Kocahıdır Fountain

Located in the Kocahıdır Neighborhood in the city center of Kırklareli, Kocahıdır Fountain was built in 1905 by Hacı Hasan Aga from Kayseri on the old Istanbul road. Today, the structure is located at the southwest corner of the courtyard wall of Kocahıdır Primary School and is a single-fronted wall fountain.

^{Kocahidir Fountain and Kocahidir Primary School (}Culture Inventory)

The building has a rectangular plan. On the front façade, a simple plastic effect is created with corner chamfers starting from the arch elevation. In the center, there is a mirror stone positioned in a niche with a flattened pointed arch and water flow is provided through a faucet placed in the middle of this stone. There are sitting stones on both sides of the niche. There is another small-scale niche on the back side, but there is no faucet in this section and there is a small kurna underneath.

When it was first built, the building was covered with a hipped roof in the form of a folded plaque decorated with wooden ornaments on the eaves. However, today this cover has been removed and replaced with a reinforced concrete slab.

Kocahıdır Fountain, one of the important examples of traditional neighborhood fountains in Kırklareli city center, is one of the few structures that have survived over time. In 1990, it was registered with the decision of the Supreme Council of Monuments dated 20/04/1990 and numbered 646 and included in the List of Immovable Cultural Assets to be Protected in Kırklareli City Center and Districts.

^{Kocahidir (Fountain (}Türkiye Culture Portal⁾

The location of this fountain within the urban fabric reflects the strategic location choices of traditional water structures within the settlement. Historically, fountains in Kırklareli have been located at the intersections of main roads and secondary roads in the city center, in the vicinity of commercial areas and places of worship. This feature shows that fountains are not only structures that provide water supply, but also areas of socio-cultural interaction.

^{After Restoration Kocahıdır Fountain (}Culture Inventory)

Water was brought to the city center from potable springs located in the north and northwest regions of Kırklareli and some of these springs are known as Gerdanlı, Söğütçük, Aşağı Pınar, Baba Pınar, Sıyrıncak and Nallı Horoz. It is understood that Kocahıdır Fountain was also fed within this system. The prevalence of calcareous water in the city increased the importance of these drinking water sources.

Kocahıdır Fountain is a functionally and culturally important building in the city history of Kırklareli due to its unique architectural qualities, location and purpose of construction. Built with the contributions of Hacı Hasan Aga from Kayseri, this structure was considered as a solution to the water supply problems of the period; together with similarly functioning structures, it has been effective in shaping the urban infrastructure and social life. Kocahıdır Fountain, one of the few surviving traditional neighborhood fountains, is preserved both as a historical document and as a part of the traditional urban fabric.