Saint Thaddäus Monastery
The Monastery of St. Thaddäus ( Armenian Սուրբ Թադէոսի վանք Surb Tadeosi vank ' ) is a former Armenian monastery in the province ( Ostan ) western Azerbaijan of Iran , 20 km south of Maku near Tschaldiran . It is popularly known as the "Black Church" ( Azerbaijani and Persian قره كليسا Qarah Kelīsā ) known. The area once belonged to old Greater Armenia .
Armenian Christians are convinced that the monastery and church were founded in 66 by Jude Thaddäus as the first church in the world. He was martyred and buried in his own church.
An earthquake in 1319 almost completely destroyed the monastery. The buildings were rebuilt between 1319 and 1329. From this phase the altar and main room as well as the baptistery are preserved in the eastern part of the church . The period during this construction and renovation phase gave the church its name, because dark stone was used. In 1490 the church was renovated again. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Qajar Abbas Mirza had the monastery renovated again. The older building blocks of the monastery are black and white, while the new ones are made of yellowish sandstone. The church is surrounded by high walls. The living and supply rooms were built along the wall. A farm yard, several kitchens, a mill and an oil press are available.
Like many Armenian churches, the Qara Kelisa also has bas-reliefs with which the outer walls are decorated. They represent various saints. A lively frieze with vines and animals on the newer building is particularly striking. Various ruins of houses inside the fortification wall, which adjoins the western wall, bear witness to monastic life in the past.
The grave of St. Thaddäus is to the right of the altar in a niche in the Thaddäus Church. A hermit is said to have found his bones and brought them to the church. Once a year, on the day of St. Thaddäus, there is a mass in connection with a great pilgrimage, which is attended by Armenians from all parts of Iran, but also from all over the world.
The monastery has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Armenian Monasteries in Iran since 2008, together with the Saint Stephanos Monastery and the Chapel of Dzordsor .
literature
- Armen Haghnazarian: The Armenian Thaddaeus Monastery in West Azerbaijan Province in Iran. (Diss.) Aachen 1973
- Wolfram Kleiss: The Monastery of St. Thaddäus (Kara Kilise) in Iranian Azerbaijan. In: Istanbuler Mitteilungen XVIII, 1968, pp. 270–285
- Kristine Kostikyan: Documents in Persian on the St. Thaddeus Monastery of Maku. In: Armenian Journal of Near Eastern Studies (AJNES). 2009, pp. 159-175
Web links
- Armenian monasteries in Iran on the UNESCO World Heritage Center website ( English and French ).
- The monastery in the Armeniapedia in English
- The monastery on Armenica.org in English
- General information from California State University's Armenian Study Program in English
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iran: History, Culture and Traditions: Ancient Sites and Islamic ... by Mahmoud Rashad
- ↑ Iran: Islamic State with a culture that is thousands of years old by Peter Kerber in the Google book search
Cultural heritage: Chogha Zanbil (1979) | Persepolis (1979) | Meidan-e Emam, Isfahan (1979) | Tacht-i Suleiman (2003) | Pasargadae (2004) | Bam and its cultural landscape (2004) | Soltaniye (2005) | Bisotun (2006) | Armenian monasteries in Iran : St. Thaddeus Monastery , Monastery St. Stephanos and Chapel of Dzordzor (2008) | Historical hydraulic system from Shushar (2009) | Ensemble Sheikh Safi al-din Khānegāh and shrine in Ardabil (2010) | Historical bazaar complex of Tabriz (2010) | The Persian Garden (2011) | Isfahan Friday Mosque (2012) | Gonbad-e Qaboos (2012) | Golestan Palace (2013) | Shahr-I Sokhta (2014) | Maymand Cultural Landscape (2015) | Susa (2015) | The Persian Qanats (2016) | Historic city of Yazd (2017) | Archaeological Landscape of the Sassanids in the Fars Region (2018)
Natural heritage: Lut Desert (2016) | Hyrcanic Forests (2019)
Coordinates: 39 ° 5 ′ 32 ″ N , 44 ° 32 ′ 40 ″ E