Abstract
The cave temple is located in the nearest district of the Mangup Settlement. It is carved into a separate piece of rock. This work is the fi rst detailed review of the architectural features of the church and the fresco compositions survived therein. The church is rectangular in shape, with dimensions 5.4 x 3.0 x 2.4 m. The apse is oriented to the south-east and has a slight rounding. The altar barrier was wooden. The base of the altar is made in the fl oor of the apse. There are signifi cant cracks along the walls of the church, and there is a failure in the ceiling in the south-western part, which indicates the possibility of the monument’s destruction. The altar part of the church was decorated with fresco paintings. It is fragmentarily visible on an area of about 3 sq. m. The images are currently in damage. The murals of the church are divided into the preserved compositions of the apse, the painting of the conha of the apse, as well as the supposed painting of the arches and walls inside the altar barrier. In the apse the composition “Deesis” is viewed. The best survived fi gure of the Virgin. The dominant feature of this composition is the fi gure of the Christ on the throne. On the right was John the Baptist. The composition is frontal. The Deesis around is decorated the perimeter with a light bar framed with a wide red stripe and two blue stripes along the edges. It consists of linear and geometric ornaments. It was painted with dark blue color. The upper register of the apse was also painted. Now we can see only the remnants of ornamental motifs in the conha and on the arches of the altar part of the church. The murals are painted using the fresco technique using light colored linings. All images are decorative. By its tectonic character, the composition under consideration is a closed character of the compositional structure. A feature of the church is the absence of graves in it. Probably, the temple should be dated to the third quarter of the 15th century.
Keywords
The Crimea, Byzantine Empire, cave churches, frescoes, Deesis.
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