BIKE CLASSICAL: Gumusler Monastery: Community of Caves and Christians

Photos by Jack A. Waldron

Gumusler Monastery is located about 10 kilometers northeast of the Nidge city center, and is part of the small village of Gumusler. The word 'gumusler' translates from Turkish into English as 'silver', and not surprisingly, the Camardi-Gumusler area was mined for gold and silver in ancient times by the Hittites, Phrygians, Persians, Romans, and as it would appear, by the Byzantines.

The monastery structure itself is dated to between the 7-10th century CE, though whether it is actually a monastery or the private chapel of a wealthy nobleman (due to the presence of frescos of Aesop's Fables), is still in question. Further, in ancient times the name of either the structure itself, or the underground settlement dispersed throughout the area may have been Traicas.

Cycling though the village and along the street of ancient rock carved homes, tombs, chapels and directly up to the entrance of the Gumusler Monastery was very pleasant and relaxing, as the summer climate in this part of Turkey is superb! Dry and sunny . . . , intensively sunny!

Many of the these spaces were fronted with wooden structures that supported roofs. In a future post featuring a small village named Mahkemeagcin Koyu Jeositi (an ancient Byzantine community), which lies just north of Ankara, I will show a photo of a wooden extension to a rock cave, that surprisingly is still standing, and not too long past was still in use.

If you look closely, you can see that rooms have ledges and/or post holes stretching across the space above head level. Beams would be placed upon these supports in order to create multi-level structures.

When I look at these rock-cut dwellings, I see ancient multi-purpose apartment blocks or townhouses with everything a community would need at short hand, such as a wood/metal works, vegetable/meat shops, classrooms, churches, and so on. No different really than what we have today.

There were wooden stairscases leading to upper floors, passages through the stone to other rooms, kitchens, bedrooms, living rooms, and so on.

I haven't seen any information regarding the demise or decline of this community, but I doubt it was much different from the other Byzantine communities that suffered greatly at the hands of various invasions from the Northeast, East and Southeast. For more information on these invasions, please see my post, Caesarea Mazaka: Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine Part 1, here's a snippet:

"As we come around to the front of the structure, we find a different story, a new story, at least for the ancient city of Caesarea. In 1067, Alp Arslan and his army captured the city, destroyed the buildings, and massacred the population. The city remained uninhabited for the next 50 years."

I don't imagine that this Byzantine community escaped the horrors of invasion, and as a source of silver and gold, it must have sat high on the list of targets. Let's face it, not only goods traveled the Silk Road, but also valuable information, and the armies that used it.

These rather large rock cut communities existed far beyond the region of Cappadocia (not to mention outside of Turkey). I've explored a number of them during my years touring cycling Turkey and beyond, and I always find them fascinating.

If such dwellings or the period interest you, then give the following post a look; Metropolis Ayazini: Christian Phrygia, Byzantine Phrygiae: Settlements, Cities and Monasteries, and future posts featuring ancient Kilistra in Gokyurt village, and the Byzantine rock caves of Mahkemeagcin village (as mentioned above).

I had the opportunity to stay in a rock cave hotel in Cappadocia back in 2015, and it was absolutely cavernous!! Seriously, I usually sleep in my tent, but this was a special stay, and it was not that expensive. I highly recommend the experience, though, the echo throughout can be booming!

Pictured here is an illustration and key of the Monastery of Gumusler (including a close-up of the layout, below) with a numbered description of the rooms and the purposes they served.

I think it's fair to say, that this construction (or, deconstructed construction) was not a one person job, meaning, it took an army of skilled 'miners' to complete such a project. This was a mining community, and I assume they must have had to keep large amounts of silver and gold, but where? Perhaps in the room above the church?

To make a point, there was a very large community of workers here, including engineers, miners, builders, tinkerers, tailors, and so on, who knew how to build such structures, and could also offer anything such a community might need.

The entrance to the monastery is quite grand (pictured above, #6 on the illustration). As you can see in the photo, some stone block pillar construction exists, either to reinforce the structure, or to add to its upper walls.

This 'monastery' is of the type that features an open courtyard, which is surrounded by various rock cut rooms. Again, the rows of holes in the walls suggest a beam structure that was roofed and supported by pillars, either of wood or stone.

Gumusler Monastery is one of the largest rock-cut religious purposed structures in Turkey, and contains some of the best preserved frescos from the Byzantine period.

I find the arched wall design, the pillars of which reach all the way to the ground floor, creating a probable two story space, very appealing to the eye. I see the indented line around the top as a support for beams and a roof that covered about one third to half of the courtyard.

Just above the Refectory entrance (#1 on the illustration) is a row of beam holes that probably served to support a floor, while high above the entrance is an arched indentation, that may have supported an arched roof of an apse. The Refectory itself would have been used for communal meals, or as a common gathering space.

This space however, may have been a two floor structure as opposed to a massive two story high single space. There are doors that enter the second story level that are open to the courtyard, but these may have been accessed by wooden staircases along the wall?

I envision an elongated cathedral type space that stretched end-to-end across a whole half of the courtyard, and whether this was one large room, or two floors, I do not know. With an apse at one end, and entrance to the whole of the space through the middle of the arched colonnade, this was certainly a very large space. The outer wall of the space was most likely of wood construction.

The decorative reliefs on the Ionic pillars further enhance the space. Perhaps there is a message here: that the decorative Ionic scrolls may indicate that this was a library? Certainly, the paper scrolls and books would have faired better in such a wooden space, as opposed to a damp cave.

Besides the Refectory, the uses for the other rooms on the ground level to the right and left of the monastery entrance (rooms #3, #12 and #13) are not known, and are quite plain. It's not until we enter the rooms beyond the back arched columned wall that we discover the true splendor of the Gumusler Monastery.

From elaborately decorated interiors to basic passage ways and rooms constructed for simple functionality, this extended space could serve as a palace even today. Pictured below, the massive stone plug in the ceiling might have allowed transfers between floors of items, production or perhaps people.

Something that I didn't see at Gumusler Monastery, were door sized stone boulder wheels, which could be rolled to block doors from entry. Such protective security wheels can be seen in the underground cities of greater Cappadocia.

Navigating through the passageways and rooms of the monastery can be quite confusing without a physical map in hand (which was not provided here). So, as I often do, I take my photos and try to match the photos with the digital maps at a later date.

If I'm not mistaken, I entered the narthex (room #18) from the room that has been designated as the pantry (room #17). In the photo above, you can see the door that directly accesses the courtyard (bottom left of the photo), while the doorway from the pantry can be seen in the lower right corner of the photo.

A few interesting aspects to focus on in the two photos above are; the red painted outlines of imaginary masonry on the ceiling, which is an attempt to give the impression that this structure was constructed with traditional architectural materials, a concept that extends to the rooms design and construction as a whole, and the placement of crosses (both in relief and painted) on the ceiling. There is also a round relief on the ceiling near the crosses, the purpose, reason or function for which I do not know.

Pictured above, the entrance/exit between the courtyard and narthex. As you can see in these photos, the narthex received a great amount of attention in its coloration and design as compared to the rooms for eating, sleeping, storage, and so on. Why?

The word narthex was used by the Classical Greeks to describe a fennel stalk, which is hollow. The Byzantine Greeks adopted the term to describe the entrance into a church from the porch, which was typically set to the West of the main space of the church. Basically, the narthex is a chamber that takes its design from ancient temple construction.

At the front of a Greek temple there were often outward protruding walls on both sides of the naos entrance that are called antae, and which formed a pronaos, or porch. While looking at the photos of the room surrounded by arches (pictured above), instead of seeing them filled and blocked by stone wall, imagine the numerous columned archways opening up to the sky, fields and church-ground setting beyond them.

Just inside the courtyard entrance there is a large painting that may be an attempt at an Annunciation scene? The Annunciation by the winged archangel Gabriel to Mary, that she would conceive and give birth to the son of God, while to the right, we may see the archangel Michael. The Announcement scene represents the perpetual virginity of Mary . . . , how, I have no idea? However, since it is described as 'immaculate', I must deduce that it never happened.

For some reason, I am tending to think that I am mistaken in my identification of this fresco, so, if you have a better or more informed perspective, please feel free to comment in the comment section below.

With myself pictured in order to give some size perspective of the fresco. I am guessing that this painting was added at a later date, probably long after the completion of the structure, because we can see that the arches over the painting were once supported by columns that would have disrupted the fresco, and which have been removed.

Moving on, for the life of me, I have no idea how I was able to miss photographing the room above the narthex that contains paintings of Aesop's Fables, and which has confused people, as to why Aesop's storyline is included here at this site? I think the room was closed to visitors at the time, and was marked as such, because I did go upstairs, and I did photograph the room above the church, which has a painting of a hunting scene, that is featured further down in this post.

Pictured above, is a photo of the main apse of the church (room #19), as seen from the narthex (room #18). I thought it would be interesting to get one photo with visitors present (below), and one without (above).

The man getting his photo taken with his child in front of the main apse has breeched the proscenium barrier, but no guard whistles sounded.

With the spectacular colors of the main apse fresco on full display, the large missing section and slight damage do not take away from its beauty. Its restoration (by Michael Gough in the 1960s) is excellent. I didn't want to darken these photos too much, as the affect may take away from the natural feeling they give.

Due to the differences in the painting of the frescos, perhaps there were three different masters who worked on these. There are three bands around the apse from bottom to top. It was quite difficult to get a close-up of the full apse, so, I pieced together two photos (pictured above).

The bottom band depicts the Cappadocian Fathers, centered with the Virgin Mary (if I am not mistaken), including Gregory of Naziansuz (ancient Naziansuz, Bekarlar village), Gregory of Nyssa (ancient Nyssa, near Harmandali village), and Saint Basil the Great of Kayseri (ancient Cesaerea/Mazaka).

The middle band depicts the Twelve Apostles (again, if I am not mistaken). I would like to point out something I find particularly interesting about the whole of the fresco, and how it is delivered to its audience. I am referring to the sizes of the images in each group.

Of course, the image of Jesus at the crest of the dome is the highest, largest, and positioned predictively at the top of all the other images. Then, in the middle band we have the Apostles, who are smaller in size and holy stature.

However, then in the bottom position we have the Cappadocian Fathers, who should dutifully be at the bottom of the holy pecking order, and in a size to reflect such a position, but who are interestingly depicted as standing giants. As with the seating order of Plato's Symposium, I suspect some very important symbolism here.

In this Byzantine Deisis/Prayer/Supplication iconography, Jesus is positioned at the highest point of the dome, and has two angels located to his right. All of the characters in the iconography are facing Christ with their hands raised in humility.

There are the symbols of the gospel writers, and the enthroned Christ is flanked by Mary, and another (maybe Paul?). There is also usually an image of the presentation of the Book of the Gospels, and here, there is as well. If you look closely at the angel next to Mary, who is holding a draped cloth, you may see a smaller figure across from the angel presenting the Book of the Gospels.

Since the Book of the Gospels is being presented by a human, and the tetramorphic image of a human (representing 'Man') is Luke, I thought it would be fair to guess that the Book of the Gospels was being offered by Luke, though, the image here appears to be quite feminine. So, that is confusing to me. Now, what do we make of the ox? You can see the big flesh colored circle with an opened mouth ox holding/offering a scroll, and bleating in the direction of the cloth carrying angel.

The ox is one of four tetramorphic symbols in Christian art, and this represents Mark, the servant. The ox imagery is symbolic of Israel's Temple, where oxen were sacrificed, and which is then linked to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It may be that this ox is carrying a scroll with the testimony of Luke, but I am not knowledgeable enough on the subject to say, however, what this Byzantine imagery would like to convey seems clear, as Luke's Gospel begins and ends in the Temple of Israel, which may be the reason these two tetramorphic images are presented together here.

I don't think it's too far fetched to guess, that the other two of the tetramorphic symbols, the Lion (Mathew the King), and the Eagle (John), were probably located in the damaged section of the main apse fresco.

Besides the main apse of the church, we have the right and left apses, both of which have frescos. In the right side apse we have a faceless figure that is untitled and unintelligible, at least to myself (pictured above and below). This may be an adult Jesus, but I can't be sure.

In the left apse we have the so-called, "Smiling Three-handed" Virgin Mary, who is carrying Christ in her arms. It is believed that this fresco has been modified and altered at some unknown date.

The two arms/hands of Mary that are carrying the baby Jesus seem logical, but what of the third hand that is settled upon either Mary's upper left arm? Perhaps this is simply a part or pattern of her dress? As for the "smiling" aspect, well, some experts have hypothesized, this is the result of a poor attempt to touch up or restore the fresco.

Now, let's move on to the North aisle fresco, which is the Annunciation (pictured below).

As announced by the winged archangel Gabriel, who is located on the left side of the narthex (bottom left of the photo above), and to the left of Mary, who is located within the narthex, but not visible, that she would conceive and give birth to the son of God. To the right of the narthex (bottom right in the photo below), is the archangel Michael. The Announcement scene represents the perpetual virginity of Mary.

This fresco probably dates from the 10C CE, which makes it approximately 700 years younger than the oldest known Annunciation fresco. The oldest Annunciation fresco is located at the ancient quarry known as the Catacomb of Priscilla, along the Via Salaria in Rome, which was used for Christian burials.

Here, as with other paintings or frescos of the Annunciation (aka Life of the Virgin), we are shown the early events that occurred before and after the birth of Jesus.

Working up from the bottom of this fresco, and as described above, we have the Annunciation by the archangel Gabriel (lower left of photo above), of the coming birth of the son of God.

In the photo above we have the Nativity scene, with Mary seated to the right baby Jesus in the center, and thee three kings to the left. Peeking over the edge of the cradle are what appear to be a horse and an ox (pictured below).

Thee three kings are offering gifts to the newly arrived Jesus Christ. I get only one scenario in my mind whenever I see this scene . . . , that of the three kings in Monty Python's Life Of Brian, when the kings accidentally offer their gifts to the wrong mother and child, and then took the gifts back upon realizing their mistake. Classic!

In the scene below, I believe this to be the baptism of Jesus, but again, I am not knowledgeable enough on Byzantine era frescos to say for certain. So, if you know what this scene entails, please feel free to write in the comments below.

At the top of the Annunciation fresco/s, we have the Presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple. If I am not mistaken, the figure standing across from Mary with Jesus in her arms is the Temple of Israel high priest, while behind them stand Saint John the Baptist and Saint Stephen.

Whenever I read the title/name 'Saint Stephen', I begin to hear that wonderful song of the same name/title by the Grateful Dead! So relaxing. Pictured below, a photo of the church/cathedral vaulted ceiling.

Pictured below, very well preserved paintings of two figures within the narthex of the north aisle fresco.

I have included two photos here, because one shows the two narthex characters in natural light (pictured above), while with the photo below, I have added a bit of light and contrast in order to bring out some of the brilliant colors.

Though there are titles written above the heads of each character within the narthex, I am a bit rusty with my Ancient Greek. So, if you know who these two characters are, please explain in the comments section at the bottom of this post.

My guess, is that the character featured on the left of the arch is a priest from the Gumusler Monastery (pictured above). The character on the right of the narthex arch may also be a Gumusler Monastery priest, however, he appears to have a serious Jesus characterization (pictured below).

The room above the church was my next destination, as it has a large fresco on its east wall of what appears to be a hunting scene. Pictured below is an illustration of the scene.

The fresco in this upper room has some extensive damage caused by the smoke of cooking and/or living fires. Over the millennia, squatters have occupied these spaces, and of course they needed to cook and stay warm. Pictured below is a not so great photo of the complete fresco.

Starting from right to left, the first image we see is a white mountain goat (pictured below). The animal following behind the goat may be a lion, or a boar, or something else perhaps, but certainly an animal with a tail.

I've included two photos of the same section of the fresco (above and below), because I have adjusted some of the shading and sharpness in order to offer a better view. We can now see the ostrich type bird above the back of the lion/boar, as well as what looks like a deer face-to-face with the ostrich.

With a different angle and closer shots, we can see that the images were actually quite detailed in shape and shading.

I should have photographed the entire fresco from the angle featured here, because the reflection of the light entering from the courtyard made capturing a good image a near impossible task.

Pictured below is the center of the fresco, with the deer-like figure confronting the ostrich on the right, a bird figure above another deer-like figure in the middle, a cave-like space on a rock face with a large cat perhaps, and a hunter with his/her bow tensioned for a kill on the left.

In the photo below, the hunter and bow can be seen fairly clearly, and he/she is about to release on a very large animal just in front.

Though it is near impossible to see in the photo below, the large animal has two arrows stuck in its shoulder, and, there is another human figure on the far left, behind the wounded animal.

Pictured below is a view of the courtyard entrance from the back of room #3, which has been described as 'additional rooms' on the site layout. To me, this room more resembles a church, as opposed to an 'additional room'.

Perhaps it was just in the DNA of the designer or architect to give all rooms the Christian motif, but I would challenge the 'additional room' designation, as I see a cathedral ceiling, and massive cross over what I would describe as a central/main apse accompanied by left and right apses.

Further, there is a long Christian tradition of inturing those persons of renown in burial chambers within the church or cathedral, and as we can see here, there were burials beneath the floor of this space, which I imagine was once covered with tiles or some other flooring.

When I see burials such as these within an active structural space, I am instantly reminded of the much older Bronze and Neolithic Age structures/homes at sites such as Arslantepe or Catalhoyuk (and actually as far back as pre-historic periods), where family members were buried beneath the floors near or under the designated sacred area of their dwellings.

As you can see in the photo below, the warn stone at the foot of the passage way shows just how soft this stone is. With a skilled team, such communities could be carved out of solid rock in a very short period of time, and provide a spectacular shelter from the elements and enemies.

The space pictured below was a working area, probably for the preparation and production of food stuffs, as well as other daily works.

Large storage vessels laid beneath the cool floors would keep and protect a variety of staples for long periods of time, and included olive oil, olives, grains, wine, nuts, and so on.

It's not so hard to image the comfort of living in such a community, as the activities that sustained life here are basically the same activities that sustain us in our so-called modern communities. Things really haven't changed so much over the millennia, including the belief systems that so many humans just can't escape.