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Bell-making

Bells and their production have a significant history in Anatolia. The Anatolian people adopted the bell as a means of communication and, thus, bell-making as a profession. In Turkish culture, bells were employed to lull children to sleep in their cradles, as well as to entertain them. Bells were also used in the saddles and caps of horses, and as a communication tool, hung around the necks of sheep and goats.

The art of bell craft is found in the Bor district of Niğde. Bell-making, previously a year-round enterprise, is now a handicraft made only in summer.

Carpet weaving

Carpets – patterned or plain mats with a pile structure – are woven on a loom, with loops made of coloured wool, silk, and other yarns, in the weft-warp texture. Carpet weaving is one of the oldest crafts known to humanity. Carpet weaving has a particularly long history in Niğde, which is a part of the Cappadocia Region in the middle of Anatolia, where cultures have been highly integrated. The locally woven rugs, almost all of which are produced by women, have motifs that symbolize abundance, luck, health, death, sin, resurrection, the evil eye, and eternity, among others. The most common patterns in the carpets of the region are the eye, star, tree of life, scorpion, amulet, stream, burdock, bird and ram’s horn. Also attracting attention from visitors are carpets with a swastika pattern, called kamalı in the region and revealing the influence of Greeks who lived in the area.