habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

TYPOLOGY OF RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES IN CAPPADOCIAC. CrescenziDipartimento di Architettura, Disegno, Storia, Progetto; Facoltà di Architettura; Università degli Studi di Firenze, Italia1. Criteria Of Typology And TerminologyThe type is a taxonomic unit defined by a common specificmodel. In other words, it is the association of constantly repeatedcharacters or attributes in some models. The definitionof type is the fundamentally statistic procedure (though basedon empirical observation) that examines and recognizes themodel in the archaeological sources. The model is a constantmental image, which is transmitted from individual to individualthrough its socially normative strength.2. Churches, Chapels And Monasteries.In Cappadocia approximately 600 churches and chapels havebeen recognized, realized between the fifth and sixth centuries;the typology changes according to the period, the numberof believers and the evolution of the religious rites. After theintroduction of the Christian cult, as from the VI and VII centuries,the realization of holy structures is developed; the cultis reserved to monks assembled in small coenobitic communitiesand real complexes with articulated spaces are realized.Single Nave ChurchesIn the realization of rupestrian chapels and churches, the planmost commonly used is the single nave; it consisted in a quadrangularroom, more or less regular rectangular shaped. Thisaspect depended on the type of carved rock: in fact the regionof Cappadocia has a volcanic origin, formed by tuff banks, arather soft rock to model, but sometimes the excavators couldfind harder rock segments; so the excavation was less linear,and they were obliged to leave lumps and irregularities on thework surfaces.The space of the nave was extended into a horse-shoe shapedapse; it was located generally on the shorter eastern side, oppositeto the entrance, consisting in a low and narrow opening.The apse was accessed by a large arch, almost high asthe nave, but it left enough space for lodging of paintingsand decorations between its crown and the ceiling; the navecould be barrel vaulted for its entire length and oriented tothe entrance-apse direction, or it was interrupted by one ormore double arches supported by pilasters strip overhang fromthe walls on which they sprang , or it had a flat ceiling; thislast was sometimes decorated with a cross carved in relief asin the Church of Three Crosses or in S. Simeon at Zelve thatis, probably, the oldest of the executions. The ceiling of thesechurches, that was flat or vaulted, is the physical and materialextension of the walls, and it shrouds the inner space, creatingan intimate atmosphere. Several niches or blind arches couldbe carved in the lateral walls.The apse surface, sometimes including niches and apsidiolesin a variable number, folding on itself, forming a hemisphericalvault; it’s sometimes higher than the nave.The executors of these rupestrian buildings chose not at randomthis scheme, it was in fact the model used in the imposingBasilica of Constantine in Treviri (IV sec.), widespread inthe Byzantine masonry churches located in the Cappadociacountry, and it was simple and fast to realize for the few andinexpert workers of the period; often then these churches wererealized directly by the monks, which, for culture and duty,should be able to carry on any works.The single nave scheme was fit for the small scale of the rupestrianchurches, which in fact were constructed to lodge smallFig. 1 Panoramic view of Buyuk Kale, Gulsehir. (photo: C. Crescenzi)207volumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 207 16/11/2012 15:03:26