The Ancient City of Milas/Labraunda and the authentic village houses of Çomakdağ have been documented with an extensive book of 256 pages and presented with an exhibition prepared by Milli Reasürans Art Gallery in cooperation with Uppsala University of Sweden and with the contribution of Consulate of Sweden, Istanbul.

This book is the third to be published under the ‘Urban and Rural Architecture in Turkey’ project. The first title published in the series was ‘Rural Architecture in the Eastern Black Sea Region’ which appeared in 2005. As part of the same project, a ‘Architecture in Northeastern Anatolia’ book was published in November 2009.

The exhibition is put on view in Milli Reasürans Art Gallery between January 19 and February 27, 2010 .

It all began with Prof. Axel W. Persson’s arrival to Milas in the hope to find archaeological remains belonging to the Bronze Age. Prof. Persson randomly browsed around the mountains in the northeast of Milas. In his research, he did not come across a single item from the Bronze Age. However, he discovered fascinating Labraunda, the ‘Sacred’ city of all Karia which was asleep for 1600 years. The spell was broken and with the initiatives of Prof. Persson, Labraunda began to wake up and display the unique possessions it contained.

The inhabitants of Çomakdağ region near Labraunda for centuries long lived with the means mother nature had provided them.

The authentic stone houses, the women with flowers atop their scarves and the traditional way of life of Çomakdağ Turkmens attracted a lot of attention. Today, they still strive to sustain their thousands of years old life style and their environment.

Due to its position as the Sacred City of all Karia, Labraunda carried an extreme importance in respect to the Ancient Era of Anatolia. Built by the Karian King Maussollos, Labraunda possesses structures that carry a splendour in terms of architecture. The ruins are being excavated by the Swedish archeologists since 60 years now.

The book has been prepared within the context of this project and covers a comprehensive study on Labraunda and the region. The first part of the book contains articles by the Excavation Director of the Uppsala University, Lars Karlsson, excavation team members Olivier Henry and Jesper Blid as well as Prof. Fede Berti ( Excavation Director of Iasos), Prof. Peter Ruggendorfer (Alinda Research Team Director), Birgit Öhlinger and Dr. Abdülkadir Baran (Muğla University). The second part of the book is an assessment on the architecture, social history and settlements in Ketendere, Ikiztaş, Sarıkaya-Gökseki villages of Çomakdağ.

As the context of the book, Amelie Edgü, the coordinator of the project says: ‘Our Labraunda project intends to pursue the visual, vital and natural lines of continuity of the local culture from the past until today, and to discover the hints of the transformations it underwent during the process.’