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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Stunning Kapan, Armenia; Image Gallery

Kapan (Armenian: Կապան); also known as Kafan, Zangezur and Madan, is the capital of the Syunik province (marz) at the south of Armenia. The city which forms an urban community (municipality) is located 316 km from the capital Yerevan. The National Statistical Service of the Republic of Armenia (ARMSTAT) reported its population was 45,488 in 2010, down from 45,711 at the 2001 census. Kapan is the most populous city in Syunik province and southern Armenia.

David Bek (Armenian: Դավիթ Բեկ) (?-1728) was an Armenian military commander and one of the most prominent military figures of the Armenian liberation movement of the 18th century against the forces of Safavid Iran and the Ottoman Empire. In 1722-25 with direct support from Mkhitar Sparapet and Avan Yuzbashi, he headed the armed struggle of Syunik (particularly from Kapan) and Artsakh Armenians against Safavid Iran. In 1726-28 Armenians under the leadership of Bek went to war with Turkish armies at Halidsor and had showed great military competence by defeating them easily.







Garegin Nzhdeh or Garegin Ter-Harutyunyan, Garegin Njdeh (Armenian: Գարեգին Նժդեհ) (1 January 1886, Nakhijevan – 21 December 1955, Vladimir, Soviet Union) was an Armenian statesman, fedayee, political thinker, and, as a member of the A.R.F. Dashnaktsutyun party, was involved in revolutionary activities in Armenia, Bulgaria and Russia, and, as a member of the "Armenian Legion", the armed forces of Nazi Germany.









Vahanavank (Armenian: Վահանավանք) is a 10th-11th century monastic complex located approximately 5 kilometers southwest of the town of Kapan in the Syunik Province of Armenia, situated at the foot of Tigranasar mountain along the right bank of the Voghdji River.

The monastery was founded by Prince Vahan Nakhashinogh (of which it gets its namesake), the son of Prince Gagik of Kapan in the early 10th century. The Armenian historian Stepanos Orbelian (c. 1250 – 1305) wrote that the prince had taken on a monk's robe and lifestyle to cure himself of demonic possession. In the year 911, Prince Vahan gathered 100 like-minded clerics and built the church of Surb Grigor Lusavorich. It is the oldest among the structures at Vahanavank. The church is a domed hall like building with a main temple and a pair of sacristies. The drum rises on huge steeple rocks. The church has a west and south entrance. Prince Vahan was buried near the door to the church.

A spiritual school was opened at the monastery where young boys from Baghk and other provinces studied. Prince Vahan Nakhashinogh's nephew Vahan Jevanshir II, was educated at the monastery and rose to become the Bishop of Syunik around 940 and then Catholicos around the year 960. During his reign he built many great monuments, many of which remain in ruins.

The vestibule and portico first half of the 10th century. The latter stretches to the south of the church and the narthex. Kings and princes of Syunik are buried here. The cornices of the vestibule are decorated with vegetal and animal ornamental motives which border the southern and northern walls.

Vahanavank became the religious center for the kings of Syunik in the 11th century. In 1086, Queen Shahandukht II of Syunik and her sister Katan built the church of Surb Astvatsatsin as a burial site for her and her relatives. They also constructed the southern entrance to the monastery as well as the vestibule to S. Astvatsatsin.

There are other structures, household buildings, khachkars and tombstones that date back to the 10th –11th centuries as well.

In 1978 restoration efforts began at the monastery and in 1990 they ended before their completion.
The Monastery of Tatev (Armenian: Տաթև) is a 9th century Armenian monastery located in the Tatev village in Syunik Province in southern Armenia. The term "Tatev" usually refers to the monastery. It stands on a plateau on the edge of the deep gorge of the Orotan (Vorotan) River. It became the bishopric seat of Syunik and played a significant role in the history of the region as a centre for economic, political, spiritual and cultural activity.

In the 14th and 15th centuries Tatev Monastery hosted one of the most important Armenian medieval universities which contributed to the education of science, religion and philosophy; reproduction of books and development of miniature painting. Scholars of Tatev University contributed to the preservation of Armenian culture and creed during one of its most turbulent periods in its history.

Fascinating Tsaghkadzor, Armenia; Image Gallery



Kecharis (Armenian: Կեչառիս) is a 11-13th-century monastery, located 60 km from Yerevan, in the ski resort town of Tsakhkadzor in Armenia. Nestled in the Bambak mountains, Kecharis was founded by a Pahlavuni prince in the 11th century, and construction continued until the middle of the 13th century. In the 12th and 13th centuries Kecharis was a major religious center of Armenia and a place of higher education. Today the monastery has been fully restored and is clearly visible from the ski slopes.

Badly damaged in an earthquake of 1927, reconstruction was not begun by the Armenian SSR until the 1980s. A series of nationwide problems led to a halt in reconstruction for about a decade as the 1988 Leninakan Earthquake hit, the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the Nagorno-Karabakh War broke out, and Armenia was blockaded by its two Turkic neighbors. As Armenia recovered slowly from these catastrophes, the reconstruction of Kecharis finally resumed in 1998 and finished in 2000 thanks to a donation by an Armenian benefactor from Vienna named Vladimir Harutyunian, in memory of his parents Harutyun and Arsenik.



The gavit, built in the second half of the 12th century and attached to the western facade of S. Grigor church, is an early structure of this type. The rectangular hall is divided into nine sections by four heavy free-standing columns.

The eastern corners of the interior are taken up by small two-storey annexes which first appeared in this form in this gavit.

The architectural details of the building are rather modest. The small windows are topped by profiled edges above which there are, in the middle window of the southern facade, octafoil rosettes and sun dials, widespread in Armenia and, on the western facade, jugs. As distinct from the portals of the churches, the only western entrance is built as a rectangular opening with a niche framed with bunches of small columns and an arch. In the interior, the fine geometrical ornaments on the capitals of the columns and on the cornice of the tent base immediately catch the eye.

The Katoghike (Cathedral) church stands south of S. Nshan, with a narrow passage dividing them. Judging by an inscription, it was built under Prince Vasak Khakhpakyan of the Proshyan clan (in the first quarter of the 13th century) by the architect Vetsik, in whose memory a khachkar, ornamented with highly artistic carving, was put up a little south of the church.

The Katoghike church belongs to the cross-winged domed type and has two-story annexes in all the four corners of the prayer hall. The entrances to the upper eastern annexes are from the side of the altar apse. Stone cantilever stairs lead to the western annexes of the first floor.

The character of Katoghike church's decoration is connected with the artistic traditions of the time when it was built. The round cupola drum was destroyed by earthquake in 1927 (also rebuilt in by 2000), and is decorated with a 12-arch arcature. The front wall of the altar has carved khachkar-type crosses, and there are rosettes on the walls and on the spherical pendentives of the cupola where they alternate with flat arch motives.






The church of Harutyun (Resurrection), standing on a forest glade, away from the main group, was built by a son of Hasan in 1220. This is a small, outwardly rectangular domed-hall church with a lofty cupola. The only entrance, with a small vestry in front of it, is from the west. As distinct from the ordinary vestries, it has a vaulted ceiling, and is narrower than the church. A distinctive feature of the structure is that it has, on its western facade, twin openings topped with arches which rest on the wall-attached and intermediate columns. This gives the structure the appearance of an open passage. There are many graves in the church which was probably a family burial vault.

The main temple, the church of Saint Grigor, is the monastery's first structure erected by Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni in 1003. Being of a domed hall type, it is one of the typical church structures of the period of developed feudalism in Armenia. The interior of the temple is divided into three spaces by two pairs of wall-attached abutments. The central (and largest) space of the church is crowned by a broad cupola resting on spherical pendentives. The cupola and pendentives were destroyed by an earthquake in 1927, and reconstructed in 2000.

The semicircular altar apse has two-storey vestries on either side. Three triangular niches behind the altar provide openings for light. The sole of the altar has carved geometrical ornament, alternating with rosettes in places.


The church of Surb Nshan (Armenian: Սուրբ Նշան, "holy cross" in Armenian), situated south of the church of Grigor, is a small cross-winged domed structure built, judging by the type of the building and by architectural details, in the 11th century, probably soon after the church of S. Grigor.

The main temple, the church of Saint Grigor, is the monastery's first structure erected by Grigor Magistros Pahlavuni in 1003. Being of a domed hall type, it is one of the typical church structures of the period of developed feudalism in Armenia. The interior of the temple is divided into three spaces by two pairs of wall-attached abutments. The central (and largest) space of the church is crowned by a broad cupola resting on spherical pendentives. The cupola and pendentives were destroyed by an earthquake in 1927, and reconstructed in 2000.

The semicircular altar apse has two-storey vestries on either side. Three triangular niches behind the altar provide openings for light. The sole of the altar has carved geometrical ornament, alternating with rosettes in places.