Srbanes Monastery
The Srbanes Monastery ( Monastery of St. John the Baptist , Also: Monastery Hovhan Odznetsi or Monastery Ardvi ) is a former monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church on the outskirts of the village of Ardvi in the Lori Province in northern Armenia . It was founded in the 8th century. Today it is a ruin. Sergei Parajanov shot parts of his film The Color of the Pomegranate in Srbanes.
location
The monastery is located on a hill about six kilometers northwest of the village of Ardvi.
Building description
The monastery complex is surrounded by a low wall. It consists of the remains of two small churches, a bell tower, a square obelisk and the remains of several residential and farm buildings. The buildings were constructed of andesite with the exception of three rows of the northeastern walls, which were built from cut stones .
The architectural style of the northern church shows that it is much older than the other buildings, most of which date from the 17th century. In the course of the construction of the other buildings, the old church was probably also rebuilt or restored. Both churches are single-nave hall churches . They were built from small, irregular andesite stones. Only the three lowest rows of the east wall were built with large, smoothly hewn stones. The two churches are connected to one another on a longitudinal wall, where the entrance is also located. The northern church is smaller. It has a square prayer room and a horseshoe-shaped apse. In earlier times it also had an entrance in the west, but it is closed for a long time. In the 13th century, a small vaulted entrance hall was built in front of it to the west. The floor of the southern church hall is littered with gravestones.
The bell tower was built in the 17th century in the southern part of the monastery. Its ground floor is cubic and crowned by a rotunda supported by six columns.
On the western hill is a cemetery with numerous tombstones and kachkars (artistically carved memorial stones with a relief cross in the middle, which is surrounded by geometric and plant motifs).
history
Hovhan Odzneci founded the monastery in 726. Odzneci was the 34th Catholicos of the Armenian Church from 717 to 728 and a well-known theologian, lawyer, thinker and reformer. He is the author of numerous sharaknots (worship chants in the Armenian rite ). His main work is a collection of song texts from the liturgy of the Orthodox churches . The book of rules he wrote is considered the first collection of Armenian canon law. He was later canonized by the Armenian Church as St. Hovhannes Imastaser ( the Wise ) .
There is a local legend about Odzneci: On the way to Srbanes there are two long stones in the rocks that look like two dragons emerging from the rock. The place was named after them. The water of the spring there is said to have healing properties. According to tradition, the two dragons came through the gorge into the village during mass. Odzneci, who was holding mass at that moment, overcame the two attackers. They were then handcuffed to the rocks. After mass he struck the darschen's heads with a cane and said:
You should turn to stone. Let water come from your hearts and heal the sick.
Hovhan Odzneci was buried in the monastery. The tombstone of Hovhan Odzneci is in the courtyard of the monastery. His grave is in the church.
Stepanos Tarinyan had Srbanes reconstructed in the 19th century. Further restoration work was carried out in 1902 on behalf of Melikset Kalantaryan. In 1969 the director Sergei Parajanov shot parts of his film The Color of the Pomegranate (original title: Նռան գույնը (Nran Guyne), Саят-Нова (Sayat-Nova)) in Srbanes, which is one of the most notable examples of recent Soviet films.
Web links
- Ardvi Monastery (Copy from: Raffi Kojian: Rediscovering Armenia: an archaeological / touristic gazetteer and map set for the historical monuments of Armenia. Tigran Mets, Yerevan 2001, ISBN 99930-52-28-0 )
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Baghdasaryan Brothers: Srbanes monastery. Retrieved November 16, 2017 .
- ↑ a b c d Srbanes Monastery, Ardvi, Armenia | World Building Directory | Buildings. Retrieved November 16, 2017 .
- ↑ a b Ardvi Monastery of Saint Hovhannes. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on November 16, 2017 ; accessed on November 16, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The color of the pomegranate. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed November 6, 2017 .
Coordinates: 41 ° 1 ′ 11.2 " N , 44 ° 35 ′ 15.3" E