Dark Church (Turkish, Karanlık Kilise) is Cappadocia’s most famous and beautiful cave church. Located inside the Göreme Open Air Museum, this monastic church has bright, brilliant paintings on every wall.
TECHNIQUE OF EXECUTION OF THE WALL PAINTINGS
Rendering, composed of a mixture of lime, tuff dust and straw is in two layers. It varies between 2-4 mm in thickness. The paintings were done while the plaster was wet. The overlapping of the giornata1 is distinctly clear.
CONSERVATION TREATMENTS
Consolidation
The areas surrounding lacunae produced by the fall of plaster that no longer adhered to the rock face for a variety of reasons, and painted plaster threatening to come loose and break off, were reinforced by injections of LEDAN TB1 I.C.R.
Dark Church is a monastic church dating to the mid-11th-century. The cross-in-square church has four columns, five domes, and three apses. Dark Church, along with Apple Church and Sandal Church, are known as the three “Column Churches” because of their architectural and artistic similarities. Dark Church was completed first by the workshop master. Then, apprentices built Apple Church and Sandal Church in a similar yet inferior fashion.
Monastic Complex
Dark Church was the main church for a monastic complex. With grandiose architecture and a prominent location at the head of Göreme Valley, the original monastery was built to impress and awe.
en
de