Hulda Festival

CONTENT

M/S HULDA BOAT

"His dream was to bring his ship to the Mediterranean .... But he thought that it would be difficult to find eight people for the journey that would take a whole year."
—Ilhan Koman’s friend, Turkish artist Behçet Safa in a personal interview about Ilhan Koman.

Technical Aspects

Length: 26 m
Breadth: 6.70 m
Draught: 2.70 m
Displacement: 185 tons
Sail area: 375 m2

The boat M/S Hulda, where Ilhan Koman lived with his family for twenty years and had his workshop, is a 2-mast schooner, a Baltic trader and cargo ship built at the Sjötorp shipyard in Sweden in 1905. The boat was acquired by Ilhan Koman in 1965 and restored according to his need. The artist renovated the boat’s interior which was originally designed for cargo and made it into his home. M/S Hulda was anchored in Drottningholm Royal Port (Stockholm/Sweden) until her trip for the Hulda Festival and is officially classified in Sweden as a historical monument. The boat has been renovated for the purposes of the trip and Hulda Festival. After the completion of the festival the boat will remain a travelling cultural and scientific centre operating from Turkey.

Ilhan Koman on Hulda

This photograph was taken shortly before the beginning of the Second World War, while ships still could have the luxury to be painted in white. During the war the white paint became too expensive and boats were just covered with black tar.

Hulda’s restoration by the Koman family. Before 1960's, Hulda was carrying all kinds of merchandise (stones for building roads, wood, timber, seeds, etc.) to all Northern countries as well as to England, Germany and Russia until Ilhan Koman bought her to make her a home and an art workshop.