Rock Cut Architecture - History

History

Ancient monuments of rock-cut architecture are widespread in several regions of world. Some of the most ancient known examples are located on several Mediterranean islands e.g. Malta (Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni), Sardinia (Anghelu Ruju, built in 3,000 - 1,500 BCE) and others.

Large scale rock-cut structures were built in Ancient Egypt and among important monuments could be mentioned the Great Temple of Ramesses II, known as Abu Simbel, located along the Nile in Nubia, near the borders of Sudan about 300 kilometers from Aswan in Egypt. It dates from about 1280 BCE, and consists of a monumentally scaled facade carved out of the cliff and a set of interior chambers that form its sanctuary. In the 5th century BCE, the Lycians, who inhabited southern Anatolia (now Turkey) built hundreds of rock-cut tombs of a similar type, but smaller in scale. Excellent examples are to be found near Dalyan, a town in Muğla Province, along the sheer cliffs that faces a river. Since these served as tombs rather than as religious sites, the interiors were usually small and unassuming. The ancient Etruscans of central Italy also left an important legacy of rock-cut architecture, mostly tombs, as those near the cities of Tarquinia and Vulci.

The creation of rock-cut tombs in ancient Israel began in the 8th-century BCE and continued through the Byzantine period.

The Nabataeans in their city of Petra, now in Jordan, extended this tradition, carving their temples and tombs into the yellowish-orange rock that defines the canyons and gullies of the region. These structures, dating from 600 BCE to about 300 CE, are particularly important in the history of architecture given their experimental forms. Here too, because the structrures served as tombs, the interiors were rather perfunctory. In Petra one even finds a theater where the seats are cut out of the rock.

Rock-cut architecture occupies a particularly important place in the history of Indian Architecture.

The earliest instances of Indian rock-cut architecture, the Barabar caves date from about the 3rd to the 2nd century BCE. They were built by the Buddhist monks and consisted mostly of multi-storey buildings carved into the mountain face to contain living and sleeping quarters, kitchens, and monastic spaces. Some of these monastic caves had shrines in them of Buddha, bodhisattvas and saints. As time progressed, the interiors became more elaborate and systemitized; surfaces were often decorated with paintings, such as those at Ajanta. At the beginning of the 7th century Hindu rock-cut temples began to be constructed at Ellora. Unlike most previous examples of rock-cut architecture which consisted of a facade plus an interior, these temples were complete three-dimensional buildings created by carving away the hillside. They required several generations of planning and coordination to complete. Other major examples of rock-cut architecture in India are at Ajanta and Pataleshwar.

The technological skills associated with making these complex structures moved into China along the trade routes. The Longmen Grottoes, the Mogao Caves and the Yungang Grottoes consist of hundreds of caves many with statues of Buddha in them. Most were built between 460–525 AD. There are extensive rock-cut buildings, including houses and churches in Cappadocia, Turkey. They were built over a span of hundreds of years prior to the 5th century CE. Emphasis here was more on the interiors than the exteriors.

Another extensive site of rock-cut architecture is in Lalibela, a town in northern Ethiopia, where numerous churches, in three dimensions as at Ellora, were carved out of the rock. These structures, which date from the 12th and 13th centuries CE and which are the last significant examples of this architectural form, ranks as among the most magnificent examples of rock-cut architecture in the world, with both interior and exterior brought to fruition.