Kosh (Aragazotn)
|
Kosch Կոշ |
|||
| State : |
 Armenia
|
||
| Province : | Aragazotn | ||
| Coordinates : | 40 ° 18 ' N , 44 ° 9' E | ||
| Height : | 1275 m | ||
| Time zone : | UTC + 4 | ||
| Community type: | local community | ||
|
|||
Kosch ( Armenian Կոշ ), other romanization Kosh , formerly Kvash , is a village in the central Armenian province of Aragazotn on the southern foothills of the Aragaz . At the cemetery, below a fortress from the 13th century, the Gregorkirche, a small hall church from the same period, has been preserved. The central building of the Stephanuskirche from the 7th century in a ravine on the northern edge of the village is more important.
location
Kosch is located at 1275 meters above sea level on the northern edge of the Aras plain, which merges into the Aragaz foothills here. South of the village, the M1 runs from Yerevan via the provincial capital Ashtarak to Gyumri in the north-west of the country. The distance on this road to the east to the next village Agarak is ten kilometers, to Arutsch in the west six kilometers. In Kosch a side road branches off uphill to the north, which after about four kilometers reaches a fork in the road at Verin Sasunik ( 1597 m , 165 inhabitants in 2012) and ends on the right in the mountain village of Avan at 1668 m .
In the small oasis-like depression of Avan, several streams meet, only part of the water of which comes to the drier Kosch. Instead, the Arzni-Shamiram Canal flows past Kosch, which is based on an irrigation system that was laid out in the Urartian era. The Arzni-Shamiram Canal, which was laid out in the Soviet era and has been expanded since then, receives its water at Arzni via the Hrasdan from Lake Sevan and leads it around Jeghward to the west into the Aras plain , including the places Kosch, Aragazotn, Arutsch, Schamiram and Nerkin Bazmaberd. The name of the canal, like that of the Urartian canal Samiram arkı near the Turkish city of Van, is associated with the ancient legendary Queen Semiramis .
history
Remnants from the early Bronze Age have been found in the area around the neighboring village of Agarak . During this time, rock caves half a kilometer north of Kosh were inhabited. In the Middle Ages, locals hid there from the attacks of the Mongols and Turks . The Bronze Age settlements were founded in the Iron Age in the 1st millennium BC. Expanded. Hellenistic and Roman remains of a fortress from the 3rd century BC came under the ruins of the medieval castle . To the 2nd century AD.
The historian Moses von Choren reported in the 5th century about the place called Kvash at that time that the Armenian King Tiran (Tigranes VII, r. 339–345) had withdrawn here after being blinded by the order of the Sassanid king Shapur II and resigned from office. Tiran's son and successor Arshak II (ruled around 338 - around 368) buried him in Kosch.
Koschavank was a monastery founded in the 7th century, which was expanded until the 14th century and to which the preserved St. Stephen's Church belonged. A khachkar on the expressway east of the town entrance, dated 1195, commemorates a successful battle of the Zakarids, an Armenian princely dynasty under the rule of Georgian kings , in which they drove the Seljuks out of the area. The battle was led by the brothers Ivane and Zakare Zakarian, who were known to be excellent military leaders. In the following years the brothers conquered the northern Armenian area from their capital Ani , which remained independent until the Zakarids became tributaries to the Mongols in 1236.
The fortress of Kosch, built in the 13th century over several previous buildings, was either commissioned by the Zakarian brothers or was built under Prince Vacheh of the Vachutian dynasty, who bought the region, including the Amberd fortress higher up the mountain, from the Zakarians around 1215.
Townscape
In the 2001 census, the official population was 2756. According to official statistics, in January 2012 there were 3240 inhabitants in Kosch. The scattered settlement in the midst of orchards is surrounded in the north in a semicircle by rocky, steeply rising hills, while fields extend south of the expressway.
fortress
The medieval fortress was enthroned on a small foothill of the Aragaz rising behind it and offered an unobstructed view on all sides over the plain. Their ruins can be reached from the cemetery in the east of the village. The once much higher surrounding walls have been restored in the lower area and show a long, rectangular, south-facing floor plan with round towers at the four corners and a gate with a barrel-vaulted passage in the middle of the south wall. The walls made of red tuff stone blocks stand on a foundation made of larger black tuff stone blocks. The stone material could have been taken over from older buildings.
Gregorkirche
In the spacious cemetery directly below the fortress stands the restored St. Gregory's Church from the 13th century, dedicated to St. Gregory (Grigor Lusavorich). The small hall church with barrel vaults and a steep pitched roof is an early Christian type of construction and could have been built over corresponding predecessors. The two entrances in the west and south walls, from which the west entrance is now walled up, are raised by a slightly ogival tympanum field , which is surrounded by a hollow with a double bulge profile. Only the beginnings of a rectangular frieze above the entrances are recognizable.
The interior is dimly lit by two slotted windows on the side walls, a narrow arched window in the east apse and a cross-shaped opening in the west gable. A restored bema (podium) raises the semicircular apse by three steps opposite the prayer room. In the middle, a belt arch divides the barrel vault. The church is venerated but not used for worship.
In the cemetery there are some old kachkars and gravestones that go back to early Christian times. A large black cross stone dates from the 7th century. A larger hall church from the 19th century, also named after Gregor, on the edge of the cemetery is missing the roof.
Stephanuskirche
The Stephanuskirche ( Surb Stepanos ) from the 7th century can be reached on a path that starts in the west of the cemetery and leads a few 100 meters into a rocky gorge on the west side. The church stands wedged in by boulders up on the steep slope just below the hilltop. It belongs with some hermit caves in the gorge to the medieval monastery Koschavank, whose ruins from the 12th / 13th centuries. Century were preserved on the hilltop. A path branches off to the monastery from the road between Kosch and Verin Sasunik.
The church building belongs to the type of cross- domed churches with monoconchos, in which , unlike the Tetrakonchos (for example Mankanoz in Oschakan ), four semicircular arms extend from a center, but the semicircular altar apse faces three rectangular side arms in the east. Characteristic of these small cross-domed churches is the cruciform plan of the free arms, which is also visible on the outer facade. Like the monocons of Lmbatavank , the Kamrawor Church of Ashtarak and the Artavazik Church of Bjurakan, they are therefore referred to as uncovered (or rectangular). Monokonchen (or Trikonchen ) belong to the partially encased cross-domed churches if, like the Stephanuskirche von Kosch or the Trikonchos von Pemzaschen in the east, they are equipped with two adjoining rooms, which ensure a rectangular building on the outside.
At the Stephanuskirche, rectangular side rooms without their own apses were added to the horseshoe-shaped altar apse. The southern side room can be entered from the side aisle, the northern side room from the side aisle and also directly through an opening in the partition wall to the altar apse. The two side arms are shortened transversely, while the west arm, which is directly against the rock face, has a square base. The only entrance in the south is surrounded by a pointed arch and a porch, the gable roof of which is supported by pairs of half-columns. The east side and the north and south gables are each broken through by a large semicircular window. Two narrow windows in the east wall illuminate the adjoining rooms. In the corners of the central arch square, trumpets lead to the inside circular and outside octagonal drum , the dome of which is crowned by a pyramid roof.
Some traces of wall paintings show that the interior was once beautifully designed. In the apse, parts of a Majestas Domini can be seen at the height of the window . Six apostles stand side by side on either side of the window . In this unusual representation of a Eucharist, Christ in the center hands you the word of God in the form of a scroll and not the usual bread and a chalice with wine.
The monastery ruins from the 12th to 13th centuries on the hill include a dining room with a barrel vault, foundation walls of a gawit , other outbuildings and chapels.
Web links
- Rick Ney: Aragatsotn March . Tour Armenia, 2008, p. 76f
- Historical sites near the village Kosh. findarmenia.com
- Brady Kiesling: Rediscovering Armenia Guidebook - Aragatsotn March.
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Rick Ney, Tour Armenia, p. 75
- ↑ Vahan M. Kurkjian: A History of Armenia . Indo-European Publishing, Los Angeles 2008, p. 103 (1st edition: New York 1958)
- ^ RA 2001 Population and Housing Census Results . armstat.am, p. 51
- ^ RA Aragatsotn March. armstat.am, 2012, p. 244
- ^ Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art . Herder, Freiburg 1988, p. 67f
- ^ Nona Stepanjan: Wall painting, book illumination and applied arts. In: Burchard Brentjes , Stepan Mnazakanjan, Nona Stepanjan: Art of the Middle Ages in Armenia. Union Verlag (VOB), Berlin 1981, p. 239
- ↑ Rick Ney, Tour Armenia, p. 77