Regardless of the state its interior is in, this building is still proud and grand. It is beautiful and again a testament to the ingenuity of its Georgian architects. While the walls are still standing, its floor hasn't fared so well. There were gapping holes in the floor as if huge chunks of stone has been excavated and this was used as a quarry to supply these stones for other buildings in the area. There were loose stones strewn all over and some were stacked on top of each other so that vandals can reach the frescoes higher up on the walls to deface them. The frescoes, whatever is left, while faded, are still beautiful. And there are people who would like to see them all gone and the era of a very grand and proud time in the history of this land erased from memory all together. I write with passion because I saw first hand the defacement. The local kids were playing baseball with the stones in the church, they were stacking the stone blocks to reach at the frescoes higher up on the walls.
Frescoes, fast fading but still visible and beautiful.
This looked like a stone quarry.
Dortkilise is magnificent and beautiful and intolerance is destroying it and fast. This reminds me of the gigantic Buddhas of Baniyan in Afghanistan which was blown up by the Taliban. I think of the Twin Towers of New York which was destroyed ten years ago. It reminded me of visiting a cave church in Cappadocia to see gun cartridges on the church floor left by people who tried to shoot out the eyes on the frescoes. In these economic times when the tourists money is diminishing and so many places are fighting for the same pot which is becoming smaller, no country can afford not to protect their historical heritage. There's no room for intolerance.
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