Haho monastery
| Haho monastery | ||
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 Monastery Church (2008) |
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| Data | ||
| place | Bağbaşı in the province of Erzurum ( Turkey ) | |
| Coordinates | 40 ° 30 '53.6 " N , 41 ° 26' 57.5" E | |
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Haho ( Turkish , also Hahul ) or Chachuli , Ḥaḥuli ( Georgian ხახული ), is the formerly most famous monastery of the medieval Georgian kingdom of Tao-Klardschetien, dating from the 10th century . The walled building complex with a well-preserved dome basilica is located in the province of Erzurum in northeastern Turkey .
location
From the expressway in the valley of the Tortum River , which connects Artvin with Erzurum , a road branches off to the west into a mountain valley 25 kilometers north of Tortum and seven kilometers south of the small town of Uzundere . After five kilometers the small asphalt road crosses the center of the scattered settlement Bağbaşı, recognizable by a new mosque and a tea room, after another three kilometers you reach the monastery at an altitude of 1,500 meters. The park-like monastery garden, densely populated by deciduous trees, is bordered by a rock wall in the north and is otherwise surrounded by terraced cow pastures and scattered farmsteads.
The mountain valley on the southern slope of Mescit Dağları , a mountain range with several 3200 meter high peaks, has, like the other valleys in this mountain region, fertile soils and is traversed by numerous small streams. The local villages have therefore always been relatively large and prosperous throughout history. To date, many of the villagers are of Georgian descent.
In addition to Haho, the best-preserved Georgian churches in the Öşk Vank region are in a parallel valley a few kilometers to the north, as well as Dörtkilise , İşhan and Barhal , which can be reached from the small town of Yusufeli .
history
Founded in the middle of the 8th century, Opiza was the first monastery in Tao-Klardschetien. In the 9th and 10th centuries, numerous monastery churches were built in the area that was the only small Georgian-Christian empire outside the Muslim sphere of influence before it was united with three other principalities to form the Kingdom of Georgia at the end of the 10th century .
General characteristics of Georgian churches are their relatively simple, but impressively high construction and blind arcades around the windows on the outer walls. The floor plan of the nave is combined with that of a cross- domed church , the dome of which is raised above the chancel by a windowed drum . The forerunners of this type of construction are the basilicas, which were still squat in the 6th century and are preserved in today's Georgia . Their broad structure was massively increased in the churches of the 10th century.
One of the single-nave chapels south of the basilica is said to date from the time of David I (r. 876-881), who bore the title of Kuropalates . The monastery was under the rule of David III. , David the Great (ruled 961–1000) and consecrated to Our Lady . From the 11th to the 13th centuries, the monastery was an important cultural and educational center, where many scholars pursued theological studies. In the middle of the 16th century, Tao-Klardschetien came to the Ottoman Empire . According to a manuscript from 1556, the monastery was still in operation at the time. From the 17th century, the Georgians of Tao-Klardschetiens accepted Islam. Like other Georgian churches belonging to villages, Haho was rededicated into a mosque.
Haho Monastery is famous for its triptych , an altarpiece from the early 12th century. The triptych of Khakhuli (khakhulis khati) is 147 centimeters high and 202 centimeters long including the gilded frame and the side wings. In the 12th century, the sculpture was brought to the Gelati monastery (Georgia) at the instigation of King Dimitri I. When it was looted in 1859, the icon in the middle with a picture of Mary from the 10th century disappeared . It was a cell melting icon decorated with precious inlay stones. The altarpiece with a partially reconstructed middle section is now in the State Museum of the Arts of Georgia in the state capital Tbilisi .
Design
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The almost square prayer room of the three aisled pillar basilica made of yellowish-gray sandstone blocks is covered by barrel vaults , which are supported by two pairs of pillars. The pillars are connected to each other in the central nave by belt arches , which, however, are not continued in the vaults above the particularly narrow aisles. The 25 meter high cross dome rests on the side walls of the apse in the east and on two free-standing pillars in the west. It is pulled far upwards by a circular drum and ends with a pyramid roof on the outside. The tambour is divided on the outside by semicircular blind arches over slim double columns, every second wall niche contains a high window. Inside, the dome is formed from the square base with pendentives at the corners. The central semicircular apse on the east wall measures 6.95 meters in width and 5.75 meters in depth. It has no windows and, like the entire interior, is dark, the two side apse-side rooms ( pastophoria ) are each weakly illuminated by a window slot.
This central structure of 27 meters in length was extended in the 12th or the beginning of the 13th century (in the 14th century) by a southern, originally open narthex , which has its own apse side room in the east. The overall dimensions are 34.4 × 24 meters outside, of which the prayer room in the west is 14 meters wide. The three east apses are 16.05 meters wide on the outside, they lie within the straight east wall, which is not divided by triangular niches as in Öşk Vank. More recently, the free arched areas of the southern narthex were concreted over and closed with a door, which now represents the only access to the mosque. The extension in the north and the western narthex with six domed fields, which are supported in the middle by two columns, also date from the later period. The original connection to the nave was walled up. The cross-shaped floor plan is aligned with the central dome in front of the altar.
In contrast to other Georgian churches, there are no blind arcades on the outer walls, except on the drum, but arched reveals and figurative decorative motifs were sculpted. Above the double window in the middle of the southern arm of the cross, an eagle stepping out of the wall holds a small and only flatly depicted bull in its claws (king symbol).
At the inner south portal, which was later modified by the south narthex, several scenes can be seen that were intended as a moral warning and glorification of the cross: In the tympanum , four angels carry a cross. This scene, poorly recognizable due to weathering and smoke from open fires, represents an exaltation of the cross , which has appeared in early Christian art since the 4th century and has appeared in some Georgian and Armenian churches since the 6th century. The top relief on the left side of the portal depicts the legendary ascension of Alexander the Great in a chariot pulled by two birds of prey. Underneath is a fabulous lion-footed raptor. The autocratic Alexander, who wanted to conquer heaven out of his own power, is on the other hand at the top opposite Apostle Peter , who shows the pious the way to heaven with his big key. Since the figure does not have a beard, it could also be the Virgin Mary if she symbolically guards the sky. Below Peter, Jonah is spat out of the whale's mouth into the sea. On the lower left side of the portal, a lion tears a bull (representation of royal power), a single lion (guardian animal) opposite on the right looks at the visitor. The rooster directly above is a symbol of light and day. Jonah is spat out by the whale above the rooster, a symbol of the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is the earliest portal decoration in Georgian sacred architecture.
From the first construction phase, an area with frescoes in the apse with figures of saints against a blue background has been preserved. In the center of the dome is a large gemed cross in a medallion with a bright starry sky. A dark circular disk below could represent the moon. A standing figure can be seen at the lower edge of the dome painting in the east, probably the prophet Elijah on his ascension to heaven. Such a highlighted representation of the cross is a peculiarity of Georgian churches and, together with the Elijah scene, emphasizes the importance that is attached to the resurrection of Jesus from the dead in Georgian sacred art.
The monastery complex is surrounded by an irregularly round enclosure wall, of which even larger sections up to a height of three meters have been preserved. Access is through a destroyed gate building, the arch of which is still upright.
One of the three single-nave chapels south of the main church has been completely preserved; it measures 7.3 × 4.7 meters outside. On its east gable, two deeply cut niches frame a central arched window with a blind arcade. Fan-like round arches over the niches tapering in the triangle lead inwards to half-columns. When Georgian historian Ekwtime Taqaishvili visited in 1917, a western porch was still completely intact, in 1975 at least part of it; in 1981 it disappeared and the door frame was damaged.
The rectangular chapels with a semicircular apse within the straight east wall and an entrance from the west had a gable roof, which was covered with flat clay tiles laid in cement. The basilica was once covered with the same colored glazed bricks. There they have disappeared and been replaced by corrugated iron; the layer of mortar on the roof of the northern extension is overgrown with grass. The heavily eroded outer walls of a wider chapel with side semicircular ancillary apse rooms on the slope in the north have been preserved.
literature
- Wachtang Djobadze: Early Medieval Georgian Monasteries in Historic Tao, Klardjetʿi and Šavšetʿi. (Research on art history and Christian archeology, XVII) Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 1992, pp. 142–157
- Volker Eid : East Turkey. Peoples and cultures between Taurus and Ararat . DuMont, Cologne 1990, pp. 185f, ISBN 3-7701-1455-8
- Vera and Hellmut Hell: Turkey. Northern Turkey, Eastern Turkey, Southeast Turkey. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a., 3rd ed. 1988, pp. 98f
- Edith Neubauer: Old Georgian architecture. Rock towns, churches, cave monasteries. Anton Schroll, Vienna / Munich 1976, pp. 113–115
- Thomas Alexander Sinclair: Eastern Turkey: An Architectural and Archaeological Survey. Vol. II. The Pindar Press, London 1989, pp. 10f
- David Winfield: Some Early Medieval Figure Sculpture from North-East Turkey. In: Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, Vol. 31, 1968, pp. 33-72
Web links
- The Monastery of Haho (Hahuli). choruh.com
- Search results: Haho. In: Kiel Image Database Middle East. Christian Albrechts University, Kiel (21 images)