Gawit
Gawit , also Gavit ( Armenian Գավիթ ), describes a mostly square vestibule in medieval Armenian architecture that is attached to monastery churches in the west. The first typical Gawit with a ceiling divided into nine fields belonged to the main church of the Horomos monastery and was dated 1038. Found only in Armenia, Gawit is in some cases larger than the actual church and was used for general meetings of the community, for educational purposes, court hearings and as a burial place. The generally synonymous term Shamatun (English transcription Zhamatun ) for this type of building is sometimes blurred and differentiated according to the function. It can only refer to the profane function of the room or specifically to the place of burial.
Development of the design
The Armenian church architecture developed parallel to the Georgian from the 4th century. First, single -aisled hall churches were built , which were widened to three-aisled basilicas in the 5th century and at the same time the first central buildings with initially cruciform floor plans, which were varied on the basis of a tetraconchus and expanded with side rooms. As in the small cross- domed church of Lmbat (7th century), the inner wall corners initially bear the central dome . In another construction, the earliest representative of which may be the construction of the Etchmiadzin Cathedral at the beginning of the 7th century, the dome rests on four free-standing pillars, with the shear forces being diverted to the outer walls by belt arches . Etchmiadzin Cathedral represents a general change in Armenian church construction. The basilical structures gradually recede into the background, while cruciform central buildings are supplemented by corner rooms that lie within a casing. The today destroyed Theodoros Church of Bagaran (Turkish west bank of the Achurjan ) from 624–631 represented an exemplary composition, the four free pillars of which stood in a square room with polygonal apses on each side.
The further development of the two-story church of Bagaran, which strives strongly upwards, culminated with the round cathedral of Zvartnots (642-662), whose shape was later repeated in the Georgian round church of Bana (around 900). While round churches or nearly round polygonal churches are common in Armenia, they have remained extremely rare in Georgia. The Byzantine type of cross-domed church and the three -church basilica, which are widespread in Georgia, are unknown in Armenia. In Georgia, however, the dome structure and the gawit that resulted from the connection between the nave and the central dome square are missing.
With a partial autonomy of the Armenian principalities after the end of the Abbasid rule, Armenian architecture began to flourish again in the 9th century, which lasted until the middle of the 11th century. At that time, with the development of monasticism, a type of building arose that only occurs in Armenian monasteries. The rectangular assembly room of the monks, which was built as a kind of narthex in front of the west entrance of the church, was initially covered with a barrel vault and probably had its origin in the Sjunik region , where such a simple anteroom was preserved in front of the St. Stephen's Church of the Vorotnavank monastery, which was consecrated in the year 1000 .
This resulted in the Gawit as a square or almost square central building with four free-standing pillars in the middle. One of the oldest Gawite from the year 996 is located in the monastery Gndevank (Province Vayots Dzor Province ). An outstanding and the first characteristic example of this type of building from 1038 belongs to the main church of St. John in Horomos (today a ruin site on the eastern border of Turkey). The four columns of the Gawits von Horomos carry a tent roof, which consists of eight monolithic stone slabs, at the top of which an opening ( jerdik ) allows light to enter . The columns are connected to each other and to the outer walls in every direction by heavy round arches that divide the space into nine segments. The eight outer fields are flatly covered with panels containing rosettes and reliefs with other ornaments. The entire room composition creates a connection with the palace architecture.
In the 13th and 14th centuries, gawites based on this model became popular throughout Armenia. They often combined the free-standing monastery structures to form a uniform architectural ensemble. In contrast to the pre-Arab period, not only did the Katholokoi appear as founders of churches and monasteries on the occasion of their appointment, kings and princes also wanted to increase their prestige through generous foundations and thus contributed to the growing number of religious buildings. Gawites were added to existing churches during this time, and they were incorporated into the architecture of new churches. In some churches their dimensions exceed the main building. In the case of the Barjrakash monastery (early 13th century, in the valley of the Debed River near the Georgian town of Marneuli ), the church bordering the Gawit shrank to a small apse.
The middle ceiling field is usually vaulted or otherwise raised by a dome without a drum . The transition from the base square to the domed circle is achieved with pendants or with trumpets or other vaulted gussets, initially via an octagon, sometimes also via an intermediate step with 12 or 16 sides. Instead of the dome, a groin vault, a pyramid or a small tower structure can form the upper end. In many cases there is a square or circular light opening ( jerdik ). The central opening in the ceiling refers to the old Armenian house type glkhatun ("head house"), which was built in the 5th century BC. Already described by the Greek historian Xenophon and which was built until the 19th century. The roof of this square type of house consisted of wooden beams placed diagonally over the corners of the room, which tapered upwards to form a cantilever vault ( hazarashen ), which was covered with earth on the outside and became an artificial round hill. Since the 14th century, ceiling constructions without free-standing pillars have also been possible. In this case, two massive pilasters on each side of the wall support wide arches spanning the entire room, which intersect and also form nine spatial fields.
The nine-field basic plan has a parallel with the mosques built in the Abbasid period. The Gawite in the 13th century, in contrast to the church buildings that followed more strictly the building tradition, allowed a more innovative design and a stronger adoption of neighboring formal languages. In the 13th century gavit of Astvatsankal in the province of Aragazotn (ruin destroyed in the 1988 earthquake and later improperly partially restored) the vaulted gussets of Muqarnas were covered according to the Seljuk model. The adoption of muqarnas from the Islamic building tradition can also be found at the contemporary Hagia Sophia in Trebizond and occasionally elsewhere in Armenian architecture.
Classification
The Gawite is divided up according to the ceiling construction using pillars or the last-mentioned rib construction. In his classification, Jean-Michel Thierry first names the most common type A1 , which follows the model of Horomos: from the square of the four free-standing columns, arches lead to wall pillars. Of the nine ceiling segments, the four in the axis cross are closed by barrel vaults and the corner fields by flat domes or flat ceilings. From the entrance in the west wall, the path leads east into the church. Some gawites of this type have attached chapels at the corners or an upper floor. Examples are the Sanahin monastery with a Gawit from 1181, Goshavank in the province of Tavush (1197), Makaravank in the same province (1207), Saghmosavank (shortly after 1215) in the province of Aragazotn , Harichavank in the province of Shirak in the northwest (1225) and Howhannavank northwest of Yerevan (1250). The type A1 still occurs from the 16th to the 18th century, but in the Vaspurakan region (in today's eastern Turkey) almost all of the relief decoration is missing. Gawite during this time were built in the Apostle Monastery at Muş (1555), in Varagavank (1648), Lim (1766, today the island of Adır Adası in Lake Van) and Narek (1787, Ararat province ).
The rare type A2 has only two free-standing pillars, from which the belt arches lead to the outer walls. The dome is arranged asymmetrically here. An example is the Gawit of Hayrawank Monastery on the west bank of Lake Sevan from the 12th century, which was added to a church from the end of the 9th century. The two pillars are later found in Putkuvank (1601, Haneputki, Eastern Turkey).
The widespread rib arch ceiling is type B1 . These include the monastery Khorakert northwest of Sanahin with a Gawit of 1252, Arakelozwank in the extreme northeast (13th century) and Deljnutivank (13th century). In a special form in the Horomayri monastery ( Lori province , 13th century) and in the Church of the Apostles in Ani (probably early 11th century), the ribs run diagonally in the room. At the Apostle Church, a small Gawit was attached to a church, the basic shape of which represented the transition from a Tetrakonchos to a cross-domed church. In Arates (Province Vayots Dzor Province ) the ceiling had as a special intercostal.
Type C is a reduced, asymmetrical shape with only two free-standing pillars near the west wall. It occurs in the monasteries of Haghpat in the north (early 13th century), Mshkavank ( Tavush province) and Ganyazar (in the east, 13th century).
For Type D include Gawite that neither central pillar, nor a rib construction, but a groin vault own. Such a Gawit from the year 1261 can be found in Noravank in the valley of the Amaghu and in the monastery Calackar with the church of St. Karapet dated 1014. A flat dome (dome) vaults the gawit of Hogeacvank .
Long rectangular buildings are a type E summarized. These include single-nave halls ( type E1 ), which existed in the southern province of Sjunik at an early stage , two-aisled ( type E2 ) and three-aisled rooms ( type E3 ) as in Sanahin from 1211. Type E4 denotes an open gallery with wide arcades the west portal, which occurs similarly in Georgian architecture. Examples are the 12th century Kobayr Monastery in Lori Province and the Sedvivank Monastery; in the 17th century: Mughni (province of Aragatsotn Province), Zoravar (province of Kotayk ), Shativank (Province Vayots Dzor Province ) Are (a village in Rayon Ordubad in the west of Azerbaijan) and Paraga (in Nakhchivan ).
function
After the end of the Seljuk raids in the 11th century, the Georgian King Dawit the Builder conquered northern Armenia at the beginning of the 12th century and the country received a share in Georgia's economic prosperity. Until the 14th century, the monasteries played an important role in the development of architecture and enlarged their lands because the feudal lords gave them their property. The now built Gawite became the burial places of these princely families. According to Armenian church law, they were not allowed to be buried in the church itself.
Its function as a place of jurisdiction and the promulgation of laws is evidenced in the Gawit of the destroyed Apostle Church of Ani by inscriptions on the walls. The western work of a European church had a somewhat similar task . Gavite also served as a classroom and library for the convent . This is indicated by numerous niches in the walls in which books were placed.
With their architecture based on the palace buildings, Gawite contributed to creating a coherent building complex that blends harmoniously into the landscape.
literature
- Ulrich Bock: Georgia and Armenia. Two Christian cultural landscapes in the south of the Soviet Union . DuMont, Cologne 1988, p. 247f
- Stepan Mnazakanjan: Architecture. In: Burchard Brentjes, Stepan Mnazakanjan, Nona Stepanjan: Art of the Middle Ages in Armenia. Union Verlag (VOB), Berlin 1981, pp. 78f, 85f
- Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art . Herder, Freiburg 1988, pp. 209f, 323
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stepan Mnazakanjan, p. 67
- ↑ Ulrich Bock, p. 247
- ↑ Jean-Michel Thierry, pp. 128f
- ↑ The Monastery of Horomos. VirtualAni
- Jump up ↑ Armen Kazaryan (Ghazarian): The Zhamatun of Horomos: The Shaping of an Unprecedented Type of Fore-church Hall. In: Transcultural Perspectives. Art texts, e-journal for art and picture history, No. 3, 2014, pp. 1–14
- ↑ Stepan Mnazakanjan, p. 79
- ↑ Jean-Michel Thierry, p. 129
- ↑ Károly Gombos: The architecture of Armenia. Corvina Verlag, Budapest 1972, p. 48f
- ↑ Harutyun Marutyan: Home as the World . In: Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy (Eds.): Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity. Indiana University Press, Bloomington 2001, pp. 80, 82. The real stone dome, however, does not go back to the Armenian houses, as it represents a completely different roof construction.
- ↑ Ulrich Bock, p. 284
- ^ Armen Ghazarian, Robert Ousterhout: A Muqarnas Drawing from Thirteenth-Century Armenia and the Use of Architectural Drawings during the Middle Ages. In: Muqarnas , Vol. 18, 2001, pp. 141–154, here p. 146
- ↑ Jean-Michel Thierry, pp. 209f, 323
- ↑ Ulrich Bock, p. 248
