Alahan Monastery-Koja Kalessi
| Department | Archive |
|---|---|
| Collection | Byzantine Research Fund |
| Reference No. | BRF/01/02/02/002 |
| Level | Item |
| Place |
Alahan Monastery |
| Dates | 1890-1892 |
| Donor/Creator |
Weir Schultz, Mr Robert Barnsley, Mr Sidney Howard |
| Scope and Content | Longitudinal section of the east church looking north. This is a preliminary drawing. It is entitled in pencil in the upper right-hand corner. :'Koya Kalessi' - 'Asia Minor'. It is initialed in pencil in the upper left corner (RWS?). Further annotation in pencil survives. The drawing, according to A.C. Headlam, were made by R.W. Schultz and S.H. Barnsley from photograpH.S. and plans he provided to them. |
| Further information | Alahan Manastiri (Alahan monastery) is the mid-twentieth-century name for the late-Antique ecclesiastical complex that dominates Göksu valley in ancient Isauria. It consists of two basilicas (east and west), a baptistery, a cave church and a little cemetery. It seems that it functioned as a pilgrimage site during the first centuries of Christianity. The cave (probably a pagan shrine?) was inhabited first by a small community of monks. A free-standing basilica was soon erected nearby while another one was built to the east. The two basilicas were connected by a colonnaded walk while a spring above the midway provided water for the baptistery. Noteworthy is the high quality of the complexs stone-masonry: Isaurian craftsmen were renown for their skills in stonework. The monastery was abandoned by its Monophysite monks shortly after 518 when Justin I began his fight again Monophysitism. It was re-inhabited very likely by a new community of settlers shortly after who, however, soon abandoned the site. |