Sümela Monastery
Ok, folks, here are the pictures of Sümela that I promised, and more.
I saw this about halfway up the mountain, which was quite a hike. Not only was part of the path under construction with no real detour, it was rocky most of the way up with a solid dirt path on the inner side. This wasn't a problem until we came down as the packed earth didn't offer much in the way of traction.
This was the first view after paying the entry fee and climbing a hell of a lot of steps.
Restoration work has only recently begun, so visitors are not allowed in about half of the monastery. Many of the frescoes that are within arms length have been vandalized as the place sat unattended for a period of time after World War II. Now, however, the attendants are strict about using flash photography. I accidently got this photo of the frescoes inside the church (which is partly carved out of the mountain) because I forgot to turn off my flash. Oopsie!
The pock marks near the bottom of the picture are not vandalism. Notice the grey line under the people; that is the plaster in which the paintings are on, which is about an inch thick. The old frescoes were redone at some point, and in order to get them to stay on the wall, the artisans made pock marks for the plaster to grasp on to. In some places in the church, all you see is old frescoes with lots of pock marks.
Regarding all the rest of the interior, many of the paintings seemed to have some things in common, like the number eleven. Not sure why that is. Anyone have any insights? (Princess of Power?)
Here you can see how cozy the church is up against the mountain.
These are on the outside of the church. Again, the faces are scratched out because the Islamic faith prohibits worshipping anything that is meant to represent a holy figure. You'll notice in the pictures of the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) that there are no religous figures. (see previous post)
Clouds were coming in, so we quickly made our way to the top of the adjacent mountain so I could get this photo.
Then I went home and slept a bunch. Climbing the mountain was hard work!
I saw this about halfway up the mountain, which was quite a hike. Not only was part of the path under construction with no real detour, it was rocky most of the way up with a solid dirt path on the inner side. This wasn't a problem until we came down as the packed earth didn't offer much in the way of traction.
This was the first view after paying the entry fee and climbing a hell of a lot of steps.
Restoration work has only recently begun, so visitors are not allowed in about half of the monastery. Many of the frescoes that are within arms length have been vandalized as the place sat unattended for a period of time after World War II. Now, however, the attendants are strict about using flash photography. I accidently got this photo of the frescoes inside the church (which is partly carved out of the mountain) because I forgot to turn off my flash. Oopsie!
The pock marks near the bottom of the picture are not vandalism. Notice the grey line under the people; that is the plaster in which the paintings are on, which is about an inch thick. The old frescoes were redone at some point, and in order to get them to stay on the wall, the artisans made pock marks for the plaster to grasp on to. In some places in the church, all you see is old frescoes with lots of pock marks.
Regarding all the rest of the interior, many of the paintings seemed to have some things in common, like the number eleven. Not sure why that is. Anyone have any insights? (Princess of Power?)
Here you can see how cozy the church is up against the mountain.
These are on the outside of the church. Again, the faces are scratched out because the Islamic faith prohibits worshipping anything that is meant to represent a holy figure. You'll notice in the pictures of the Blue Mosque (Sultanahmet Camii) that there are no religous figures. (see previous post)
Clouds were coming in, so we quickly made our way to the top of the adjacent mountain so I could get this photo.
Then I went home and slept a bunch. Climbing the mountain was hard work!
posted by nicole @ 11:24 AM
1 Comments:
At 1:59 PM,
sarah, princess of power said…
"many of the paintings seemed to have some things in common, like the number eleven. Not sure why that is."
well, numbers have always been important, just every culture everywhere attached symbolic significance to numbers. eleven, i know it's a master number in numerology, but i don't think that concept is old enough for a place like sumela. 11 is the number of apostles left after you take out judas, the traitor. that's probably it, that'd be the biggest significance of the number 11 to an early christian group.
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