BINBIRKILISA (Bin bir killsâ, “A Thousand and One Churches”). — This is the name given to the ruins of an ancient Byzantine city in Lycaonia (Asia Minor), characterized by a great number of churches. The desert region in which it stands, at the foot of the Kara Dagh, was visited first by L. de Labord, and subsequently by H. Holtzmann, J. Smirnov, J. W. Crowfoot, J. A. Wilson, W. M. Ramsay, and G. L. Bell, who studied its monuments.
Originally, B. must have been a typical provincial city of the early Byzantine period, and attempts have been made to identify it with Barata. The abundance of the sacred buildings, liturgically oriented, reveals the city as an important religious center.
In fact, about fifty churches have been identified; the oldest date back to the 5th century: these are grouped in the lower city (where 28 were counted); the others stand on the nearby plateau, on which, after the Arab invasion at the end of the 7th century, the new fortified city was established. Many of the oldest churches appear to have been restored around the 9th century, when a new period of relative prosperity began. The typological features of these buildings do not differ from those of the neighboring cities (Daouleh, for example). They are constructions of dressed stone, mostly vaulted. A basilical plan with three naves, divided by piers, with a single apse and narthex, flanked by lateral rooms, is frequently adopted; the barrel vaults are often strengthened by transverse arches. The dimensions of the buildings are generally quite modest, with the exception of one basilica which “only in this respect” differs considerably from the others.
In addition to basilical structures, there are single-nave churches with a transept arranged in the form of an Egyptian cross, cruciform domed buildings, and several examples of churches with polygonal plans.
The modesty of the structural design is reflected in the decoration, with its poor and sparse ornamentation; in the monuments of B., one sometimes finds the overhanging arch, known as the horseshoe arch, and it is possible to discern Syrian and Armenian architectural influences.