Varagavank
Coordinates: 38 ° 26 '58.7 " N , 43 ° 27' 39" E
Varagavank ( Armenian Վարագավանք , German Monastery of Varag ), also known as Yedi Kilise ( Turkish for "Seven Churches" ), was a famous Armenian apostolic monastery from the 11th century, which was founded in the course of the genocide of the Armenians in 1915 by the Turkish Army was destroyed. Its ruins are located on the slopes of Mount Varag (Erek Dağı), 9 km east of the city of Van in Turkey .
Founded in the early 11th century on an existing religious site, it was the richest and most famous monastery in the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan and, in modern times, the seat of the Armenian Archbishop of Van . On April 30, 1915, the Ottoman army destroyed the monastery during the Van resistance . Its ruins are still visible in the Kurdish village of Bakraçlı , which was built on the site.
history
The monastery of Varag was founded under King Senekerim-Hovhannes of the Arzruni dynasty in the early years of his reign (1003-1024) to keep a relic of the True Cross ( Surb Nschan ), which was in the same place in a hermitage from the 7th century Century.
An inscription on a church in the south of the main complex, which has now been destroyed, says that the site was expanded by Senekerim's wife, Queen Khoshush, in the 980s. It was also the necropolis of the Arzruni kings. Over the years, Varagavank became the richest and most famous monastery in the Lake Van area.
The building was destroyed by the Mongols. The patriarch of the monastery, Ghoukas (= Lukas), managed to escape with the Holy Cross from Varaga and was accepted into the Anapat monastery in the province of Tavush in northeastern Armenia . The new name of the Anapat Monastery refers to the destruction of the Varagavank Monastery. In memory of the destroyed Varagavank, Anapat was later renamed Nor Varagavank ( New -Varagavank). The Armenian Archbishops of Van resided in Varagavank until the late 19th century. One of them, the later Catholicos Khrimian Hayrik , founded the newspaper Artsiv Vaspurakani ("The Eagle of Vaspurakan"), the first to be printed in western Armenia .
Among the buried in the Arzruni necropolis are King Senekerim-Hovhannes , who died in Sebasteia or Sebastia (today Sivas ) in 1024 , and Queen Khoshush, the widow of King Senekerim-Hovhaness, at whose side she was buried.
architecture
The Mother of God Church in the basic shape of a tetraconch was probably built at the beginning of the 11th century and was fundamentally renovated after an earthquake in 1648, at the same time as the newly built Gawit Sankt Georg on its west side. To the south of the main church was the Church of St. John and further south the Church of St. Sophia ( Surb Sopia ), both probably from the end of the 10th century. Further extensions and side churches followed from the 17th to the 19th century. The interior shape of the central church is reminiscent of the Saint Hripsime church near Etschmiadzin .
gallery
Historical recordings around 1900
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Todays situation
Access (2009)
Portal of the main church (in the Gawit)
Main church
Free-standing apse
Web links
- THE MONASTERY OF VARAGAVANK at Virtual Ani
- Gagik Arzumanyan's photo gallery
Current pictures
- Varagavank Armenian Monastery at The Land of Crying Stones
- Varagavank Monastery at Rensselaer Digital Collections
- Destruction by the 2012 earthquake
Individual evidence
- ↑ Varagavank 'Monastery. In: Rensselaer Digital Collections. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute , accessed May 3, 2009 .
- ^ Armenia, Travels and Studies. Volume 2. The Turkish Provinces By Harry Finnis Blosse Lynch - page 114
- ↑ a b c d Robert H. Hewsen: Van in This World; Paradise in the Next: The Historical Geography of Van / Vaspurakan . S. 28 .
- ^ Patrick Donabédian, Jean-Michel Thierry: Armenian art . Herder, Freiburg 1988, pp. 591f
- ↑ Presumably due to the 2011 earthquake , the preservation status of the access has deteriorated since then, cf. File: Varagavank 2013 Access 2.JPG