Göreme: MRA-TUR-Gor006
Sample ID
- MRA-TUR-Gor006
Sample Material Type
- Mural painting
Sample Sub-type
- fragment
thin section
Dimensions (cm)
- Length
- 1.4
- Width
- 1.2
- Notes
- (first fragment on the left)
Weight
- weight value (g)
- 1.05
- Notes
- 1.05 (first fragment on the left)
- weight value (g)
- 1.9
- Notes
- All fragments together
Other info about sample identity
Old ID Ref.: TUR/F/1 a; TUR/F 1A; TUR/F/1-A
Geographic Location
- Country
- Turkey
- Place
- Göreme -Elmali Church
- Detailed location not available
- no
Site/monument
- Turkey (TUR)
Göreme
Elmali Church
Historical note about the site/monument
The Apple Church dates to around 1050 and is among the smaller cave churches in the Göreme Valley. Its domed ceiling is supported by four pillars, and both the walls and ceilings are ornamented with mural paintings. Restoration was undertaken in the 1990s to stabilize and clean the most recent frescoes, which present images of important church figures and a scene of the Last Supper. In regions where the frescoes have suffered losses, it was revealed that the murals currently visible cover an earlier cycle of paintings. This underlying decorative program seems to consist in geometric ornament painted directly onto the rock walls of the cave.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Churches_of_Göreme
http://www.goreme.org/churches/elmali/index.htm
Further reading:
Bowen, R. (1990). The future of the past at Göreme in Turkey. Environmental Geology and Water Sciences, 16(1), 35-41.
Bowen, R. (1987). Geology and the conservation of antique monuments in Turkey. Environmental Geology and Water Sciences, 9(2), 71-84.
Date of sampling
- Unknown
- Yes
Other related archival documents
- There is a photograph of a fragment in the thesis by Angela Russo, preserved in the © ICCROM Archives, that is very similar to the present one and also originates from the Elmali Church. In her thesis, this sample is identified as E1 (Fig. 4, p. 20). It is likely that both fragments were collected from the same sampling location. The thesis also provides an optical microscopy (OM) description of the cross-section and the analyses carried out on p. 42 (Figs. 16–19), p. 68, p. 72 (Figs. 44–45), and p. 81.
Related samples
- MRA-TUR-Gor007 to MRA-TUR-Gor013
Support
- Moderate (has some deterioration features such as lack of cohesion/adhesion) and ideally should not be removed from its holder
Finishing Layers
- Moderate (has some deterioration features such as lack of cohesion/adhesion) and ideally should not be removed from its holder