The Alacami in Kadirli: Transformations of a Sacred Monument

Abstract

Situated on the outskirts of the modern town of Kadirli is the best preserved late Roman church in eastern Cilicia. Its characteristics of design and construction are of pivotal significance for addressing the development of early Christian architecture in the region, as it represents the archetype of a definable group of churches in the upper Cilician plain, which link the building traditions of Syria with those of Anatolia and the southern shores. As it stands today, this structure known as the Alacami displays over a millennium and a half of local history, the liturgy of three different faiths and even more transitional building phases. In 1949 a full measured survey of the building was conducted by Michael and Mary Gough who in the same year were working at nearby Anazarbus. The results were never published and remained lost until 1994 when work commenced on cataloguing the Gough archive. The following study presents the full details of the Gough's survey for the first time and provides a detailed discussion of the monument in context, charting its development from the Roman period to the present day.