Template:Did you know nominations/Vazelon Monastery

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The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by SL93 (talk) 00:02, 7 April 2021 (UTC)

Vazelon Monastery

Ruins of Vazelon Monastery in 2014
  • ... that Vazelon Monastery in Turkey's Trabzon Province was abruptly abandoned in 1923, over one thousand years after it first opened? (Source: "Though not having a certain date of foundation, Vazelon Monastery ... is thought to have been built between 270-317 ... The monastery, which continued its missions until the 20th century, was deserted in 1923." (page 261)[1])
    • ALT1: ... that frescoes in the St. Elias Chapel, part of Vazelon Monastery in the Pontus region of Turkey, may date to 1219? (Source: "It is not possible to draw further conclusions, but merely to indicate comparisons with the decoration of the interior of the chapel of St. Elias in the Vazelon monastery near Trebizond, dated to 1219, where three scenes from Christ’s childhood (Annunciation, Christmas and Presentation in the Temple) are shown on the southern wall, while on the north—two Passion scenes (Crucifixion and Harrowing of Hell), Dormition of the Virgin Mary is in the inner tympanum (western wall)." [2])
    • ALT2: ... that Ottoman troops massacred Ottoman civilians at Vazelon Monastery during World War I? (Source: "Some deportations were linked to the shifting tides of war. On January 10, 1916, the Russians launched a major offensive in eastern Anatolia. They captured Erzerum and Muş on February 16, Bitlis on March 3, and Trabzon on April 18. Each time the front receded, the regional Ottoman commander, Kamil Pasha, ordered the deportation of Greek villagers immediately behind his lines. They were ejected into midwinter temperatures around zero centigrade and sometimes froze along the road ... That spring and summer, the Turks deported the inhabitants of dozens of Trabzon vilayet villages ... Elsewhere in Trabzon vilayet, the Turks rounded up Greek women and took them to Vazelon Monastery, where they 'first violated them, and then put them to death.'" The Thirty-Year Genocide pg 389.)
    • ALT3: ... that until the 1800s, Vazelon Monastery in northern Turkey could only be accessed by a wooden ladder, which was removed at night to prevent trespassing? (Source: "Similar to the monastery of Soumela, until late 19th centuries there were a wooden ladder that was taken up at nights at the entrance [sic]." (page 262) [3])
  • Comment: This is my first DYK nomination, so I think I'm exempt from QPQ. Please tell me if I'm mistaken. Thank you!

Improved to Good Article status by Kravk (talk). Self-nominated at 21:01, 17 March 2021 (UTC).

General: Article is new enough and long enough

Policy compliance:

Hook eligibility:

  • Cited: Yes - Offline/paywalled citation accepted in good faith
  • Interesting: Yes
  • Other problems: No - ALT0 and ALT2 are unsatisfactory. For the first one, it sounds like suddenly they just decided to leave. For ALT2, it hides the fact that the monks were not killed as "Ottoman citizens" but because they were Christians.
QPQ: None required.

Overall: If I were reviewing this as a GA reviewer, I would ask about the excessively short and choppy paragraphs, which in many cases should be combined. I would also question that there is hardly any info on the Ottoman era. However, that is not part of DYK criteria. (t · c) buidhe 08:16, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

  • ALT4... that Vazelon Monastery (pictured) operated continuously from the fourth century until the Turkish government forced the last monks to leave in 1923?

Hi buidhe! Thanks for your comments. I just added inline citations for the sentence you brought up. Thanks also for alt 4 . -Kravk (talk) 17:29, 19 March 2021 (UTC)

need second reviewer for ALT4 only. (t · c) buidhe 03:17, 20 March 2021 (UTC)
AGF the offline sources used for citing ALT4. However, the article doesn't seem to explicitly say that the monastery was continuously inhabited throughout its life (indeed the article seems to alternate between "continuously funded" and other terms). In addition the hook says "fourth century", but the article includes an early estimate for a possible third-century establishment. Perhaps a less-precise term can be used here instead? Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 08:03, 3 April 2021 (UTC)
Thank you Narutolovehinata5! Maybe some combination of ALT1 and ALT4 could work, like:
  • ALT5... that the Turkish government forced the last monks of Vazelon Monastery (pictured) to leave in 1923, over one thousand years after the monastery first opened?
Okay, I guess the hook is now good to go (the thousand years fact is accepted per WP:CALC). I've renumbered it as ALT5 as there was already an ALT4. Narutolovehinata5 tccsdnew 04:26, 4 April 2021 (UTC)