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©The Archaeological Settlements of Turkey - TAY Project
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Dagpazari Kilisesi 1 |
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Type:
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Church |
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Plan Type:
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Basilica |
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Year of Costruction:
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4th - 5th c. |
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Phase:
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Early |
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Investigation Method:
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Survey Excavation |
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Altitude:
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Region:
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Central Anatolia |
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Province:
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Karaman |
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District:
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Merkez |
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Village:
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Dagpazari |
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Antique Name:
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Isaura |
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| Location: Dagpazari is located on the east of Alahan Monastery in Dagpazari Village in Merkez District of Karaman Province. It is reached through the ridge way of 20 km, which forks at 10th km of Mut-Kirobasi road. (This structure is within the borders of Mut District / Mersin. Since it is closer to Karaman, it is shown as it is located within the borders of Karaman). |
| Geography and Environment: As a result of the studies, four structures were discovered here. One of them is a basilica which also has a baptistery. The second one is a church which was previously visited by several travelers. The third one is a basilica built outside the city wall. The forth one is a civil building belonging to the Byzantine Period. During the research and excavation studies carried out in these structures, important findings were recovered. Some of these findings are being displayed in Adana Museum. |
| Research and Excavation: Davis, A.C. Headlam, Sir W. Ramsay, Hogarth, Forsyth, M. Gough Stryzgowsky and Semavi Eyice researched the region. |
| Description: Building Phases: During the excavations carried out in the church, a coin belonging to Emperor Arcadius (395-408) was recovered under the floor. This shows that the structure was built at the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th century. At the end of the 5th century, the structure underwent a fire and then was repaired. It was in use until the beginning of the 7th century. In this period, it underwent a fire again but it couldn't be repaired. Architectural Features: The first church in the east-west direction is in basilica plan and has three naves. It was carefully built with regular cut-stones and rubble stones. The structure consists of the naos and the apse. The narthex provides a passage to the naos through an arched opening. In the naos with three naves, the central nave is wider than the lateral ones. The pillars supporting the roof connect to each other by arches and they have Corinthian capitals. The structure with a single apse is rich in decoration. It was damaged in the 7th century and it couldn't be used after it. Only the narthex section transformed into chapel was used. During the excavation conducted in this chapel, an altar slab, church objects made out of metal and rich floors that were made in two different periods were found. There is baptistery next to the basilica. This rectangular structure consists of a baptistery font and an apse. It has rich floors and there is a stone baptistery font which is reached through the stairs at the center. Decorative Features: The floor mosaics on the north of the narthex were made by Bishop Oannes Elpidos during the construction of the church. These mosaics consist of plant and animal motifs in medallion which were connected to each other by antrolacs The other mosaics on the south of the narthex was made by Bishop Langinos during the renovation after the fire in the 5th century. The composition of the mosaics consist of plants placed inside a vase and the animal motifs depicted among them. |
| Finds: The structures in the region are rich in floors. The excavations yielded various findings. The most important findings is the bronze censer which was probably found during the excavations carried out in the first church. This censer dated to the mid 5th century is one of the oldest instance of the censers. There are various figures in relief on the censer with six corners. One of this figures is Jesus Christ and two of them belong to angels. Three of them, on the other hand, depicts monks. The inscription found on the censer reads as; "as a blessing for the acceptation of Teodoros' offering". These artifacts are being displayed in Adana Museum. |
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