Cembalo Fortress Churches, 14th-15th Centuries

The Genoese fortress Cembalo (1345–1475) located on Kastron mountain had a complex urban and fortification horizontal stratigraphy. Latin Quarter had formed in the western part of the city by the 1380s–1390s. St. Nicholas castle towered over the Quarter. The buildings of the Latin Quarter included a church (“temple No. 1”), a priori referred to by researchers (1999–2003) as “the temple of St. Nicholas”. However, the western cape of the seaside Kastron mountain is named after St. George. This may be a reason to assume that the temple was dedicated to St. George – the patron of the city of Genoa. The Hermitage expedition examined four church buildings of the 14th–15th centuries (temples No. 2–5). All the temples have common features and functions. Their structures are made of rubble and lime mortar. Nummulite limestone spolias were used in the masonry of the corners, door and window openings. Temple No. 5 features building material in the form of not only architectural details, but also fragments of gravestones and dedicatory inscriptions from an Armenian temple of the 14th-17th centuries. None of the 14th–15th century temples showed traces of overlapping with the use of Byzantine roofing tiles – ceramides and calipters. Tiled covering (“tatarka”) was only used at the end of the 18th century during the restoration of temples No. 1 and No. 5. Orthodox temples (No. 2–5) were erected using the Byzantine foot units equal to 0.318 m. The temple complexes were used for one and a half to two centuries as city quarter chapels. On average, at least 75 buried people were found at the necropolises at each of the churches. In situ traces of polychromatic murals were found in only one temple (No. 1).