11. Araştırma Sonuçları Toplantısı - Kültür ve Turizm Bakanlığı

REASONS FOR THE EXPEDITIONSWhen the Italian team became interested in Cappadocia, as a resultof some brief stays and collected bibliographic documentation we realizedtwo basic facts: first, the presence in the region of a great number oftypologically differentiated and widely distributed rupestrian and undergroundstructures representing one of the wonders in the world. Secondly,that the documentation (especially that about underground settlements)appeared full of gaps, incoherent and quite superficial or unfounded.Given this situation, the question arose of why studies about "yeraltışehirler" (underground cities) were so restricted whereas deepen inquiresabout rupestrian structures and especially about places of worship had alreadybeen undertaken for example in 1907 by Guglielmo de Jerphanion(Une nouvelle province de l'art byzantin. Les eglises rupestres de Cappadoce",Paris 1925-42) and, more recently, by Nicole Thiery, Luciano Giovannini,Paolo Cuneo and others whose work is abridged in the publication"Arte della Cappadocia" (1971).Considering the documentation directly collected and the result ofsurveys carried out in this area up to now we came up with five reasonswhy the underground structures of Cappadocia have not been given muchattention by scholars:1- the historical records of the surface area of Cappadocia are so numerousand interesting that those structures hidden underground have beenpushed into the background;2- the exploration of underground structures involves technical difficultiesand even risk. For this reason it is necessary to have specific equipmentand experience in speleological activity;3- surveys of underground excavated structures involve more problemsthan those of surface surveys;4- the domestic architecture is less interesting for scholars than the findsof monumental structures;5- it is not easy for foreign researchers to consult the Turkish and Arabiansources.These reasons convinced the Italian Commission team to offer theirtechnical and scientific resources to the Turkish department of Culture inorder to accomplish a plan of specific operations directed towards theexploration, surveying and cataloguing of the historical and architecturalheritage laying underground.44