“The beautiful house of the Mother of God of Blachernae” on the “holy tombs”: To the discussion about the memorial complex in Quarantine ravine in the vicinity of Chersonesos-Cherson

Late Antique Chersonese - Byzantine Cherson is an unique archaeological assemblage. On its territory and in its vicinity, have been preserved monuments, which allow us to trace the elements of the development of Christian architecture. One of the unique feature was the suburban cruciform church, which is known in literature as the monastery of the Mother of God of Blachernae. Its formation took place on the territory of the Late Antique necropolis which was mastered by Christians for the burial of martyrs who suffered for their faith in the period of persecution in the 4th century. In the second part of the 5th century in this territory was built a small memorial church. It was became the center of the formation of the sacred space, referred to in hagiographic texts as "holy tombs". In the middle - second part of the 6th century on the site of an early church was built a temple in the form of an equal cross. It had a centric structure; worship services in it had memorial features. After a short time, the temple was rebuilt: in the eastern part of the cross was formed altar space, the floor was lined with marble tiles, and the territory of the temple is covered with mosaics. A baptistery was added to the building, a farm or residential complex was built nearby, the complex is surrounded by a wall built in opus mixtum technique, in which a memorial chapel was built. The church was damaged by an earth[1]quake in the middle of the 11th century and was rebuilt, but didn’t lose its memorial functions. After the decline and desolation of Byzantine Cherson, the sacred space continued to function. The complex remained a place of attraction for the Christians of Taurica in Turkish times.

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