Tanahat Monastery
Tanahat Monastery ( Armenian Թանահատ , also Tanadeh or Karmir Vank ) is a former monastery of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the southern Armenian province of Sjunik . Today it is abandoned. Most of the buildings have been destroyed and the area is overgrown.
location
The monastery is located about thirteen kilometers southwest of Sissian near the village of the same name on the left bank of the Sissian river.
Building description
The monastery complex has been largely destroyed. Only the church of St. Stepanos Naxavka, also known as Tanahat, has been preserved. It is considered one of the oldest churches in Armenia. Surb Stepanos Naxavka was a small rectangular single-nave church with a horseshoe-shaped apse, on the south side of which there was once a vaulted rectangular chamber, which may have served as a side chapel. Also on the south side of the church was a rectangular portico supported by five columns.
The reliefs that have survived are dated to the 5th and 6th centuries. The church has largely fallen into disrepair. Only the north wall and the apse remained. The remnants of the western walls of Tanahat Church are currently being restored.
During excavations in 1975 the remains of an underground mausoleum and fragments of an Urartean cuneiform script were found west of the church .
Chatschkare (artistically carved memorial stones with a relief cross in the center surrounded by geometric and vegetable motifs) dating from the 13th to 17th centuries were discovered on the west side of the church .
Web links
- Armeniapedia: Tanahat Monastery
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 39 ° 26 ′ 3 ″ N , 45 ° 55 ′ 36 ″ E