Project on the rock paintings in Cappadocia. Analytical investigation of the church of Forty Martyrs in Şahinefendi and other sites (Report 2008)

Abstract

This report will relate about the main results of the analyses carried out on the rock paintings of several Cappadocia churches. The analyses have been carried out within the survey “Rock paintings in Cappadocia. For a project of knowledge, conservation and valorization of the church of the Forty Martyrs at Şahinefendi and its territory” directed by Prof. Maria Andaloro of Tuscia University (Italy) . Such analyses have been carried out according to a methodological path tested during the several years of surveys in Turkey, particularly on the island of Küçük Tavşan and on many other sites in the territory of Mandalya Gulf and also on the occasion of other research projects . This research mission is part of a bigger project called “For a data bank of wall paintings and mosaics of Asia Minor (4th-15th centuries: images, materials, techniques of execution (1996-2010)” directed by Prof. Maria Andaloro. The aim of this work concerns the understanding of the constitutive materials, the execution techniques and the conservation conditions of the rock paintings. For this reason several in situ and laboratory analyses have been undertaken. In the first part of this report the main results of the analyses carried out during the 2008 campaign on the Forty Martyrs Church at Şahinefendi and of a group of churches in the region of Nevşheir will be described. In the second one an overall view on the three years analyses of the materials collected during the surveys will be shortly presented. The attention will be focused on the pigments of the rock paintings with some reference to the stratigraphic analyses and to the binders of the pigments.