THE CHURCH ON THE MOUNTAIN ILKA IN THE DISTRICT OF MANGUP FORTRESS (SOUTH-WEST CRIMEA). ARCHITECTURAL ANALYSIS AND BULK RECONSTRUCTION OF A MONUMENT
Mangup is the largest medieval fortress from the group of “cave cities” of the South-Western Crimea. One of the most important results of the modern stage of the study of the monument is the formation of ideas about it as a center of an extensive district, on the territory of which a group of diverse architectural and archaeological objects is now known, including six medieval temple complexes. The article is devoted to the publication of the results of excavations of one of them - a roadside chapel on mountain Ilka on the southern periphery of Mangup, which dates back to the late 14th - first half of the 15th centuries. The questions of architectural composition and bulk reconstruction of the temple are considered. The church on mountain Ilka is a one-nave one-apse chapel with rectangular naos and a horseshoe apse. The general orientation of the construction along the axis is north-west - south-east. The temple had a roof truss structure, covered with tiles. Its prominent feature is the southern entrance to the building. This compositional technique is characteristic of numerous one-nave one-apsidal churches of the 14th-15th centuries on the territory of the Southern coast of Crimea. During the excavations inside the church, an altar throne of the “throne-table” type with one support was found. This type of altar is typical for Byzantine architecture of the 10th-11th centuries, but continues to occur on monuments of a later time. The chapel on mount Ilka functioned for a short time and had only one construction period. Significant traces of repairs and rebuilding were not found during excavations. The final stage of the history of the temple is connected with total destruction due to a fire.