Bagaran

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Bagaran ( Armenian Բագարան , “place of gods”, Turkish Pakran , modern village Kilittaşı ) is a historic Armenian city ​​and fortress that was built at the end of the 3rd century BC. It was founded as a sacred place to worship ancient Armenian gods and was briefly the capital of the Bagratids in the 9th century . The field of ruins lies in the eastern Turkish province of Kars on the border with Armenia formed by the Achurjan river . The most important building in Bagaran's art history is the cathedral, dated 624–631(Theodoros Church, also Johanneskirche), a unique central building with four free-standing central pillars, the ruins of which, as well as the entire village, which still existed in the 19th century, are almost completely destroyed.

Theodoros Church, before 1923

A village on the east bank of the river in the Armenian province of Armavir was named Bagaran in 1968. Many of its inhabitants come from the Turkish side.

location

Coordinates: 40 ° 12 ′ 0 ″  N , 43 ° 39 ′ 0 ″  E

Relief Map: Turkey
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Bagaran
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Turkey

The historical place was near the confluence of the Achurjan (Akhurian, Turkish Arpaçay) , which rises in the extreme northwest of Armenia, in the Aras , which flows further in a south-easterly direction and together with the Achurjan forms the border between the two countries. Within Turkey, the macaw separates the provinces of Kars in the north and Iğdır in the south in this area . The field of ruins of historic Bagaran is located a little north above the Kurdish village of Kilittaşı on a rocky plateau that slopes steeply on all sides over the banks of the Achurjan about five kilometers northwest of the Armenian village of the same name. A path on the steep southern slope was the only access to the city.

About two to three kilometers north of the historical place was the cathedral of Mren , which, along with other churches, belonged to the surroundings of the medieval Armenian capital Ani 34 kilometers north. Kilittaşı can be reached from Highway 70 halfway between Digor and Iğdır . The access road begins 5.5 kilometers south of the junction to Karabağ, where Mren Cathedral was located. Access to both ruins is restricted. Bagaran is not identical to the place Bagavan (Bagawan, Bagaran) further south near Diyadin in the province of Ağrı , whose 46 meter long St. John's Church (631–639) was destroyed in 1916.

The Armenian village of Bagaran with 652 inhabitants at the 2001 census was called Haji Bairam until 1935 and Bakhchalar until 1968 . It is located in a wide bend in the river directly at the confluence of the Aras and Achurjan rivers at an altitude of 1200 meters. The Turkish village of Halimjan is within hearing and sight on the other side of the Achurjan. The M5 expressway connects Yerevan to the west with Etchmiadzin and Armavir . Your extension leads to the Aras and along the river up to the village of Jerwandaschat and after another four kilometers to Bagaran. From the north, Bagaran can be reached from Talin via Karakert on the M9 . Between Jerwandaschat and Bagaran, the ancient city of Jerwandaschat (Eruandaschat, Yervandashat) was built on a hilltop above the river bank. Chr. Of Orontes II. , The last ruler of the (Jerwand, Eruand Armenian) Orontids was founded and briefly served as the capital of Armenia. During the socialist era , Bagaran was in a restricted area near the border. Around 2008 the travel restrictions were lifted. Some fields near the village belong to a neutral zone on the border. Farmers who want to cultivate their fields there need a pass.

history

Bagaran was next to Armavir (near today's city of the same name) Jerwandaschat, Artaxata , Dvin and Ani one of the six medieval capitals of Armenia. The foundation of the place goes back to Orontes II. (Jerwand), who lived from 212 to 200 BC. Ruled. Since at least 400 BC BC served the Armenian dynasty of the Orontids from Iran, Armavir, as the capital. Orontiden is the romanization from the Greek, Jerwandiden (Eurandiden) from the Armenian. The name is from Avestan auruuant , Middle Persian arwand ( "powerful", "Hero") is derived. After Armavir, they ruled from Jerwandashat, from where they founded Bagaran and made it their religious center. The old Armenian place name is composed of bagin , “altar” and -aran , “place”, “place” (cf. Bagavan with suffix -awan , “place”). The figures of the gods were brought from the previously holy place Armavir to Bagaran and placed there on the altar. The historian Moses von Choren mentions the statues of Anahit (mother goddess, patron saint, related to the Zoroastrian Anahita ) and Tir (oracle god, god of wisdom and writing) in the 5th century . Orontes appointed his brother Eruaz high priest and had a holy forest (Armenian t'sendots antar, "newly born forest") laid out. Bagaran became the holy city of the Orontids under his rule. Rituals took place in the holy forest and the priests are said to have carried out divination based on the rustling of leaves.

Armavir was abandoned, among other things, because the macaw had shifted its river bed five kilometers to the south and there had been problems with the water supply. The relocation of the capital to Jerwandashat, according to Simon Payaslian, was probably due to a politically insecure situation, as several noble families fought for power. By having the temple site in Bagaran spatially separated from the ruler's seat of Jerwandashat, Orontes II wanted to prevent the pilgrims from resolving to revolt against him as a precaution. Under Orontes II, the administration was similar to the Greek model and Greek was introduced as the court language.

With Artaxias I (r. 189–161 BC) came in 189 BC. The dynasty of the Artaxiden came to power. Artaxias and Zariadris , who lived around 200 BC. In which Sophene ruled, used with the support of the Seleucid king Antiochus III. (r. 223–187) the weakness of the Orontids caused by internal quarrels. The attacking forces of Artaxias advanced from the north coast of Lake Sevan and met Orontes' units some distance from Jerwandashat, inflicting great losses. The king fled to his capital, followed by the attackers. When the city was stormed, Orontes was stabbed to death by one of the soldiers. Artaxias then turned with his troops against Bagaran, the last base of the Orontids. In Bagaran they killed Eruaz, the king's brother. For his services during the fighting, Artaxias turned the administration of Bagaran over to Smbat, one of his generals.

According to the history of Vardan Arewelcʿi in the 13th century, Artaxias took over the rule at the age of 21 and had the new capital Artaxata built downstream on the Aras (near the monastery of Chor Virap ). Prisoners from all parts of the empire were brought there and the religious cult objects from Bagaran were transferred. The Artaxid Empire extended in its heyday after the death of the Seleucid king in 187 BC. In the south and west beyond Greater Armenia . Bagaran remained an important cult center of the old Armenian- Zoroastrian gods until Christianization at the beginning of the 4th century.

The Armenian dynasty Kamsakaran goes back to a prince named Kamsar who died in 325 AD, which rose to a regional power after the fall of the Arsacids as one of their branches. King Trdat III. (reigned 298 -. 330) gave them Jerewandaschat that it the capital they control region Arscharunik declared (greater than today's province of Armavir). During the power struggle between the Byzantines and Sassanids , the Kamsarakan managed to remain largely unmolested by the two great powers because of the geographical peripheral location of their area. Nevertheless, the Kamsarakan 451 and 482-484 took part on the Byzantine side in revolts against the Sassanids. In 771–772 they rose against the Arabs in vain. After this defeat they lost their power to the Bagratids . The Kamsakaran have gone down in history as important builders. In addition to the Theodoros Church in Bagaran, they had the large cathedral and a smaller Church of Our Lady ( Surb Astvatsatsin ) built in Talin in the 7th century . According to a source, a "monastery chief of Bagaran" named Samot took part in 607 at the inauguration of the Catholicos Abraham I in Dvin .

Under the subsequent Bagratids (884-1045), Bagaran was initially the capital for a short time before Aschot's successor Smbat I (r. 890 / 892-914) moved the residence to Shirakawan when he took office and finally in 961 Ani the most important capital of the Armenian population Bagratids became. Bagaran remained a thriving trading post on the westbound route from Ani. Aschot Msaker ("Ashot the Meat Eater", ruled 809–826 / 827) had a family palace and a mausoleum built within the walled city. The city of the ancient Armenian gods was the burial place of several nobles (Nacharare) of the Bagratids, among them King Ashot I (r. 884-890). The later burial place of the Bagratids was the monastery of Horomos northeast of Ani.

In 1048 Bagaran was damaged in an attack by the Seljuks . From the middle of the 11th century, most of the Armenian territories lost their independence and came under Byzantine administration. In 1236 Bagaran, like all of Armenia, was conquered by the Mongols , and in 1394 Timur Lenk's army completely destroyed the place. Bagaran lost its importance and was probably already gone when the Ottoman conquest of the area around 1579. In 1838, a visitor found the buildings and enclosing walls badly damaged. At the beginning of the 20th century there was still a "garden and fruitful Armenian village" with about 800 inhabitants. After the end of the briefly existing Democratic Republic of Armenia , Turkish troops conquered the area during the Turkish-Armenian War at the end of 1920 and the remaining Armenians were forced to flee to the eastern side of the river.

Exploring the historic city

Until the beginning of the 20th century, historical Bagaran included the remains of the surrounding walls, a palace built by Ashot I and other residential buildings. In addition to the Theodoros Church in the south of the city, there was the Georgskirche in the north and two other churches. On the south side of the Georgskirche was a small chapel and on the west side a Gawit was built. The small St. Schuschan Church ( Surb Schuschan ), also Theodorkirche, was built in 914–918 by Prince Aschot. Their remains are on the Armenian side. The six-conch complex follows the ground plan of the large church of Aragads (Aragats, Aragac, 40 kilometers southeast of Ani on the Achurjan river) from the beginning of the 7th century. The burial place of the Bagratids was next to the Theodoros Church. Until its destruction around 1920, the walls of the first floor were largely intact, the upper floor was partially preserved and the dome was missing.

Since the end of the First World War, Bagaran could no longer be visited when the area was conquered by Turkish troops. The knowledge of Theodoros Church, which is often used for style comparisons, comes from descriptions and photographs from the end of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century. The Georgian-Russian linguist Nikolai Marr undertook archaeological excavations in Ani and the surrounding areas from 1892 to 1893 and between 1904 and 1917. He translated and commented on numerous building inscriptions. His student Joseph Orbeli published two essays on the Bagaran inscriptions in 1913 and 1917. The architectural-historical classifications that Josef Strzygowski published in 1918 are based on. According to his diary, he made a short visit to Bagaran on October 1, 1913 during his three-week tour of Armenia.

According to Orbelis, the longest inscription in Erkat'agir ( old Armenian "iron writing " from Erkat , "iron" and gir , "writing") led around the outside of the entire church building. It began on the north side of the west conche and ran counterclockwise in a line along the top row of walls to the north conche. It is unclear why the writing was on two lines on some wall areas. The content of the first part of the book seems to be chronological. The client is named But Arueghean and his wife Annay, who continued his work after her husband was murdered. The second undated part could have been added later on Anna's instruction, who possibly asked for God's protection for herself and her descendants through the lines below.

According to the common doctrine based on the interpretation of this inscription, the Theodoros Church was built between 624 and 631. The Georgian art historian Georgi Chubinashvili was a vehement critic of Strzygowski's early dating of the Armenian churches and referred to Orbeli's view that the first inscription could have been added much later than the 7th century.

Theodoros Church

The oldest surviving Armenian central buildings are systems with four conches that extend from a square structure in the four cardinal directions. This is covered by a dome with an interposed drum . The central dome became a characteristic feature of Armenian (like Georgian) architecture, with several early Christian basilicas also being statically converted to support a dome during a reconstruction in early Christian times. For this it was necessary to strengthen two pillars in each row of pillars of a three-aisled basilica in order to form a square formed by belt arches above this crossing as a support for the drum and dome. Such a development possibly went through the Tekor basilica , whose existing basilic nave could have received one of the oldest Armenian stone domes in the 480s. According to another opinion, the Tekor basilica was planned as a domed structure from the start. A domed basilica that was clearly the result of a renovation at the beginning of the 7th century was Dvin's second cathedral. Derived from this, the cathedral of Talin, planned from the beginning as a domed basilica, was built in the second half of the 7th century . A variant of this are the domed halls of Ptghni and Arutsch and the main church of the Marmaschen monastery . Instead of the four pillars, wall templates carry the weight of the dome.

Opposite the domed basilicas, central buildings with four free-standing central pillars, including the Theodoros Church (cathedral) of Bagaran, are rare. Two more widespread types of central buildings are: cross-domed churches without central pillars, in which the tambour was supported by the four inner wall corners, such as the Kamrawor Church in Ashtarak and Lmbatavank , and square buildings with a dome resting on the middle of the wall like the St. John's Church in Mastara . All are from the 7th century.

The starting point for the Theodoros Church is the Etchmiadzin Cathedral, built around 485 (Etschmiadzin II). In Etchmiadzin, four conches protruding from the middle of the wall of the square, central building take over the lateral thrust from the dome resting on four pillars. Such a construction was repeated only once at the Bagaran Church. To this end, in the 7th century, which is known as the golden age of Armenian architecture, experiments were carried out with a multitude of previously unknown forms, which apart from the division in questions of faith can also be understood architecturally as a separation from the Byzantine church. Probably the most important central building from this period was the Zvartnots Cathedral , the four central pillars of which were connected to one another by semicircular pillars for stabilization and thus formed a quadruple in the basic plan . However, this arrangement was not sufficient to absorb the thrust of the immense dome, so that the core structure was expanded by an outer circular gallery. In contrast to Bagaran, Zvartnots was imitated several times - up to the round church of Bana in the 10th century.

While Etschmiadzin anticipates Bagaran in the ground plan, but is single-storey apart from the attached drum, the three-storey building of Zvartnoz, which rises steeply in recesses, corresponds to the likewise high three-storey Theodoros Church. The ground floor of the Theodoros Church had a square footprint of around 14 × 14 meters from which four equally large cones protruded, circular on the inside and polygonal on the outside. A hemispherical ceiling closed the conches. The two entrances were in the south and west cones. On the east wall, on both sides of the altar apse, there were side rooms with horseshoe-shaped apses, which were entered from the main room. Above it sat a cross-shaped upper floor, above which the drum and the pyramidal roof of the dome rose set back in the middle. The external height without the drum was a little over 15 meters. The connection between the central dome square and the square of the outer walls was made by barrel vaults . In this three-tier height structure, the Theodoros Church was the model for the Zvartnots Cathedral, built a few years later.

The Theodoros Church in Bagaran plays an essential role in Strzygowski's theory of the development of the Armenian central dome structure. In his opinion, these central structures were supplemented by four free-standing pillars under the dome as early as the early 4th century in Armenia and Iran - as can be seen in Bagaran - from which more and more complicated "strut niche structures" with additional corner rooms would have developed later . According to this, the “ Mastara type” was followed by buildings of the more complex “ Awan - Hripsime type” with additional corner rooms. In fact, no chronological sequence can be identified in these 7th century churches, which is why a parallel development is assumed today. In addition, nothing is known about Armenian central buildings from the 4th century. Strzygowski's assumption was wrong in terms of church history because he dated the development of this type of Christian sacred building in Armenia earlier than the elevation of Christianity to the state religion in the Roman Empire in 313.

At the beginning of the development of the central domed churches in the Christian East, there were probably Central Asian and Iranian domed buildings, which were expanded to include apses and primarily served as mausoleums or memorial sites in the same function as the pagan models. In Iran, this question came into focus on the Tschahar Taq ( čahār-ṭāq , "four arches"), built in the Sassanian and Arab times : square rooms vaulted by a high dome, which at least partly served as a fire temple . Zoroastrian fire temples were also built in Armenia during the Sassanid rule, only the domed and at the same time enclosed by walls fire temples, as Strzygowski imagined idealized, to have been the exception.

According to Armenian tradition, the dome-vaulted center of the churches, which stretches upwards, is based on a vision of St. Gregory , who came from Cappadocia at the beginning of the 4th century and introduced Christianity to Armenia.

literature

  • Burchard Brentjes , Stepan Mnazakanjan, Nona Stepanjan: Art of the Middle Ages in Armenia. Union Verlag (VOB), Berlin 1981
  • Christina Maranci: Medieval Armenian Architecture. Construction of Race and Nation . (Hebrew University Armenian Studies 2) Peeters, Leuven u. a. 2001, ISBN 978-9042909397
  • Simon Payaslian: The History of Armenia. From the origins to the present . Palgrave Macmillan, New York 2007, ISBN 978-1403974679
  • Annegret Plontke-Lüning: Early Christian architecture in the Caucasus. The development of Christian sacred buildings in Lazika, Iberia, Armenia, Albania and the border regions from the 4th to the 7th century (Austrian Academy of Sciences, Philosophical-Historical Class, Volume 359. Publications on Byzantium Research, Volume 13) Verlag der Österreichische Academy of Sciences, Vienna 2007, enclosed CD-ROM: Catalog of preserved church buildings, pp. 76–78, ISBN 978-3700136828
  • Josef Strzygowski : The architecture of the Armenians and Europe. Volume 1. Kunstverlag Anton Schroll, Vienna 1918, pp. 95–98, 277f. ( online at Internet Archive )
  • Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art. Herder, Freiburg / B. 1988, ISBN 3-451-21141-6

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Thomas Alexander Sinclair: Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey. Volume I. The Pindar Press, London 1987, ISBN 978-0907132325 , pp. 422f.
  2. ^ Armenia / Mren / Karabag. Kiel image database Middle East, Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, 2004.
  3. Jean-Michel Thierry, p. 74.
  4. ^ RA 2001 Population and Housing Census Results. armstat.am, p. 63.
  5. Eruandašat . Encyclopædia Iranica.
  6. Tatul Hakobyan: After years of isolation, the ancient capitals of Yervandashat and Bagaran are now open to visitors. ( Memento of December 22, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) The Armenian Reporter, April 11, 2009, p. 16.
  7. Arevik Badalyan: People in Bagaran village are used to living next to border keepers and Turkey. August 15, 2010.
  8. Nina G. Garsoïan: Armeno-Iranian relations in the pre-Islamic period. Encyclopædia Iranica.
  9. ^ Heinrich Gelzer , August Burckhard (transl.): Des Stephanos of Taron Armenian history . (Scriptores sacri et profani) BG Teubner, Leipzig 1907, p. 33 ( online at Internet Archive ).
  10. K. Ishkol-Kerovpian: Mythology of the pre-Christian Armenians. In: Hans Wilhelm Haussig , Carsten Colpe (ed.): Gods and myths of the Caucasian and Iranian peoples (= dictionary of mythology . Department 1: The ancient civilized peoples. Volume 4). Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart 1986, ISBN 3-12-909840-2 , p. 139.
  11. Simon Payaslian, p. 12f.
  12. ^ Robert W. Thomson: The Historical Compilation of Vardan Arewelcʿi. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 43, 1989, pp. 125-226, here p. 160.
  13. Kamsarakan . Encyclopædia Iranica.
  14. ^ Josef Strzygowski, p. 277.
  15. Vahan M. Kurkjian: A History of Armenia . (Armenian General Benevolent Union of America, New York 1958) New edition: Indo-European Publishing, Los Angeles 2014, ISBN 978-1-60444-771-2 , p. 153.
  16. Bagratids. Encyclopædia Iranica.
  17. ^ Thomas Alexander Sinclair: Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey. Volume I. The Pindar Press, London 1987, p. 423.
  18. Josef Strzygowski, p. 278.
  19. ^ Armenian church of Surb Shushan at Bagaran survived from turkish bullets. ( Memento of February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) panoramio.com (photo).
  20. Jean-Michel Thierry, pp. 75, 175.
  21. Josef Strzygowski, p. 28 fig. 27.
  22. ^ Joseph Orbeli: The Bagaran inscription from the year 639 and other Armenian donor inscriptions of the 7th century (Russian). St. Petersburg 1913 and The Church of Bagaran and its inscriptions (Russian). Petrograd 1917.
  23. ^ Ulrich Bock: Armenian architecture. History and problems of their research . (25. Publication of the architecture department of the Art History Institute of the University of Cologne) Cologne 1983, p. 133, note 539 on p. 260.
  24. Christina Maranci, p. 81.
  25. ^ Timothy Greenwood: A Corpus of Early Medieval Armenian Inscriptions. In: Dumbarton Oaks Papers 58, 2004, pp. 27-91, here pp. 30f.
  26. Georg Tschubinaschwili: Christian art in the Caucasus and its relationship to general art history (A critical appraisal of Josef Strzygowski's "The Architecture of the Armenians and Europe"). In: G. Biermann (ed.): Monthly books for art history. Klinkhart & Biermann, Leipzig 1922, p. 218.
  27. Stepan Mnazakanjan: Architecture . In: Burchard Brentjes u. a., p. 61
  28. ^ Patrick Donabédian: Documentation of the art places . In: Jean-Michel Thierry, p. 589.
  29. Armen Zarian: In the Sign of the Cross. Armenian architecture. In: Armenia. Rediscovery of an old cultural landscape. (Exhibition catalog) Museum Bochum 1995, p. 121.
  30. Jean-Michel Thierry, p. 73.
  31. Stepan Mnazakanjan: Architecture . In: Burchard Brentjes u. a., p. 66f.
  32. Annegret Plontke-Lüning, p. 310.
  33. Christina Maranci, pp. 97f., 100.
  34. ^ Dietrich Huff: Ancient Iranian Architecture: Chartaq. The Circle of Ancient Iranian Studies.
  35. Ernst Diez : On the criticism of Strzygowski. In: Kunst des Orients, Vol. 4, May 1963, pp. 98-109, here p. 105.