Harran Beehive Houses, Turkey

In the USA, domestic air conditioning wasn’t available until the mid-nineteen fifties but other countries had the problem solved in ancient times. Take, for example, the beehive houses of Harran – examples of which are pictured above.

Beehive houses were constructed in many parts of the world. Some date back as far as 2000 BC and they were still being constructed in the late nineteenth century.

The beehive houses are made from the materials that are close to hand – wooden poles, stones, mud – and in some places, animal dung.

However, the design protects the inhabitants from the fierce sun. Because these homes have no windows, the sun can’t penetrate the interior. The warm air that does get into the structure will rise through the high domed ceiling to the ventilation shaft above, making the homes cosy yet cooler than outside. You can see an example interior in the video below.

Few people live in these houses today, prefering to move to today’s apartment building with all ‘mod cons’. What a shame that is but how fortunate we are that examples still exist for the traveller to visit.

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HARRAN.