Güllüdere and Kızılçukur: the Rose Valley and the Red Valley in Cappadocia

The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens 2020-2021

31th edition

edited by Patrizia Boschiero and Luigi Latini

Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche-Antiga

Treviso 2020

264 pages, 250 illustrations in colour and 26 black and white

Cover price 20 euros, ISBN 978-88-8435-200-2

Italian edition: 978-88-8435-199-9

(series Memorie/dossier)

 

The focus of the 2020-2021 International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens is a site in Cappadocia, lying in two contiguous valleys carved out of volcanic rock, known as Güllüdere and Kızılçukur. This region with its plateaus extends through the heart of the Anatolian peninsula, the ancient bridge between cultures. Arid soils eroded by water and wind, and a climate of extremes characterize the natural environment first encountered by the early Christians.

Then, in the wake of the Byzantine culture, it became home to eremitic and monastic settlements, churches and sanctuaries. Its history is accompanied by astounding spaces, richly painted buildings, stables, rural buildings, cisterns, apiaries, and dovecotes, forming the mosaic of a stunning cultivated landscape. Despite the signs of abandonment of traditional landscapes and the new uses resulting from mass tourism, these valleys still represent the extent and meaning of a place that is the memory of an ancient form of inhabitation, in a balance between nature and culture, whose value crosses every border.

 

Contents

The International Carlo Scarpa Prize for Gardens

Statement of the Carlo Scarpa Prize, in English, Turkish and Italian, edited by the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Benetton Studi Ricerche

Maps of the Rose Valley and the Red Valley, Cappadocia, edited by Thilo Folkerts

 

The place and its history

Thilo Folkerts, Cappadocia: immediate continuity. Visiting Rose Valley, Red Valley and their surroundings

Maria Andaloro, Cappadocia. Deep in the rocks among valleys and painted churches

Ekrem Akurgal, The great civilizations of Anatolia

Chiara Bordino, The development of Christianity in the Nevșehir region (4th-10th centuries) and its role in the promotion of the visual arts

 

The nature of the landscape

Giuseppe Barbera, Agrarian practices and rural landscape of the valleys

Mutluhan Akin and Ahmet Orhan, The geological structure and the volcanic nature of Cappadocia: a brief review

Natalia Rovella, Stefano Marabini, Mauro Francesco La Russa, Gino Mirocle Crisci, Geological readings of the rupestrian territory of Cappadocia: the case of Şahinefendi

Andrea Bixio, Roberto Bixio, Andrea De Pascale, Underground hydraulic systems and anthropogenic cavities in Cappadocia

 

The study and care of the place

Maria Andaloro, Tuscia University’s Mission in Cappadocia

Paola Pogliani, Painting in Cappadocia

Maria Raffaella Menna, The garden and the gardener in the Church of St Joachim and St Anne

Michele Benucci and Giuseppe Romagnoli, The rock-cut settlement of Şahinefendi

Carmela Crescenzi, Survey of landscape surrounded by the Göreme and Kılıçlar valleys

Giorgio Verdiani, The Church of Meryem Ana at Göreme, fragile custodian of an outstanding art treasure threatened by the disintegration of the rocks

Sectional bibliography

 

Readings of the place

Murat Ertuğrul Gülyaz, Paşabaği and Zelve ruins

Aslı Özbay, Cappadocian civil architecture: reading history from caves

Monique Mosser, World heritage and museumification in times of mass tourisms. Critical reflections and propositions

Maria Andaloro, Pasolini and Medea in Cappadocia

 

Carlo Scarpa Prize 1990-2021

The activities of the Carlo Scarpa Prize for the place

Bibliography

The authors

Illustration references