The huge public buildings the Ottomans built in Turkey were designed to last. And so were the decorative bird houses attached to the outside walls. These birdhouses were works of art as well as sturdy homes for wildlife.
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The birdhouses were not simple concrete structures, but rather elaborate feats of miniature architecture that ranged from one-story homes to multiple-story bird mansions. Each was designed with a similar design aesthetic to the country’s larger buildings, simultaneously providing shelter to sparrows, swallows, and pigeons while preventing bird droppings from corroding the walls of the surrounding architecture.
In addition to providing shelter, the birdhouses fulfilled a religious vision. They were thought to grant good deeds to those that built the tiny homes.
The few surviving Ottoman birdhouses are hundreds of years old. See a gallery of the concrete birdhouses of Turkey at Colossal. -via Nag on the Lake
(Image credit: Caner Cangül)
Source: neatorama