Rock architecture by country
A continuación se expone un listado no exhaustivo de las principales obras de la arquitectura rupestre en el mundo.
Saudi Arabia
The Nabataeans also lived in the territories of present-day Saudi Arabia. In the city of.
• - Mada'in Saleh or al-Hijr (image) there are 131 archaeological remains that include temples, stone facades and towers, from the 2nd century BC. C. to II d. C.[10].
Armenia
In Armenia there is the.
• - Geghard monastery, half built and half excavated in the rock. The monastery dates back to the 1st century, while the excavated areas, among which a cruciform church expanded from a natural cave, are dated to the 11th century.[11].
Bulgaria
In Bulgaria there are numerous cave churches, among which the.
• - Ivanovo complex, near the city of Ruse. The churches, with richly polychrome walls, date back to the 19th century.
Other notable excavated temples are the monasteries of.
• - Aladzha (image)[12] (century).
• - Albotin (image)[13] (century).
China
In the East, the Buddhists were the first to excavate caves to provide shelter for their monks during the rainy season.[14] The Buddhists excavated a multitude of grottoes as prayer temples, generally containing one or several sculptures of Buddha. Most of the Chinese cave works were created during the 12th centuries AD. C.[9] The three most important temple complexes in China are:.
• - Mogao Caves, a set of 492 grottos and temples[15] decorated with Buddhist-themed mural paintings,[16] at the entrance to which a large façade of various heights was built. They are in the province of Gansu and were built from the century AD. C., although they continued to expand during the following centuries. Originally there were more grottoes than are currently preserved, which is why the place is also called "the thousand Buddhist caves".[17] They were declared a World Heritage Site in 1987.
• - Yungang Grottoes, a Buddhist complex of 53 grottoes with 1,200 niches, begun in 460 AD. C.. They were declared a World Heritage Site in 2001.
• - Longmen Grottoes (image) Among its more than two thousand grottoes and niches there are 100,000 statues. Most of the grottoes were excavated between the 7th and 9th centuries AD. C. They were declared a World Heritage Site in 2000.
Outside of religious architecture, in northern China there is a housing typology called "Yaodong"; caves used as homes, with a rectangular section at the base and topped with a semicircular vault, with widths of 3 to 4 meters and depths of 5 m. The caves were equipped with a chimney for smoke evacuation. The most elaborate ones have a decorated façade built with the removed stone itself. It is estimated that around 40 million Chinese live in this type of housing,[18] although not all Yaodong are excavated.
• - Rock architecture in China.
• - Mogao Caves.
• - Yungang Grottoes.
• - Longmen Grottoes.
Egypt
The first excavated Egyptian buildings were most likely the tombs of their pharaohs: beginning in the century BC. C., up to 39 tombs were excavated on the side of a mountain in.
• - Beni Hassan "Beni Hassan (Egypt)") (image).
The funerary complex is located about 20 km from the current city of Menia. The largest tombs had interior columns, being similar to sculpted replicas of the "truly" built temples.
Burials in mastabas are even earlier, dating back to the third millennium BC. C. Many of them were dug into the ground and covered using techniques and materials that varied over time. The evolution of the mastabas towards the pyramids, which occurred around the century BC. C., did not eliminate the underground burial chambers. During the reign of Akhenaten (1353-1336 BC) the city of Tell el-Amarna was founded, where several underground tombs or hypogeums were excavated,[19] and around the century BC. C., and in view of the incessant looting of the visible pyramidal tombs, the pharaohs finally opted for entirely underground burials, more discreet and hidden from pillage. The most important hypogeum complexes are those of:.
• - Dr Abu el-Naga.
• - The Valley of the Kings.
• - The Valley of the Queens.
The three valleys meet in present-day Luxor. The walls and ceilings of these tombs were plastered and richly ornamented with polychrome drawings or reliefs, and the largest, such as the tomb of the sons of Ramses II, reached 443m in length, with rooms more than 15m wide.
Another notable work is the temple of Deir el-Bahari, from the century BC. C., part of which is built, and part excavated in the rock. Even so, the most ambitious work of cave architecture from ancient Egypt is the complex of.
• - Abu Simbel, composed of two temples excavated entirely in the rock dedicated to Ramses II and Nefertari, built in the century BC. C. about 300 km south of Assuan.
Spain
Most of the rock production in Spain can be classified into two large groups: one dates back to the Bronze Age and the Celtiberian culture, and extends throughout the north of the peninsula. The second arose after the Muslim occupation during the 19th century, and is especially evident in the southeast of the peninsula, with the communities of Andalusia and Valencia being the richest in archaeological remains, which in some cases are still inhabited.[3].
The rock groups with the most content of excavated architecture are:
• - Tiermes (Soria): dates back to the Neolithic, but excavated mainly by the Celtiberians.[20].
• - Cuevas de los Cien Pilares in Arnedo (La Rioja "La Rioja (Spain)")); It has living caves as well as the possible rock hermitage of San Miguel.
• - Contrebia Leucade (La Rioja "La Rioja (Spain)"): It has burials in caves from the Bronze Age[21] and houses partially excavated in the rock, possibly Celtiberian.
• - Segóbriga: it has a cave theater and a collective burial site excavated in rock from the Bronze Age.
• - Talayotic necropolis (Balearic Islands): Some of its hypogea are carved into the rock, with even the presence of large sculpted columns.
Rock dwellings of various types and periods have been documented in the towns of: Guadix, Benalúa, Zújar, Benamaurel, Purullena and Sacromonte (Granada); Batán Caves in Paterna (Valencia); Tariego (Palencia); Perales de Tajuña (Madrid); Rojales (Almería) and Alcalá del Júcar (Albacete). In Cieza (Murcia region) the rock settlement was strongly active until the middle of the century, with several nuclei in places such as El Búho, Toledillo, Losar de la Fuente, El Realejo, El Argaz and others, all in the vicinity of important archaeological sites belonging to the Neolithic, Argaric, Iberian, Roman and Andalusian periods.[22].
There are also many churches and hermitages wholly or partially rock, with provinces such as Cantabria or Palencia standing out for their abundance. Some examples are those of Olleros de Pisuerga, Hermitage of San Pelayo "Hermitage of San Pelayo (Villacibio)") in Villacibio and Hermitage of San Vicente in Cervera de Pisuerga in the province of Palencia, or the Rock Church of Arroyuelos, Church of San Juan de Socueva "Rock Church of San Juan (Arredondo)"), hermitage of Cambarco, hermitage of Santa María de Valverde "Santa María de Valverde (Valderredible)") and hermitage of Santa Justa "Ermita de Santa Justa (Ubiarco)") in Ubiarco in the autonomous community of Cantabria, or the hermitages of Ojo Guareña in Burgos, among many others.[22] Rock architecture is also widespread in the south of the peninsula. It is worth highlighting, as an example, the Mozarabic church of Bobastro, with three naves (10th century).
Favored by the soft volcanic rock, cave architecture reached a notable development in the Canary Islands. Several sculpted caves used as storage have been found. One of the most striking examples is the Cenobio de Valerón, on the island of Gran Canaria, although there are others that are less known.[23] Another representative piece is the so-called painted cave of Gáldar, on the same island. Similar constructions also exist in the Iberian Peninsula, such as the caves of Bocairente[24] (Valencia). Also in the Balearic Islands it is worth mentioning the possession "Possession (architecture) of Es Cosconar"), whose houses were built into the rock.[25].
United States and Mexico
There are numerous rock settlements in the southwestern United States, especially in the canyons "Canyon (geomorphology)") of the Colorado River and the Rio Grande, and in the states of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.[2] This type of construction also occurs in the state of Chihuahua, in Mexico.
The constructions are dated between the 11th and 14th centuries,[2] and are believed to have been made by the Anasazi people; farming tribes, also called in English cliff-dwellers, considered the ancestors of the Zuñi and Hopi Indians. The small cities of the Anasazi took advantage of the natural concavities of the terrain or were directly excavated, and consisted of numerous rooms dedicated to rest, meetings and ceremonies. Its location on steep slopes served as protection and hiding from attacks by nomadic tribes (Navajos, Apaches, etc.).[2].
Among the most representative examples of this architecture are:.
• - Mesa Verde National Park, in Colorado.
• - Canyon de Chelly (image),[26] in Arizona.
• - Gila National Monument") (image),[27] in New Mexico.
Ethiopia
In Ethiopia there is the exceptional case of the.
• - Churches of Lalibela (image): a set of eleven rock churches probably built in the 19th century,[28] as a symbolic representation of the Holy Land.[29] Among the churches, Biet Medhani Alem (image) stands out; a reproduction of the cathedral of Saint Mary of Zion or Our Lady of Zion in the city of Aksum "Aksum (city)").[30] The building consists of five naves, and with its 800 m² floor plan, it is the largest monolithic church in the world.[30] A notable characteristic of these churches is that they were carved under flat ground, by emptying large ditches. In this way, most churches have their roof at ground level.[6].
Georgia
Also in Georgia there are examples of religious complexes sculpted into the side of a mountain, highlighting among them:.
• - The David Gareja Monastery") (image)[31] 60 km southeast of Tbilisi, which consists of hundreds of temples, chapels and rooms dedicated to housing, which were excavated since the .[32] century.
• - The Vardzia Monastery (1185), with important remains of fresco paintings.
India
Hindu Viharas are Buddhist shelter temples imported from China. In the north and center of the country it was common practice to take advantage of natural caves or excavate the rock to create these temples. Over time, facades were added to the entrances of some grottoes. As was the case in Western civilizations, artisans sculpted the details of the wooden architecture of the time into the rock.[33] The grottoes are characterized by having columned walls "Column (spelunking)") and by a semicircular vault that would sometimes adopt a characteristic horseshoe shape with grooves. This type of vault is called Chandrashala").[34] Another characteristic feature of Indian Buddhist architecture is the octagonal section pillars.[35] Around 1,200 of these excavated temples are preserved in India, almost all of Buddhist origin.[33] The first cave works in India correspond to the time of the Mauryan Empire, around the century BC,[36] and are located at the point of penetration of Buddhism: in the state of Bihar, in the northeast of the country. There are the temple of Bandar and the caves of Sudama and Lomas Rishi, in the Barabar complex (image), considered the oldest cave remains in the subcontinent.[36] A distinctive feature of these first temples from the Mauryan era was that they sometimes presented an interior chamber with extraordinarily polished surfaces.[37].
Among the most famous sets of Viharas are:.
• - Kanheri (image), in Bombay. They are the oldest Buddhist caves in India. They are sculpted in basalt and date from the 2nd and 1st centuries BC. C.[38].
• - Karli Temple (image), in the state of Maharastra, considered the best example of early Buddhist architecture.[39] Vaulted and columned, with rich decoration, it has a floor plan of 38x14m and a maximum height of 13.5m. From the century AD. C.[39].
• - Ajanta (image).jpg "m:commons:File:Ajanta (63).jpg"), in the state of Maharastra. It consists of 29 sculpted and painted artificial grottoes. The oldest caves are contemporary with those of Kanheri, (late 2nd and 1st centuries BC),[40] and the last ones from the 6th century. The grottoes are divided into two categories: those that served as shelter, and those used for meeting and prayer (viharas). The first consisted of a long passage ending in a room measuring 10 or 11 m by 7, with cells excavated on the sides. The assembly rooms penetrate deeper and have rooms measuring 14 m on each side.[6].
• - Ellora (image), in the state of Maharastra. It has 34 temples: 12 Buddhist, 17 Hindu and 5 Jain, built between the 4th and 13th centuries.[6] Given the orography of the place, with an abundance of hills, in addition to temples excavated in the mountain, there are also examples of monolithic temples of up to three heights (image), the result of the selective emptying of a stone hill.[6].
Other Indian rock temples are:
Iran
In the cities of Naqs-i Rustam and Persepolis (present-day Iran) there are examples of late rock tombs,[46] attributed to the Achaemenid Persian kings of the century BC. C. Darius I, Xerxes I and Artaxerxes I and II.[5] The tombs are richly ornamented, and its curious cruciform façade evokes the façade of an Achaemenid palace, with the characteristic double bull capitals.[46].
• - Tomb of Darius I.
There are also rock towns from the century or like that of.
• - Kandovan") (image).
Israel
In Israel there are several tombs near the Mount of Olives (Jerusalem):
• - Tomb of Absalom (image), 20m high tomb, dated around the century BC. C.[47].
• - Tombs of Bnei Hazir and Zechariah") (image): two tombs, the first excavated and the second monolithic or free-standing, located next to each other. The decorative style is Hellenistic, with Doric and Ionic columns carved in the stone, respectively. They are dated between the 2nd and 1st centuries BC.[48].
Italy
• - Sassi di Matera, a town of prehistoric origin excavated in volcanic tuff,[49] evicted by the authorities in 1952.[50].
• - Monterozzi") (image)[51] or necropolis of Tarquinia, consists of 600 tombs excavated by the Etruscans,[52] 200 of which are ornamented with paintings. The oldest date back to the century BC.[53].
• - Necropolis of Pantalica in Sicily; set of about 5,000 tombs excavated in the rock, some of which date back to the century BC. C.[54].
Jordan
In the territory of present-day Jordan, the Nabataean civilization developed between the 2nd centuries BC. C. and II d. C. About 200 km south of Amman is the city of Petra, an urbanized necropolis erected in a cirque of mountains and cliffs, whose most important constructions are due to Aretas IV (9 BC - 40 AD).[55] Among the monuments of Petra the following stand out:.
• - The Tomb of the Obelisks") (image):[56] a façade with 4 carved 7m obelisks in a style of Egyptian influence. A door gives access to a chamber with mortuary niches measuring 7 x 5 m and devoid of decoration. It is believed that the lower rooms were used to celebrate banquets in honor of the dead.[57].
• - Jazneh Firaum (image), also known as Pharaoh's Treasury or the Treasury, is the first monument in Petra in the Hellenistic style. It has a very well executed and preserved façade, 30 m wide x 43 m high. There is no agreement among archaeologists about the date and original use of this monument, but the hypothesis has been advanced that the monument was designed by architects and artists brought from the Hellenic west, probably in the time of King Aretas III Philhellenus (84-56 BC). Others believe that the building would be the mausoleum of the sovereign Aretas IV (9 BC - 40 AD). The plan consists of three naves, an exterior patio with a porch with six Corinthian columns with a smooth cylindrical shaft, and an interior patio with access to three chambers. The walls of the chambers in Petra currently lack decoration, but parallel grooves remain, used by the Nabataeans to fix the plaster to the walls.[55] From this it is clear that in their original state, these buildings were polychrome.
• - Calle de las Fachadas") (image),[58] a conglomerate of about 40[59] rooms sculpted in the shape of prisms whose function as tombs or houses is still under debate. Its most exotic feature is the friezes adorned with reliefs in the form of stepped battlements, called crow staircases.[55].
• - The Roman cave theater (image), with the stands also carved in the rock and capacity for 3,000 spectators.[59].
The complex of the Royal Tombs, formed by the tombs of the Urn, the Silk, the Corinthian and the Palace:.
• - Tomb of the Urn") (image):[60] carved into a concavity of the cliff as a patio, whose floor is supported by two floors of vaulted arches. There is no consensus on its primitive use, although it has received the name 'Royal Court of Justice'. It could be more of a funerary chapel than a tomb itself,[55] or it could also be the tomb of the Nabataean king Malchus or Malichos II (70 AD).[61] The architectural style of the tomb has a marked Roman air, although the decoration has Nabataean and Hellenistic motifs. The patio is 23 m wide, and precedes the central chamber, measuring 19 x 21 m.
Türkiye
In the Anatolian peninsula (current Türkiye), and in contact with the Egyptian civilization, it developed from the century BC. C. the culture of the Hittites, great stone sculptors. The most notable example of its rock-sculpted architecture is:.
• - Yazılıkaya Sanctuary; half excavated and half built,[5] and whose origins date back to the century BC. The temple was started by Hattusili III (1265 BC-1237 BC) and continued by Tudhaliya IV (1237-1228 BC).
Heirs of the Hittite Empire were the states of Phrygia, Cilicia and Cappadocia, although the provinces of Hattusa and Lycia are also rich in this type of architecture.[5].
The Phrygians established their capital in Gordion, where between the 8th and 7th centuries BC. C. they excavated megaron-type temples—considered the predecessors of Greco-Roman temples—[5] and various mausoleums, altars, niches and tombs. Among the most representative rock works of the Phrygian civilization are:
• - Arslankaya (the Lion Rock) (image)[64].
• - Midas Sehri") or City of Midas. Dated in the 8th or 7th centuries BC, and abandoned during the Persian invasion, it enjoyed a second period of prosperity between the 5th and 3rd centuries BC. The most striking monument is the so-called "Tomb of Midas": a facade of a false temple 47m high, and whose door leads to a shallow chamber,[5].
The Lycians settled in southern Anatolia around the century BC. C. Its necropolises carved into cliffs are famous, in which the civil wooden architecture typical of the time, highly influenced by Greek art, is represented sculpted. The Lycian style is very geometric, based on the right angle, and in its late period it incorporates Ionic columns and figurative sculpture.[5] 1085 tombs have been counted,[9] the most representative examples being:.
• - Telmessos") (in Fethiye, Muğla province) (image).
• - Pinara (image)[65].
• - Xanthos "Xanthos (city)") (image)[66].
• - Myra (Demre).
• - Dalyan (Muğla) (image).
In the region of Cappadocia, Hittite, Neo-Hittite, Greek and Roman cultures have occurred throughout history, although the majority of the production that has survived to this day is from the Christian era.[5] The soil of this region, formed by volcanic sediments, and very easy to drill, has a particular orography of stone formations on which churches, monasteries and true underground cities have been sculpted, with a predominance of the Byzantine style, imitated in the rock carving, and also with influences from Armenian and Syrian Christianity, as can be seen by the use of the barrel vault and the horseshoe apse typical of early Christian basilicas.[5].
The oldest churches and monasteries date back to the 16th century and continued to be built until the arrival of Islam in the 19th century, with up to 150 of these constructions being counted. sheltered about 100,000 people,[67] the most representative settlements being those of:.
Ukraine
Among others, the excavated monastery stands out.
• - Uspensky") (image), whose origin could date back to the 1st century.
Other countries
• - Australia: Coober Pedy (image) Underground homes and churches.
• - Tunisia: Matmata troglodyte houses (image).
• - Bolivia: Samaipata Fort (image) niches and petroglyphs that are said to form the largest sculpted stone in the world.[68] Made by a pre-Columbian culture around the year 300 AD. C.[68].
• - France: The partially rock church of Saint Emilion is known (image), although the country has a large number of minor works, excavated during the Middle Ages for defensive and concealment purposes.[3].
• - Greece: Semi-rupestrian monasteries in Meteora. (century ).
• - Libya: excavated city of Nalut (image).
• - Underground architecture.
• - Rock art.
• - Cave house.
• - Underground city.
• - Wikimedia Commons hosts a multimedia gallery on Rock Architecture.
• - Information and plants of all Egyptian hypogeums (in English).
• - Photo gallery on early rock architecture in India.
• - Image by Beni Hassan Archived October 7, 2010 at the Wayback Machine.