habitat rupestre.pdf - Società Friulana di Archeologia

NOTES ON SOME RUPESTRIAN CHURCHES OF ORTAHISARCRHIMA-CINP projectFig. 12-13 Destroyed church in restructuring near Nino Kilise. Details ofniches; entrance to church and to security tunnel (photo: C. Crescenzi)Fig. 14 Nino Kilise or Bayırlı Church. Entrance; view through the window:Christ painted on the ceiling. (photo: C. Crescenzi)Ali Torun (coord. 38.61953; 34.86604). Outside the Sakli Kilise,in the open space that closes the road on the left, a highwall with a detailed entrance arch surrounds the courtyardleading to the church. Crossing the yard that gives access tothe private house, and passing through several rooms in thecave, we enter the church.The single nave church is particularly. Though it is an aniconicchurch, it has a remarkable architectural decoration, which isunfortunately deteriorated because of the improper reuse ofthe structure and the water infiltrations. Its height is dividedin two levels; the lower one is articulated in blind niches ofdouble pace confronted to those of the upper level. The nichesat the bottom are very deep and closed by pilasters with anarchitrave, while a double frame underlines the bottom wallcarved with an arch niche. In two of the penultimate nichesthat face towards the bottom wall there are the two entrancesof the church. The pilasters are surmounted by a geometriccapital that resembles a stylized cross; similar but more detailedelements form the aniconic decoration of the ceiling ofthe Balkan church. An important entablature frame dividesthe two parts of the wall. Each top frame includes two blindniches enclosed by arches; on the upper pilasters a simpler entablatureframes the flat ceiling.Pilasters, capitals, entablatures and cornices are painted withgeometric designs. The chancel is completely destroyed, andthere are traces of the wall of the apse and of the central partof the altar against its wall, which has been partially convertedinto a manger. The opposite wall is architecturally significant.In the centre of the lower level, there is a pair of symmetricalframes, both framing a mullioned window; on the outside onlythe right panel articulated in a stylized cross remains. In theupper level, there were three large windows and there wereprobably others on the first two side niches; the left wall wasdemolished and a railing protects the facing; we can hypothesizea possible matroneum.District Yeni MahalleNino Kilise (coord. 38.618884; 34.862827). The small funerarychapel, also named Nino Kilise, is a part of a large monasticcomplex that is now in ruins for an ongoing restructuring;the churches without paintings are not considered valuable,therefore these don’t instill respect for the owners that ignorethe value of the property in their possession.The small chapel, though wrongly used and partially damaged,has preserved part of its iconographic cycle; it hasa greek cross plan, the arms of which contain some carvedtombs. The central dome is declared by diamond pendentivesthat originally were painted, but now they are a kind of supportfor the beams which support a floor realized in wood andstones, and occludes the paintings of the dome.The triumphal arch, entirely painted, lodges on its left a nicheused to contain the sacred vessels.The bust of Christ is painted in the conch of the apse, Saintsare represented on the wall and the view of the images is partiallyoccluded by a wall. Small spaces, funerary narthexesand hermitical cells are located at the sides of the cone includingthe chapel.Another church, located at the left of the previous, is now destroyed:one of the walls suggests the presence in the past ofa double register and the partition of other wall; the nichesvolumeRicerca_OK_2012-11-15.indd 260 16/11/2012 15:04:19