OMUR BAKIRER
THE STORY OF THREE GRAFFITI
This story begins with the discovery of a graffito at der Armenian rule during the Middle Ages and was Divrigi, in the province of Sivas in central Anatolia, conquered by the Seljuqs in 1064. It changed hands in the early 1970's. A second one, again at Divrigi, several times before its decline following the Mon- turned up in 1994; and a third turned up in 1996 at gol invasion in 1239. The graffito is incised on the Ani in the province of Kars in the mountanous north- wall of a recently excavated dwelling assigned to the eastern region of Anatolia. The first two (hereafter Seljuq period;2 the graffito is probably from Seljuq referred as graffito A and graffito B) were found in times as well. the Great Mosque at Divrigi. The Great Mosque is The two different locations from which these three actually a mosque-hospital complex, dated ca. 626 graffiti were recovered are not only geographically (1228-29) in its foundation inscription, and it has disconnected from each other but also have very dif- long attracted the attention and interest of scholars. 1 ferent historical, political, and cultural backgrounds. Their findings, when brought together, disclose a Yet the graffiti show that they do have the use of a variety of problems pertaining to the history and ar- similar geometric language in common. This makes chitecture of the building. Although the present study it possible to assume that the two towns shared the will provide some new evidence to add to that his- introduction of some previously unknown aspect of tory, it will not help solve any of the architectural thirteenth-century architecture and can perhaps yield problems, mainly resulting from structural failure, some hints about the working methods of medieval which are still in need of careful and detailed stud- Anatolian architects, masons, and artists. ies. The third graffito (hereafter referred to as graf- fito C) is in Ani, a small town which flourished un- LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION Graffito A (figs. 1-2) from Divrigi was discovered by the late Yllmaz Onge during the restorations under- taken by the Department of Pious Foundations. 3 Unfortunately, owing to careless cleaning and scrap- ing of the stone surfaces, the graffito was subsequently lost during the same restoration. 4 The only evidence that remains of its existence is a black-and-white pho- tograph taken at the time of its discovery and used in a publication on Divrigi (fig. 2)5 and a number of my own publications in the late 197 0's and early 1980's.6 I was told that the particular cut-stone block on which the graffito was incised was on the east wing of the north facade, east of the north portal.7 How- ever, the photograph taken at the time of its discov-
0 5 10 ~0c~ ery does not show for certain which particular block Fig. 1. Graffito A: incised on a stone block, Divriki Great of stone it was incised on, and, as a result, I am not Mosque. Exterior. North faCade. Reconstruction drawing able to determine the exact dimensions of either the after Fig. 2 (scale 1:5). stone block or the incised composition that filled its
I THE STORY OF THREE GRAFFITI 43
Fig. 2. Graffito A. incised on a stone block. Divrigi Great Mosque. Exterior. North facade. Photograph taken in the early 1970's prior to its destruction. center. I can propose only a hypothetical reconstruc- mated to measure about 40 cm in height and about tion of the dimensions, by combining the photograph 50 cm in width, because in the photograph it resem- itself with information taken from the photogram- bles a square more than a rectangle. These measure- metric drawing of the north facade, which was part ments were assigned to the block when a drawing of the photogrammetric survey project carried out was made after the photograph and the diameters of in 1986 (fig. 3). 8 the interlocked circles that are incised on the sur- From the photogrammetric drawing it is possible face of the stone were calculated in accordance with to determine that the north wall is composed of cut- these dimensions (fig. 1). stone blocks around 40 cm high, though occasional- The incised design of grafitto A is a closed and ly increasing to 45 or 50 cm, either in a whole row of centralized geometric construction, composed of a cut stones or just a single block (in the latter case central circle and three concentric rings of six com- destroying the uniformity of the row on the wall sur- plete circles, which create a total of nineteen inter- face [fig. 31). In contrast to the almost standard height locked circles with similar diameters and eighteen arcs of the stone blocks, their widths vary considerably, to complete the petal-like composition of the outer ranging between 40 and 100 cm, usually with a dif- rings. This weblike net of interlocked circles is in- ference of from 20 to 30 cm between adjoining blocks. scribed in two closely set concentric circles (fig. 1). In reconstructing the cut-stone block based on data By this system of interlocking, the circumference of furnished by the photogrammetric drawing, which each circle is divided into six equal parts thus gener- gives accurate sizes for the blocks, the block was esti- ating the six-pointed petal. If the stone block mea-