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Smiling Virgin Mary Fresco at Cappadocia Monastery Puzzles Scientists

Smiling Virgin Mary in a Monastery in Cappadocia
The smiling Virgin Mary fresco at a monastery of Cappadocia. Credit: Public Domain

Scientists are debating if a fresco depicting a smiling Virgin Mary in the Gumusler Monastery in Cappadocia, Turkey is original or the result of a restoration gone wrong.

Carved into a large rock mass in the Cappadocia region, the monastery is believed to have been constructed sometime during the Byzantine era between the 8th and 12th centuries.

The most important part of the monastery is the church in the northern part. It is thought that at least three different masters worked on all the church wall paintings.

Smiling Virgin Mary Greek Orthodox Monastery in Cappadocia, Turkey
The monastery is carved out of a large rock and is one of the best-preserved and largest of its kind in the Cappadocia region. Credit: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia

In the main section, paintings of Jesus on the throne, two angels, symbols of apostles, the Virgin Mary, the Great Basileios of Kayseri, Gregorios of Nysa and Gregorios of Nazians can be seen.

Smiling Virgin Mary fresco: Restoration gone wrong?

But the monastery is best known for the Smiling Virgin Mary fresco, known to be the only one in Anatolia.

Speaking recently to state-run Anadolu Agency, Provincial Culture and Tourism Director Basri Akdemi said: “The Mary figure looks like she is looking at you from all directions.”

Akdemir noted that the wall paintings were restored by British archaeologist and restorer Michael Gough in the 1960s.

“The figure of Virgin Mary smiling most probably was a restoration mistake, but it is known like this in Turkey and abroad,” said Gough. “This place was restored three times.”

“We don’t have any information if Mother Mary was smiling before the restoration but such restoration mistakes have been made before,” he added.

Cappadocis monastery Monastery main apse Christ enthroned
Monastery main apse Christ enthroned. Credit: Dosseman, CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikipedia

 

The Greek Orthodox Church Where People From All Faiths Make a Wish

Another Greek Orthodox church in Turkey, Panagia Vefa, is a place where people of all faiths come on the first day of each month to make a wish.

Hundreds of Istanbul residents and visitors from other places flock to the church in the Vefa neighborhood with the hope that the wish they make there will come true.

The Turks call it Ayın Biri Kilisesi, which means the “Church of the First Day of the Month,” but the church has a long history that goes back to Byzantine times.

It is actually called the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, and the original church on the site was destroyed during the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.

The church was rebuilt centuries later, and, after receiving the blessing with Holy Water, it was handed over to the Macedonian Educational Brotherhood of Istanbul.

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