Gandzasar monastery

Gandzasar
Գանձասար
Shown within Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Basic information
Location near the village of Vank, Martakert province,
Nagorno-Karabakh Republic
Geographic coordinates
Affiliation Armenian Apostolic Church
Year consecrated July 20, 1240
Ecclesiastical or organizational status Functioning
Website www.gandzasar.com
Architectural description
Architectural type Monastery, Church
Architectural style Armenian
Completed 1238
Specifications

Gandzasar monastery (Armenian: Գանձասարի վանք) is a 10-13th century Armenian monastery situated in the Mardakert district of de-facto Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. [1] "Gandzasar" means treasure mountain or hilltop treasure in Armenian.[2] The monastery holds relics believed to belong to St. John the Baptist and St Zechariah, father of John the Baptist.[3] Gandzasar was the residence of the catholicoi of the Catholicosate of Aghvank[4] of the Armenian Apostolic Church from about 1400 until 1816,[5] and is now the seat of the Archbishop of Artsakh.

Contents

History and architecture

The monastery at Gandzasar is known since the 10th century.[6][7] The construction of Gandzasar's Cathedral of St. John the Baptist began in 1216, under the patronage of the Armenian prince of Khachen, Hasan-Jalal Dawla, and it was completed in 1238 and consecrated on July 22, 1240.

The complex is protected by high walls. Within the complex is the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist (Սուրբ Յովհաննու Մկրտիչ եկեղեցի in Armenian), built between 1216 and 1238.[8] The drum of its dome has exquisite bas-reliefs that depict the Crucifixion, Adam and Eve, and two ministers holding a model of the church above their heads as an offering to God. The bas-reliefs have been compared to the elaborate carvings of Aghtamar,[9] and some art historians consider the monastery to represent one of the masterpieces of Armenian architecture. Anatoly L. Yakobson, a prominent Soviet medieval art historian, described Gandzasar as a "pearl of architectural art....This is a unique monument of medieval architecture and monumental sculpture, which by right ought to be regarded as an encyclopedia of 13th-century Armenian art."[10]

Gandzasar's cathedral church shares many architectural forms with the main churches of two other Armenian monasteries also built in the mid-13th century: Hovhannavank Monastery and Harichavank Monastery.[11][12]

Gallery

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Although during the USSR period the territory of Vank region was judicially part of NKAO ( Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Region ) Azerbaijani government abolished NKAO on November 26 of 1991 and split the district's territory between the neighboring rayons of Khojavend, Tartar, Goranboy (Shahumyan), Shushi and Kelbajar (although the Soviet constitution did not allow Azerbaijan any change of the border of autonomous Karabakh without the consent of the Armenian leaders of NKAO).
  2. ^ Thus, the name divided into syllables, Գանձ+ա+սար, is translated as գանձ = treasure; սար = mountain or hilltop, with the letter "-ա-" (-a-), forming an agglutinative compound.
  3. ^ Kirakos Gandzaketsi. “Kirakos Gandzaketsi’s history of the Armenians,” Sources of the Armenian Tradition. New York, 1986, p. 67
  4. ^ Movses Kalankatuatsi. History of the Land of Aluank, translated from Old Armenian by Sh. V. Smbatian. Yerevan: Matenadaran (Institute of Ancient Manuscripts), 1984, p. 33, 46, 89-93
  5. ^ Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press. p. 159. ISBN 0-226-33228-4. 
  6. ^ Anania Mokatsi. On the Rebellion of the House of Aghvank. Yerevan, Luis, 1956, p. 14
  7. ^ Chorbajian, Levon; Donabedian Patrick; Mutafian, Claude. The Caucasian Knot: The History and Geo-Politics of Nagorno-Karabagh. NJ: Zed Books, 1994
  8. ^ Khatcherian, Hrair (1997). Artsakh: A Photographic Journey. Eastern Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, p. 13.
  9. ^ See Comneno, Lala M., Cuneo, P, and Manukian, S. Volume 19: Gharabagh. Documents of Armenian Art - Documenti di Architettura Armena Series. Polytechnique and the Armenian Academy of Sciences, Milan, OEMME Edizioni, 1980, Introduction
  10. ^ Hakobyan, Hravard H (1990). The Medieval Art of Artsakh. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Parberakan. p. 76. ISBN 5-8079-0195-9. 
  11. ^ Thierry, Jean-Michel and Patrick Donabedian. Les Arts Arméniens. Paris, 1987.
  12. ^ Thierry, Jean. Eglises et Couvents du Karabagh. Antelais, Lebanon, 1991, pp. 161-165

Further reading

External links