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Mehmet Yuguran, 59, a bearer of intangible cultural heritage in Nevsehir, repairs and reproduces the traditional locks once used to secure mansions, houses and rock-carved storage rooms in the area. Nevsehir is a province in the Cappadocia region of central Türkiye. Cappadocia is known for its rock-cut dwellings and churches.
Over about 47 years, Yuguran has built a collection of 3,500 traditional locks and keys, and he works to keep one of the region’s fading crafts alive.
He repairs locks gathered from villages at his workshop in the town of Nar. He also produces replicas on request from boutique hotels in the region, which mount them on doors for an authentic look.
Yuguran told Anadolu Agency (AA) that traditional locks serve as security devices but also reflect the handiwork, aesthetic sensibilities and cultural traces of their period.
He collects rare examples of locks used in Cappadocia and repairs worn or nonfunctional ones so they work again. Yuguran said he is working to have the locks, used in the region for centuries, registered under the name “Cappadocia locks.”
According to Yuguran, the main features setting these locks apart from other traditional examples are their decorations and varied coding systems. Sun, pigeon, tulip and hands-on-hips figures worked into brass plates reflect the period's cultural and artistic character, he said.
Yuguran said he has devoted his life to traditional locks. When he was 10 or 12, a mansion stood across from his family’s home, and its door lock caught his attention. He began collecting with a key found there.
“My father was an antiques dealer. I told him, ‘I’m going to build a key and lock collection,’ and he supported me,” Yuguran said.
He said he hopes to open a venue in the future to display the collection to visitors to Cappadocia.
In the past, people displayed their wealth through the locks and keys they used, and master craftsmen produced rare pieces with decorations and keys made to customers’ requests, Yuguran said.
Describing the locks’ symbols, Yuguran said: “Door locks in Nevsehir especially have brass plates. If the owner was fond of pigeons, there is a pigeon symbol. If it dates to the old Greek Orthodox residents, there is sometimes a cross. Ottoman ones have a crescent. This way, they made themselves known.”
The coding system differs from lock to lock, he said. “Just as the motifs on a rug can be read when we go to a rug shop today, similar motifs on the plates of Cappadocia locks draw interest.”
Yuguran said he enjoys his work and takes pleasure in returning old locks to use, but he struggles to find apprentices. He wants to write a reference book on traditional locks.
He plans to classify and register the collection. Traditional locks also exist in Kutahya, Egin and Safranbolu, he said, but he believes Cappadocia holds a distinct place and deserves a book.
“This is a disappearing profession. There are not more than a handful of masters in Türkiye. I want this work to continue,” he said.
Yuguran also supports restoration projects for historic buildings in other cities by repairing their door lock systems.
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