Church :: ARMENIAN HISTORICAL MONUMENTS

Church 6 — 7 cc․

NKR / Aghdam / Vankasar

Location
1980 y․

The church though damaged but still standing was on top that cliff till the eighties. Owing to its old age (VI-VII cent.) and planning peculiarities (cross-planned with a dome and three altar apses) it was in the focus of the historians and architects attention.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

Historical Introduction

The first to mention this church was Archbishop Sarkis Jalaliants: “The damaged church on top the cliff is believed to have been the See of this province.”

Sargis Archbishop Jalaliants, A Journey to Metzn Hayastan, Tiflis, 1858, Part 2, p. 344 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

Later Senior Priest Yeghishe Gueghamiants (Haykuni) noted: “the people call the said chapel “Levonaberd.”

"Meghu Hayastani", 1885, N 64, p. 3 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

1890 y․

Visiting the church in the eighties of the past century preceptor Khachik Dadian mapped the church and, copied the “4 arshin” inscription of a khachkar, which read.
“I SHAHANSHAH, THE SON OF ASHOT ERECTED THIS CROSS FOR MY SOUL. WHOEVER MAY READ, REMEMBER MY PRAYERS, DATE (1263).”

SCHARA, F. 319, L. 1, c. 137, p. 4 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

Description
1895 y․

In his research, published in 1895 Bishop Makar Barkhutariants included some of the legends associated with the construction of Vankasar. One of them refers to the construction of this church to the dethroned prince Vache II (V cent): “Vache II of Albania built a cross planned hermitage, the dome of which has presently fully declined...”

M. Bishop Barkhutariants, Artsakh, Baku, 1895, p. 414.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

Historical Introduction

A few decades later Z. Yampolsky published an article fully dedicated to Vankasar. This was the most thorough research, rich in material, containing the plan, measurements and the first photographs of the church. Mentioning the Armenian inscription and numerous other Armenian symbols, and emphasizing the identity of the compositional peculiarities of the church with similar early medieval churches of Armenia, Yampolsky, nevertheless, paid tribute to the contemporary tendency of the Azebaijanian scientists and proclaimed that this was an Albanian church. No essential contribution had been made by the research of A. Yackobson on architectural links between Armenia and main (Caucasian) Albania, based mainly on the material provided by the church of Vankasar. Later Sh. Mkrtchian dedicated a brief chapter to Vankasar using the measurements of architect Armen Ghazarian in his monograph republished for a number of times.

Z. S. Yampolsky, Monuments of the Caucasian Albania on the Mount Beshidagh, "Soviet Archaeology", 1960, N 2 (in Russian).
A. L. Yackobson, Architectural Links of the Caucasian Albania and Armenia, "HPhJ", 1976, N 1 (in Russian); Sh. Mkrtchian, Historical and Architectural Monuments of Nagorno Karabakh, Yerevan, 1980, p. 60-61 and the second, revised edition of this monograph, Yerevan, 1985 (in Arm.); the same monograph was published in Russian), Yerevan, 1988, pp. 63-64.
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 210.

Architect V. Grigorian who provided sufficient arguments against Z. Yampolski and his attempts to alienate Vankasar from the Armenian culture and represent it as an Albanian monument disputed the issue of the Albanian origin of the church. Based on rich factual material V. Grigorian disproved the alleged inconsistencies in the symbolic signs found on Vankasar and other early Armenian monuments and the hypotheses that the former Albanian inscription was erased in the VIII cent and replaced by an Armenian one.

Vahagn Grigorian, Small Central Domed Monuments of Early Medieval Armenia, Yerevan, 1982, p. 26-27, 102 (in Arm.).
Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, pp. 210-211.

Description
1986 y․

In the course of research conducted with architect A. Ghazarian on the spot in 1986, we discovered two defective inscriptions situated in the northern part of the eastern entrance of the church, which was already changing its form due to the “reconstruction”. The first inscription consisted of 3 badly weathered lines carved beneath a simple cross. Only the last line was legible:

"REMEMBER MY PRAYERS IN JC GOD."

The second inscription was situated just a row beneath the former, on a finely processed wall and contained two lines:

"... AND THE HOLY CHURCH. REMEMBER MY PRAYERS."

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 211.

Besides these two pieces of epigraphic, which by their paleographic peculiarities may prove to be contemporaneous to the church, there were other symbols distinctly visible on the remaining walls. These symbols may be subdivided to two main types: Armenian letters and pictograms.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 212.

1986 y․

The inscribed khachkar of 1263 described and copied by Kh. preceptor Dadian was not in situ during the restoration works of 1986, but we noticed another uninscribed cross in the debris within the church yard, which was later delivered to the Aghdam Open air Museum.

Samvel Karapetian, Armenian Cultural Monuments in the Region of Karabakh, Yerevan, 2001, p. 213.

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan

View of the church after the "restoration" (photo 1993)

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan

The church during "restoration" (1986)

Type Measurement
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Sketch

Western section (reconstruction by architect Armen Ghazarian)

Type Reconstruction
Author Armen Ghazarian
Source Sketch

A general plan of the church (reconstruction by architect Armen Ghazarian)

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan
Source Black-and-white negative
Date 1986 y․

Cross relief on the tympanum of the western entrance of the church in 1986

Type Photo
View `
Author Samvel Karapetyan

Cross relief after "restoration"

Type Photo
Author Samvel Karapetyan

Restored anchor (1993)