Görece is a village in the
Menderes district of
Izmir Province,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...
. It is known for its production of
eye beads.
Today, the real eye beads are produced only in Görece and Kurudere (
Kemalpaşa
Kemalpaşa is a large town and the center of the district of the same name in İzmir Province, Turkey. Its district area extends immediately to the east of İzmir's easternmost metropolitan district, Bornova, and Kemalpaşa town being at a dista ...
) villages near Izmir by a handful of craftsmen, who have devoted their lives to this art. The 3000-year-old antique Mediterranean glass art lives in these eye bead furnaces with its every detail.
The roots of the very few glass masters who still practise this age-old tradition goes back to the Arab artisans, who have settled in
Izmir and its towns during the decline of the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
by the end of 19th century. The glass art that has lost its glamour in Anatolia, combining with the eye sign, was relived. The masters who practised their arts at Araphan and
Kemeraltı, districts of İzmir, were exiled due to the smoke emissions from their furnaces and fire risks to the neighbourhood.
See also
*
Nazar (amulet)
A nazar (from Arabic , word deriving from Arabic, meaning ''sight'', ''surveillance'', ''attention'', and other related concepts) is an eye-shaped amulet believed to protect against the evil eye. The term is also used in Azerbaijani, Bengali, H ...
References
Görece Bead Furnaces and last bead masters of evil eyes
Villages in İzmir Province
Menderes (Cumaovası) District
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