Shatiwank
Coordinates: 39 ° 50 ′ 31 ″ N , 45 ° 19 ′ 31 ″ E
Schatiwank ( Armenian Շատին վանք ), other transcriptions Shativank, Shatinvank, Schatin Vank, Šatinvank 'Satin vank' , is a former convent of the Armenian Apostolic Church in the south Armenian province of Vayots Dzor Province . In a secluded location on a mountain slope, the ruins of a three-aisled basilica from the middle of the 17th century and parts of the fortress wall have been preserved.
location
From the M2 expressway between Areni and Jeghegnadsor near the village of Getap, the M10 branches off to the north, which leads along the plain along the Jeghegis river after ten kilometers past the village of Shatin and beyond the 2,400-meter-high Selim Pass , reaches Lake Sevan . A side road from Shatin in an easterly direction follows the Jeghegis three kilometers to the village of Artabuynk. From there you can walk to the ruins of the Tsakhats Kar monastery high in the mountains . After Shativank, in the center of Schatin, a narrow road leads across the river, first turns south on the slope to a cemetery, then climbs the hill in serpentines and leads in seven kilometers to its end point at the one from the village in a northeastern direction Monastery. A footpath that begins at the northern end of the village and initially runs along a stream through a valley roughly halves the route.
The ruins of the monastery are located at an altitude of 1612 meters on a flat slope near the summit of a chain of hills and above a small valley cut with a watercourse under trees. From the rugged terrain overgrown with grass and isolated bushes, some mighty basalt rocks in various forms protrude.
history
The place may have been settled in pre-Christian times. The monastery is said to have been founded in 929 by Prince Smbat and his wife Sophia. The Smbat belonging to the Siunik dynasty is mentioned as a possible namesake for the Smbataberd fortress, also from the 10th century, which sits enthroned on a hilltop between Artabuyuk and Jeghegis in the valley of the river of the same name. The name Shativank goes back to one of its founders, the monk Shatik Menakiats of the Verin Noravank monastery (whose location is not clearly localized). Shativank was destroyed in the 14th century.
A rich trader from Jugha enabled the monastery to be re-established in the middle of the 17th century. This happened at a quiet time for Armenia after several wars between the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Safavids for dominance over the South Caucasus. Over the past two centuries, the population has suffered from starvation, pillage and exploitation. The emergency culminated in 1604 with the deportation of large parts of the Armenian population to Isfahan by the Persian Shah Abbas I. Armenian immigrants then resettled in the area, and the reopening of old trade routes began an economic boom. In Shativank, the church with a bell tower and outbuildings were built within a fortress wall. The monasteries rebuilt or restored in the 17th and 18th centuries also included the facilities of Tatew , Chor Virap , Haritschavank , Vorotnavank and Mughni . The buildings fell into disrepair due to Persian raids at the end of the 18th century and subsequent earthquakes.
architecture
The main building is the three- aisled basilica Surb Sion ("Holy Zion "), completed around 1655 . The revival of the Armenian church building in the 17th century after a phase of largely interrupted artistic building activity led to a revival of the early Christian style of the pillar basilicas, especially in the south of the country. In domed structures, tiles were used for the vaulted roof surfaces and the reels in order to reduce the weight of the upper components due to the risk of earthquakes. Where - as in the case of Shativank - only heavy basalt blocks were available, basilicas without dome were built, the three naves of which were housed under a shared gable roof . The Surb Sion of Shativank is one of the elongated basilicas of the 17th century, the nave of which is divided by two massive pairs of pillars. Have a corresponding, seemingly archaic floor plan or had the Mother of God Church of Are and the Church of Nirgud (Norakert), both in Ordubad ( Nakhchivan (re-established 1662)), the monasteries Mec Anapat and Haranc Anapat (founded in 1613 and in 1658 destroyed by an earthquake ) in the province of Sjunik as well as the preserved Hripsime church in Old Chndzoresk (built in 1665) and the church in the village of Tandzaver (built in 1705) there.
The church interior is divided into a wide central nave with a pointed arched barrel vault and narrow, low aisles. The pillars are connected lengthways by half-height round arches. The middle barrel vault divides belt arches between the two pairs of pillars and another belt arch at the transition to the semicircular apse . Next to the apse are rectangular chambers that only receive a little light from above through a small window slot in the east wall. They are entered through doors from the aisles. With the exception of a remnant on the rear wall of the altar, the walls are unplastered and without ornamentation, only the front of the bema (pedestal of the chancel) is framed by a double bulge frieze. Remnants of the former wall paintings show geometric and floral motifs with vine tendrils. Similar to the east wall, the facade in the west has a larger window on the gable and two smaller windows on the side. Two window slots are let into the upper center of the south wall. There is also a small chimney-like turret in the middle on the roof ridge. The two entrances are in the west and south walls. The north side of the building is built on the slope. There the eaves protrudes only a little above today's ground level.
The main building, which has been left to decay, has so far been preserved in its basic structure, apart from a few wall eruptions. More than half of the stone slab covering of the roof has already slipped. Instead of the medieval square gawit , as with the basilicas listed above, a gallery with three arched arcades, which is rare for earlier Armenian churches, was built in front of the west gable. The northern third of this secular extension is still in situ .
The outbuildings that were left in ruins included living quarters, a dining room and a meeting room for the monks. The accommodations and farm buildings surrounded the monastery courtyard on several sides, as was customary for this time, and with their windowless walls they formed part of the fortifications. In the north-west, in the upper area of the site, are the remains of a granary. A few khachkars are scattered across the monastery area . Those from the 17th century bear reliefs with floral designs and animal figures, as found on contemporary Muslim gravestones. A fortified wall that has been preserved a good two meters high closes the area in the north. In the south, the wall was two-story and reinforced by three round towers; the vaulted walkway on the ground floor remained partially intact. Outside in the south-east is a remnant of a massive walled water pipe with a clay pipe, in which - protected from attackers - drinking water was drawn over a distance of three kilometers.
According to an inscription on the nearby Tsatur Bridge over the Jeghegis, built around 1666, 90 monks lived in the monastery, a very large number for the time.
literature
- Paolo Cuneo: Architettura Armena dal quarto al diciannovesimo secolo . Volume 1. De Luca Editore, Rome 1988, pp. 206f
Web links
- Rick Ney: Vayot's Dzor. (PDF; 1.7 MB) TourArmenia, 2009, p. 18
- Shativank Monastery. Armeniapedia
- Shatinvank. findarmenia.com
Individual evidence
- ↑ Stepan Mnazakanjan: Architecture . In: Burchard Brentjes , Stepan Mnazakanjan, Nona Stepanjan: Art of the Middle Ages in Armenia . Union Verlag (VOB), Berlin 1981, p. 96
- ^ Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art. Herder, Freiburg / B. 1988, p. 321, ISBN 3-451-21141-6
- ^ Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art. Herder, Freiburg / B. 1988, p. 323
- ↑ Rick Ney, p. 18