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Dream_Streamer_ t1_jabw24k wrote

It really baffles my mind how they built these sort of structures, can someone explain?

Edit: So I looked up some pictures and I see we are just looking at the cliff face of the monastery. The rest of it extends pretty far into the cavern going into the mountain. It's a bit more understandable knowing they would have built it up from inside, instead of dangling from the mountain...

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iavicenna t1_jabxgrx wrote

my first reaction was "but how the fuck??"

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reize t1_jac6v2t wrote

My first reaction was "WHY" the fuck. I'm pretty sure even in land scarce and incredibly unfavorable terrain, there would've been better places to build anything than here.

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brahbruz t1_jac82qk wrote

Disclaimer: I don't know crap about Türkish spirituality (Türkiyesh? Not sure with the new name).

Monasteries and cathedrals are usually built to be impressive as a show of devotion or to invoke awe deliberately. The challenge of building there was probably part of the reason it was even done.

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meelawsh t1_jadr5d5 wrote

It was built by the Byzantines. Locations like these were picked because of increasing raids by foreign armies or local bandits. See: Meteora in Greece

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iavicenna t1_jacf72b wrote

well if this was the aim, they have been successful

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Stroomschok t1_jad57al wrote

Nah, it's because you've got a bunch of pretty weak-ass monks hiding in a monastery, often quite loaded with expensive artifacts.

Building a stone fuck-you fortress on a steep fuck-siege-weapons mountainside meant all you needed to keep invaders out was not open the door, no fighting required.

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gentlepettingzoo t1_jacgv00 wrote

Safety it's the high ground so if you're constantly dealing with wars and looters whether it's a holy war or whatever the chances of your church and artifacts being destroyed is less likely

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Merfen t1_jaefxy0 wrote

The problem though is if someone wanted your stuff and didn't want to fight you in your cliff castle for it they could just camp at the staircase until everyone starved or gave up.

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kitd t1_jacha81 wrote

Monasteries were often built for spiritual retreat. Get away from the hassles of the real world to allow focus on meditation and prayer. And, you know, not many people are going to be casually passing that place.

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Trumpswells t1_jaczn2l wrote

Also higher up, closer to God, further removed from earthly temptations.

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Human_Robot t1_jad5box wrote

Imagine attacking that place with a sword, a spear, and some bows and arrows. That's often the why.

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eezyE4free t1_jacgs58 wrote

100% guess: natural walking path that ended below a natural cave. (You can kind of see the top of the cave?) stairs are carved into the rock face up to the cave. Foundations are flattened and the cave mouth is formed for temporary living. Then you can continue to harvest blocks from the cave and start your outer walls.

Water supply might be from the cave or a river/creek nearby. Food has to come up from the stairs or possible lowered from a terrace above?

Again 100% conjecture and by no means an easy feat.

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Dream_Streamer_ t1_jacxk85 wrote

So, in other words the builders were fearless badasses willing to build that shit no matter what.

Edit: Or slaves

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A_Soporific t1_jad5nyz wrote

The builders were monks who decided to live on the side of that mountain so they could focus on being monks. So I guess?

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grpagrati t1_jaby8n2 wrote

Greek Orthodox monastery founded during the days of the Roman empire

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roleplayingasanadult t1_jactkod wrote

Roman Empire fell 476, great schism was 1054. I suspect time travel was involved

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twoinvenice t1_jacvdvm wrote

The Eastern Roman Empire didn’t fall until 1453, and during that entire time those people called themselves “Romans”. Byzantine is a description created by historians in more modern times.

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el_mialda t1_jacvkfy wrote

Eastern Roman Empire called themselves Roman Empire and fell in 1453. I don’t think time travel is necessary.

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Irish618 t1_jadqyf5 wrote

Besides the point others have made that the Roman Empire lasted until 1453, this monastery was built in 386.

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popperinthere t1_jacfbjw wrote

Established 386 ce. Nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) facing the Altındere valley, it is a site of great historical and cultural significance, as well as a major tourist attraction within Altındere National Park. Due to an increase in rock falls, on 22 September 2015 the monastery was closed to the public for safety reasons for the duration of one year to resolve the problem; this was later extended to three years. It reopened to tourists 25 May 2019.[3] The monastery is one of the most important historic and touristic venues in Trabzon.[4] - Wikipedia

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Freeman10 t1_jac122l wrote

How did they even build that thing? It really blows my mind when I think about it.

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g_e_r_b t1_jactvfx wrote

  1. build a monastery in a mountain
  2. wait for the mountain to disintegrate
  3. ask Peter Jackson to shoot a LOTR film there
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Drunkcodes OP t1_jac2u8b wrote

Logically I can't figure it out, because look at the position of the building. No helicopter at the time of construction.

Like how was it done? How was it possible? How safe was the process?

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plasma_dan t1_jaehaip wrote

If you look up the monastery on wikipedia, you can see that the cave behind the monastery's facade is actually pretty deep. Looking at the pictures the construction seems much more feasible by ancient peoples

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Victor_deSpite t1_jabz2i8 wrote

How the hell do you get supplies like food? Every week all the monks hike down with a basket on their backs or something? I really want to understand the logistics of these places.

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lacheur42 t1_jaczy7o wrote

> Every week all the monks hike down with a basket on their backs or something?

pretty much! Sometimes they'll have rope/cable systems for hauling stuff up.

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MajCassiusStarbuckle t1_jadeoo1 wrote

>How the hell do you get supplies like food?

They used to use trebuchets to lob supplies through the windows but they now use high powered T-shirt cannons.

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misha_ostrovsky t1_jac0r5y wrote

Prolly huge deliveries of grain to be stored. Maybe keep hella chickens and pigs. Couple milk cows. I would think lowering stuff would be easier than climbing stuff up

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Drunk_Gamer_Guy t1_jabw8db wrote

How old is this structure?

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Drunkcodes OP t1_jabxdrr wrote

It is not known when the monastery was founded, but the Turkish Ministry of Culture and Tourism places the date around AD 386, during the reign of the emperor Theodosius I (375–395).

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chromegreen t1_jac8phe wrote

My question is how is it still standing? Most of the country is an earthquake zone. Is it far away from fault lines or maybe being attached to a cliff makes it resistant to lateral movement?

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Jack-Campin t1_jacogyx wrote

I visited it at the time when they were refurbing it (early 90s I think; big international effort). At that point the frescoes were quite badly damaged, with graffiti in Greek with occasional dates in the 1880s. They got it back to looking like new for a while, but I never saw it like that. It was much more badly damaged a few years ago by Islamist vandals.

The isolated location was probably intended to keep women out.

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NotARobotSpider t1_jac8bgd wrote

It must have the highest rate of falling out of windows outside of Russia

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Big-Surf-Lil-Surf t1_jacdd96 wrote

I wonder how many people died building this thing

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Duffman48 t1_jad3c18 wrote

Nah this is Stormveil Castle.

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GlacialFlare t1_jadiiy4 wrote

Was this before or after the fire nation attacked?

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vari8 t1_jac5h7j wrote

the hard work i imagine

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ElGuano t1_jacq95m wrote

How do they deal with rockslides and falling debris?

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dangerousbob t1_jacqd4g wrote

Looks like a level from Castlevania.

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largish t1_jad3nd6 wrote

How did this survive the earthquake?

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GeniusEE t1_jad5z97 wrote

Makes me wonder how many times a rock has crashed through the roof

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boboluv t1_jad7yew wrote

I wonder what was the casualty rate during construction.

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I-seddit t1_jadf0rs wrote

This is easily the coolest thing I've seen in a while. I'd love to go check it out.

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Dependent_Setting_12 t1_jadm5gt wrote

Imagine being asked to help build this. I mean it's beautiful but no.

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Positive-Ad-8760 t1_jae62f2 wrote

why are you posting my homeunit. Studied there as a youngster smdh

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noxpost t1_jaec2ng wrote

Remember when the orcs attacked? Crazy.

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Amastarism t1_jac3twv wrote

Everyone is commenting "how?", but the question in my head, is why?! Just build it on a flat piece of land like a normal person. This is a silly place.

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Drunkcodes OP t1_jac47tn wrote

Somethings are meant to push the curiosity in us. Every building shouldn't be normal building, some are meant to be special.

Some buildings/paintings/sculptures are meant to keep a message alive for centuries.

For the "why", maybe it was for security or for religious reasons.

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Hanzilol t1_jachbaz wrote

What message? "We have resources to waste"?

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I-seddit t1_jadgr3w wrote

Let's see about that. It has lasted for 1600 years so far. How long do you think your house will last?
Doesn't sound like a waste to me.

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abiostudent3 t1_jacksec wrote

Yes. That's the point of beautiful cathedrals of any religion. It's a way to project power and inspire awe.

After all, if their god can afford such luxurious temples on earth, *surely they must be the right one with a glorious afterlife! (Not to mention that religion has always tried to gain influence and political power, and an ostentatious display of resources certainly doesn't hurt that.)

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Archtarius t1_jacb63q wrote

These kind of monastries are built in Roman Era where Christianity just begun so it wasnt accepted in Rome as a religion so any christians would be hunted down by Romans,

The monastries are hidden in mountains to hide the monks and christians from Romans

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Stroomschok t1_jad8chc wrote

This is from around 400AD. At that point Christianity was the state religion for the (two) Roman Empire(s).

Building a monastery like this requires lot of expert craftsmen and resources and is not something early Christianity could even hope to afford while it was still being oppressed two centuries earlier.

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csky t1_jace4ul wrote

If you have seen the province you would understand. There is no flat land.

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Stroomschok t1_jad6ryh wrote

No, it's an awesome place for bunch of old monks to protect themselves against raiders. Medieval invaders simply lacked the tools to make assaulting a place like this viable.

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