Читать книгу Monument Future - Siegfried Siegesmund - Страница 338

It is known that all naturally occurring materials on the earth’s surface are subject to destructive weathering processes, whether in their natural settings or in construction. Weathering is a continuous and destructive process that changes the characteristic properties of stone. The weathering of stone may result in the loss of integrity, aesthetic value and structural stability of the historical structures. Even a small amount of surface weathering may deteriorate priceless pieces of monuments (Bristow 1990; Vincente et al. 1993; Siegesmund et al. 2002). Stone monuments are the most visible and essential structures of our cultural heritage; however, many of the historical structures around the world are now suffering 228from the above-mentioned weathering and associated deterioration (Fitzner et al. 2002). Mardin is a historical city situated in southeastern Turkey. The city is medieval in origin and is located on a scenic rocky hill, crowned by a castle looking over the Mesopotamian plain (Gabriel 2014; UNESCO 2000). The city hosts various religious, ethnic groups and remarkable remains from different cultures. As a result of having such impressive interactions of religious, ethnic groups and architectural features, Mardin has been included in the Tentative List of UNESCO’s World Heritage List (Figure 1). The city hosts over one thousand registered monumental cultural properties, including the castle, monasteries, churches, mosques, madrasahs, administrative buildings, houses pavilions, tombs and hammams. Limestone is widely employed in the erection of the mentioned structures. It has not been employed only in masonry walls, also in decorative elements. Due to their availability, aesthetic value, color variety and ease to shape, limestone has been commonly utilized to construct stone monuments (Siegesmund et al. 2010). The limestones in the study area were deposited in the Early Eocene-Early Oligocene age Hoya formation. The thickness of the formation in the study area ranges between 50 to 600 meters. The Hoya formation is characterized by light gray or beige fossiliferous, micritic limestone with laminations and poorly sorted dolomite (Duran et al. 1988; Sallam et al. 2018). Similar to the other stone monuments around the world, the historical structures located in Mardin are also suffered from the decay of stone. A large variety of deterioration types can be seen in different historical structures of the Mardin. The stone deterioration observed on the historic structures of Mardin is not only weaken their physical and mechanical performance, also damages their structural integrity and aesthetic value.

The present study aims to identify the common weathering forms developed on the monuments of the Mardin and characterize the material properties of the limestones in which the historical structures of Mardin were constructed.