This fine old house is the seat of the directorate of reliefs and monuments.

This historical ‘konak’, built from volcanic stone (as were most of Kayseri’s stone houses) dates from around 1900. Its name is ‘Çalıka Evi’ = House of the (important) Çalıka family. ‘Çalıka’ being the shorter form of ‘Çalıkağazade’ – a dynasty of local landlords. Their most successful recent members were Ahmet Rifat Çalika (Mayor of Kayseri from 1914-1919 and member of Turkish parliament) and his son Ömer Hurşid, who ended his career as a World Bank’s member of the Board in 1980.
The mansion was (partly) restored in 1984-86.

Correspondent: J.M.Criel, Antwerpen.
Sources: ‘Kayseri Kültür Varlıkları Envanteri’ (Kayseri Belediyesi 2008)
& Websites of ‘wowturkey.com’, ‘katpatuka.org’ & ‘kulturvarliklari.gov.tr’ .