Endnote 8 – Monasteries?

The basilica church of the Selime Kale and the Ala Kilise in Belisirma have comparable dimensions, and both are larger than the Tokali Kilise II near Göreme. The Tokali Kilise II has always been noted as the largest rock-cut church in Cappadocia. It does have a very unusual plan and perhaps the most spectacular fresco decorations from the Middle Byzantine period, but it is not the largest rock-cut church. According to a plan by Ann Wharton Epstein in Tokali Kilise: Tenth Century Metropolitan Art in Byzantine Cappadocia (Washington, D.C.: Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, 1986), the Tokali II from the north wall of the attached funerary chapel to the south wall of the nave measures 32.8 feet and the east wall of apse to west wall of nave (the entrance carved from Tokali I) 29.5 feet; the Selime basilica from the north wall of the attached chapel to the south wall of the south aisle measures 38.7 feet and from the east wall of the central apse to the west wall of the nave 39.37 feet; the Ala Kilise from north to south measures 38.8 feet, and from the east wall of the apse to west wall of the nave 39.37 feet. In summation: Tokali 32.8 by 19.5 feet; Selime 38.7 by 39.37 feet; Ala 38.8 by 39.37 feet. It would be more telling to compare interior volumes if we wanted to assess the amount of time and effort and the relative difficulty involved in hewing out these spaces. This assessment, however, cannot be done without further field work.