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Fortress :: Ambert  
 
Ambert Castle

 
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Armenia's geographical position, at the crossroads of communication between East and West, made it the theater of fierce battles between the two worlds. Being troubled by this strife and periodically laid waste by the invasions of powerful neighbors, over the centuries Armenia and her princes built numerous means of defense, in order to survive against war-like adversaries. These many fortresses, which were residences of the most important feudatories and at the same time bulwarks against external or internal enemies, were undoubtedly the best weapon. Today they are an irreplaceable characteristic of the Armenian countryside as well as a valuable aid in the study of the history and institutions of the Armenian people.

From this point of view, the Ambert fortress and church (typical examples of constructions arising in answer to a particular need) are especially interesting.

According to tradition King Ashot "Yerkat" (iron) was the founder of Ambert and many other fortresses alongside the Armenian border. But this is just a naive and popular tribute to the national hero, a protagonist in the struggle for Armenian independence. From a letter written by the learned statesman Grigor Magistros Pahlavouni, who was also the archimandrite of Ani around the year 1050, and other available documents, the exact founding date of Amberd can be established. According to these documents, the fortress and its surroundings belonged to the Pahlavouni princes. The latter were a powerful family in the X century. Ambert was conquered by the Mongols in 1236 and destroyed by fire. It was never rebuilt.

Ambert's architectural works are clearly not from the same period. In fact, construction lasted several centuries. The fortress was built with the criteria used for military constructions at that time, and considerable importance was given to the choice of a site having a good natural defense system in order to reduce the number and size of the fortifications. Hence, a rocky promontory at the joining of two rivers or a precipitous rock was usually chosen so that walls only had to be built in the most vulnerable points of approach. Ambert, built exactly according to this technique, is on a promontory formed by the narrow valleys hollowed out by the rivers Ambert and Arkashian. The Ambert river bank was and still is rocky, making access impossible; thus defensive walls were required only on the lowest part. The slope descending to the river Arkashian, on the contrary, is steep but practicable. This is why a wall had to be built on the top. The wall was also extended to the far end of the promontory. On the rocky peak rising above the latter, a fortified, three-story castle, blocking the entry from Mount Aragatz, was erected.

The Castle

The 1936 excavations discovered that the two lower floors had five rooms each, which were arranged in a line. In the center of the castle, an irregularly shaped hallway was separated from the three central rooms by an internal wall. The castle's upper floors contained the reception halls and private apartments. It can be assumed that this group of lavishly adorning rooms could be found in Ambert from ancient times. The magnificence of the furnishings was heightened by elegant oil-lamps and carved incense holders- emanating fragrant odors.

The walls and gates
The gates, initially controlling access to the promontory, were built contemporaneously with the fortress. Their ruins are at the end of the wall, which once descended towards the valley of river Ambert, from the castle's southwest corner. Near the promontory a building made of rather small stones was later added. Its entrance, beneath an arch, was located at the lower wall. On the side of the river Arkashian, beginning from the castle and extending down towards the gorge formed by Ambert, the on to a cleft in the rocks where the secret passage to the river with its steep flight of steps began, a fortification was erected. It had semi-circular towers with no rooms, which was intended for throwing projectiles from the fortifications. The pillars of the gates facing Arkashian, and the walls of the most recent ones on the Ambert river bank, were built of fairly small stones, roughly joined together with lime milk. Larger, more finely-cut stones were placed at the corners leading to the supposition that the gates were either constructed contemporaneously or within a short period of time. The gates are built within one another.

The water supply
In the Middle Ages, city builders were particularly concerned with supplying water to their inhabitants; a concern that was accentuated in the case of fortified places which had to resist more or less long sieges. If water was scarce or lacking altogether, or if it was difficult to gain access to, terra-cotta pipelines were built in order to bring it from the spring, which were often distant from the inhabited areas. The water supply was so important that if, during a siege, the aqueduct was laid waste by the enemy other means for obtaining water had to be built, such as underground secret passages to the nearby rivers.

The church and chapel
A domed church built in 1026 by the glorious army leader Vahram Pahlavouni rises between the castle and the end of the promontory, almost against the wall following the course of the river Arkashian . The church at Ambert is an improved example of a new type of religious building. The oldest, if not the first, of the latter is the church of the Virgin in Sanahin. In the XIII century, when architecture flourished again after the Seljuk invasion, churches of this type practically dominated the country's religious architecture. It is not surprising that the History of Armenia written by the Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakertski does not mention Ambert in regard to the Arab invasion, and the battle of Byurakan at the beginning of the X century. It seems undisputed, however, that a summer residence did exist on the promontory much before Pahlouvouni's walls were built, and that it dates back to, if not before, the Arab invasion, at least to the first half of the X century.

Source: Documenti Di Architettura Armena, published by Edizione Ares
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