摘要: Justification of Outstanding Universal Value　　Eflatun Pınar is a distinguish example of ensuring implementation of profitable water regime through collecting water in a central system and using it in

Justification of Outstanding Universal Value

　　Eflatun Pınar is a distinguish example of ensuring implementation of profitable water regime through collecting water in a central system and using it in case of necessity.

　　Eflatun Pınar constitutes a major cult monument with an extensive theological iconography that was built in the late phase of the Hitttite Empire. Great significance of the monument derives from its construction when the application of all technical means and knowledge available at that time is considered together with cost and effort which is used for the construction.

　　The monument is unique not only in its form, layout and iconography but also the technology and craftsmanship used in its construction.

　　Built and natural sanctuaries at Eflatun Pınar are combined in such a remarkable way that the relief wall fashioned like a rock wall and incorporated natural element of water accorded a creative role in the designs. The display and manipulation of water as a manifestation of divine presence is an outstanding cultural achievement.

　　The technical expertise utilized is unique. Large-format ashlar masonry of this degree of perfection is hardly known from Hattusa, the capital city of the Hittite Empire, at best it may be observed in the large temple complexes.

　　The meaning of the monument is underlined by the reinforcement of technical innovations. Metal tools were used here for the first time on a big scale to cut and dress the stone blocks. Especially, the bronze chisel was favoured over the stone hammer as preferred stone dressing instrument. Furthermore, technologies for shifting and hoisting heavy loads were employed in an innovative and ground-breaking way. Much preserved are the ancones or bosses as an aid for lifting and placing of the stones.

　　The rich iconographical programme of the whole site shows a hierarchically ordered, divine cosmos extending over all parts with various representations and culminating in the large relief wall with the winged sun disk. A unique feature is the incorporation of water in the architectural and religious concept. Equipping the mountain gods with the other source outlets represented the reification of an essential drive attribute as a concrete thing and thus was a manifestation of the divine existence. The ensemble is considered to be an awesome sight for contemporary spectators. The discharge of water from the mountain gods and reflective surface of the wide basin invest the artistic depictions of divine activity with life.

　　The spring sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar, thus possesses the qualities of a historical monument in a number of respects. In terms of cultural history and architectural design it stands alone in late Bronze Age architecture.

　　As a natural monument, it is an elaborately contrived installation at the crop-out of spring with unusually high discharge. It is a milestone in Hittite dressed stone architecture and scarcely equalled by any other example of early monumental architecture in Anatolia.

　　Criterion (iii): Eflatun Pınar bears unique testimony to a major cult monument of the Hittite Empire. The Hittites secured the political unity in Anatolia, existed in these lands roughly between 1620 BC and 1200 BC and acquired a very different and significant place in the Anatolian history. The Hittites built their temples nearby sources of water as they thought water was elixir of life. The spring sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar has a great importance within the water cult having a significant role in the Hititte religion. Integration of water in the architectural and religious concept is a unique feature of the site.

　　Criterion (iv): In its civil engineering peculiarities, the spring sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar must have been erected a time of transition, in which older Hittite means of stone dressing and masonry were replaced by new techniques. Rectangular ashlar masonry had hardly been observed and therefore this kind of masonry technique generally was excluded from Hittite architecture. The meaning of the monument is underlined by the reinforcement of technical innovations. The claim to power that stands behind such a building task is expressed in the provision of all technical possibilities of the time. This concerns especially the costly water structural arrangements that should suggest divine presence in a way similar to baroque architectural staging.

　　Criterion (vi): The display and manipulation of water as a manifestation of divine presence of Eflatun Pınar is an outstanding cultural achievement. The interconnection between religion and state was revealed by the Hittite water cult practises. These practises were observed in ceremonies which incorporated communication with the gods of underground, testimony of the water god, cult or the dead, cult of the ancestors and the cycle of the seasons. Evidences of a practise serving more than one purpose were revealed as the essential elements constituting ideas such as, wishing for a productive year, the prosperity of the society and empire, sanctification of the deeds of the king with the approval and testimony of the Water Goddess, propaganda of the divine rights of the kings, consolidation of the imperial power and privilege of the rulers to reach water by becoming god after death. According to cultural history and architectural design the spring sanctuary of Eflatun Pınar stands alone in late Bronze Age architecture.