Shirakawan

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Holy Savior Monastery of
Shirakavan Երազցավորսի Սբ.Ամենափրկչի վանք
Shirakawan's St. Amenap'rkitch.jpg
Construction year: 890
Style elements : Armenian architecture
Location: 40 ° 40 ′ 41.9 "  N , 43 ° 40 ′ 31.8"  E Coordinates: 40 ° 40 ′ 41.9 "  N , 43 ° 40 ′ 31.8"  E
Location: Başsüregel
Kars , Turkey
Purpose: Armenian Apostolic Monastery

The Armenian settlement Shirakawan was on the right bank of the Achurjan River ( Turkish Arpaçay ) near what is now the Turkish village of Başşuregel in the province of Kars .

She fell victim to the dammed river. The St. Amenap'rkitch Church (Holy Savior, Armenian Երազցավորսի Սբ. Ամենափրկչի վանք ), part of an Armenian monastery that developed into a small town in the middle of the 9th century AD, has been preserved. It was located over 25 km northeast of Ani . It was destroyed by the Turks when the western part of the Democratic Republic of Armenia was conquered in 1920 during the Turkish-Armenian War .

history

The construction of the monastery of St. Amenap'rkitch was commissioned by the Bagratid king Smbat I in Jerasgawors (Shirakaschat) in the district of Shirak in the historic Armenian region of Ayrarat . Construction began in 892 (the year of Smbat's coronation) and 893 (when an earthquake struck the city). The Catholicos Hovhannes wrote in his book “History of Armenia” that the church in Shirakawan was built shortly after his appointment as patriarch in 897/898 and that it was located near the royal palace. It was destroyed by the Seljuks in the 1060s and rebuilt in the Zakarid era at the end of the 12th century. An inscription on its walls stated that restoration work took place between 1072 and 1081. At a later date the church was converted into a fortified tower. During this rededication, the eastern niches and many windows were filled and locked, and the corners of the church were raised. An outside staircase was added at the north end of the west facade. The dome of the church collapsed in the 19th century. Nikolai Marr noticed the remains of the polygonal drum of the original dome. This dome later collapsed and was replaced by a conical dome with a smaller diameter. The replacement dome also largely collapsed and was replaced by a roof made of wooden beams that had rotted away in 1913 and were also about to collapse. Marr wrote that the building underwent repairs in 1913 and became the village's parish church. He mentions that during this repair work, the villagers excavated numerous architectural fragments, but none were recorded and most of them were reused in the new buildings. He also mentions "two magnificent capitals" that were rediscovered by the villagers and have now been exhibited within the church.

literature

  • Patrick Donabédian: Documentation of the art places . In: Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian Art. Herder, Freiburg / B. 1988, p. 579, ISBN 3-451-21141-6

Web links