Trabzon Sumela Monastery part 9 : Apocalypse scene
336-280 demoUnfortunately, however, no trace of these portraits remains today. Outside, parts of a huge Apocalypse scene, of which only the upper bands remain, can be seen on the rock-face and underneath its flaking plaster other scenes are visible. On the wall of the small chapel a dragon and two mounted figures, St Oeorge and St Demetrios, are discernable and we discovered the existence of a further two layers of paintings beneath this top layer. Thus, on top of the bottom layer, where the figure of an emperor wearing a diadem is depicted is yet anotherfigure of the same kind also wearing a diadem-and on top of this, a Transfiguration scene. On the other hand, in the older parts of the monastery, there are correspondingly valuable paintings in places where the plaster has not flaked off completely, in the lower layers, but this would be the subject of a separate study.
Works of Turkish art, too, are in evidence in some of the buildings around the courtyard. For example, details such as the cupboards, nooks and fireplaces in the rooms gave the interior a positively Turkish air. The pointed arches of the fountain where the water of the sacred spring accumulates are also Turkish in character. However, possibly the most striking features are the painted designs in dark red on some of the walls, these being an imitation of the brick pointing designs encountered in 18th century Turkish buildings. There is also said to be a rockface chapel where there are a number of frescos hewn into the mountain side about one hundred metres to the north of the monastery.
Sixty six of the mainly 17th and 18th century manuscripts from the monastery library, which had been previously catalogued, are now in Ankara Museum. A further one thousand tetraevangeliums (the Four Gospels), adorned with minia- tures and dating from Byzantine times, are kept in the Ayasofya (Haghia Sophia) Museum in Istanbul. There are also 150 printed books. Of the plate and other valuables from the treasury of the church is a silver cross (stavrotek) presented by Manuel III, Prince of Trabzon, a handwritten manuscript and a large number of documents, which are now in the Museum of Byzantine Works in Athens. The icon of this monastery, known as ‘Our Lady of the Roses’, is now in the National Gallery in Dublin. The silver candlesticks presented by Sultan Selim were stolen in 1877. Another icon belonging to the monastery is in a private, collection in Oxford. In the Benaki Museum, Athens, is a silver medallion on which the Holy Trinity is depicted and another ornate medallion dated 1438, together with an altar cloth (epitaphios) dated 1438.
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