A DOOR OPENING ONTO THE PAST
The windows and doors of the city, which has the appearance of a labyrinth, seem to open onto different times, different layers of history. As the houses built of the light yellow limestone turn a darker saffron in the changing light of day, chiaroscuro and the play of light accent the endless forms of the relationship between space and time, its 'multi-coloured' nature. Mardin is a typical symbol of stone construction. The mainly two-storey houses, which stretch from the lower edges of the citadel to the Mesopotamian Plain, rise above one another in terraces, their front courtyards all facing south. These houses have been built according to certain principles which have been passed down from generation to generation though never written down: "No one can block anyone else's sunlight; no one can pollute anyone else's water; no one can cut off anyone else's fresh air; no one can set any building on fire." The labyrinthine streets, connected by a series of passages called 'abbara', occasionally turn into steep staircases. Arranged so as to avoid exposure to the sun's scorching rays, they provide cool shade even in the sizzling heat of summer.