone materials in the ishak pasa palace which is an ottoman era building. in this regard, the marks used in the palace which has a unique position lies in a field that should be categorized, grouped and examined thoroughly