Dovecotes In Europe And Asia.
Dovecote, Le Marche, Italy.
When I took this photograph of a an Italian dovecote during my recent visit to Le Marche I realised that had somehow collected a number of images of these things situated in different locations.
Most people who own dovecotes do so in order to breed their birds for eating. The dovecotes of Cappadocia were created at the dawn of time for the collection of bird-shit, which is used as a fertiliser. The strange traditional symbols are supposed to help the birds to navigate and probably once were believed to have mystical properties but, if so, the reasons they were first painted have been lost to the dementia of antiquity.
Dovecotes: Ortahisar, Cappadocia, Turkey
According to Wikipedia: “In some cultures, particularly Medieval Europe, the possession of a dovecote was a symbol of status and power and was consequently regulated by law. Only nobles had this special privilege known as droit de colombier. Many ancient manors in France and the United Kingdom have a dovecote (still standing or in ruins) in one section of the manorial enclosure or in nearby fields. ”
Here is the 18th Century dovecote at Moseley Hall, Birmingham, U.K. photographed at night during my recent visit to the Midlands.
The Dovecote, Moseley Hall, Birmingham, U.K.
