Yüklük (bedding cupboard)

The yüklük is a large built-in timber cupboard along one wall of a room in the traditional Turkish house, where floor mattresses, quilts and pillows were stored during the day. Bedding spread out at night was folded away into it each morning, turning the room back into a space for sitting, eating and receiving guests. The yüklük is what made the multi-purpose room work.

The yüklük in the Turkish house

The yüklük is usually part of a cupboard wall filling a whole side of the room. That wall commonly brings together:

• a deep bedding compartment behind large doors,
• shelves and smaller cupboards for everyday items, with a display shelf running above,
• in some examples a small washing cubicle (gusülhane) with a waterproof floor,
• sometimes a hearth or the room’s door.

The doors and surrounding frames may be carved, battened or painted, and together with the ceiling they carry the most careful craftsmanship in the room.

The yüklük in survey and restoration

A survey documents the yüklük in interior elevations and detail drawings, scaling door divisions, hinges and locks and moulding profiles. Lost doors and shelves are reconstructed from other cupboards in the room or similar houses in the region, and the new pieces should remain recognisable as new. In adaptive reuse the yüklük can keep working as a built-in wardrobe or a place to conceal services. In 3D interior models, getting the proportions of the cupboard wall right is the most effective way to convey the room’s traditional character.