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Sevanavank Monastery

 
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Lake Sevan is known in Armenian sources by the names Geghama Tzov and Gegharkouniats Tzov (the Sea of Gegham and Sea of Gegharkounik). It is the largest in the Caucasus. Of volcanic origin, its waters have been lowered for the purposes of electric power generation and for irrigation.

At an altitude of 1916 metres, it stretches out for 75 kilometres and has an average depth of 41 to 42 metres. The Hrazdan Canal, from which it draws its waters, has considerably altered the surrounding district.

In winter it freezes over. Its shores have been declared a national park, and the State attends to the conservation of its natural beauty and to its animal and plant life. Indeed, certain areas concentrate on breeding some 29 varieties of salmonides , including Ishkhan, Koghak, and Beghlu.

The basin of the lake is scattered with rock paintings, sculptures, and works of architecture including fortifications, remains from the Bronze and Iron Ages, Urartian and Aramaic inscriptions, monasteries, churches, castles, bridges and cemeteries. These comprise a veritable cultural anthology of the area. Lake Sevan plus its surroundings, which belong to the regions of Siunik, is known in history as Siuniats Ashkharh (the World of Siunik) or Sisakan. This region was the ninth of Metz Hayk (Armenia Major or Greater Armenia). Its border to the north and northwest was Ayrarat, on the east, Artsakh (Karabakh), and on the southeast, Vaspourakan. Though very fertile, it was surrounded by impracticable mountains and accessable only with difficulty and it was virtually impossible to conquer, and was the pride of its inhabitants. In the Middle Ages, the area was the constant setting for encounters with foreign peoples and struggles of the various lords of Armenia and Georgia. In spite of this, the domain of Siunik continued to retain its cultural independence, developing rather singular art forms, especially as Christianity spread throughout the region.

Most of the medieval monuments in the province of Sevan lie on the banks of the lake or a little back from them. They are usually small monasteries. Their architectural layout is the customary one: a central body (the chapel) surrounded by other religious and service buildings , the library, school, and so on , the whole complex lying within enclosure walls. The exception is the monastery of Sevan, situated on an island and, therefore, not needing defensive walls. All the walls of these complexes are fairly small in size, and in this they differ from the monasteries in the plains, which had to provide themselves with rather resistant defensive systems in the face of the frequent foreign invasions (for example St. Thadeos vank, St. Stepanos, Horomos vank, St. Bartoghimeos, Narek, and so on). Restricted financial resources, the shortage of labour, and building difficulties combined to make them small. Built with humble materials that were easy to find, they were partially frescoed on the interior, thus going against the tenets of the Armenian Church, which did not favour idol-worship. But the trend continued in the region, which continuously claimed religious autonomy.

In the 8th and 9th centuries, building activities succumbed to a total paralysis in the plains regions, where repression by the Arabs was more severe and violent. Their army and cavalry , highly efficient on level ground , were sorely tried in the hills and on the slopes. Indeed, it was in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and the Caucasus that the Arab expansion was curbed off towards Eastern and Central Asia and the plainlands of the Don River. Because of this, the mountainous regions of Armenia always kept a good deal of autonomy and, never completely tamed and subjugated, they helped Christianity survive in the territory. In the regions of Siunik and Vaspourakan, the art of building not only went on, but gradually developed.

The first secular and religious buildings date from the 9th century. Obviously, the absence of international and interregional trade in Siunik was a decisive factor in its cultural isolation. Architecture, therefore, fell back on classic models (with tiny variations), and the expression of style became purely local. This stagnation was later overcome with the development and prosperity of the region and its elevation to a kingdom under the Siuni dynasty. The architecture of Siunik evolved in two distinct areas , the mountains and the basin of Lake Sevan. They had separate typologies and features. The religious buildings erected on the banks of the lake are tiny in size and well anchored, almost welded, to the surrounding land. They are very simple, with architectural forms that one might say are enhanced by the presence of the water; they are devoid of complicated decorations, unlike the buildings in the mountain areas.

The monastery of Sevan, which stands on what was once an island of the same name, can be dated to the 9th-10th centuries. For several hundred years, as an important spiritual centre, housing many monks, it was visited by thousands of pilgrims from all parts of Armenia. As it stands today, the monastic complex consists of two churches , one dedicated to St. Arakelots (the Holy Apostles), the other to St. Astvatzatzin (the Holy Mother of God) , and the remains of a completely destroyed gavit. There is no trace whatever of the other buildings that must have once completed the complex. In the smaller of the two churches, St. Arakelots, there is an inscription that tells of the foundation of the monastery and the construction and consecration of the church in 874 by the order of Princess Mariam (Mary), daughter of King Ashot Bagratouni and wife of Vasak, prince and feudal lord of the region of Sisakan (present-day Siunik). The church is a well-known example of the trefoil in a cross plan. On the west side, there is a quadrangular space closed in on the other sides by three semicircular apses. Over the space thus formed rises the drum, surmounted by a conical dome and joined to it by conical squinches articulated on the exterior by a prism and an octagonal pyramid. The entrance opening on the southwest side is framed by a majestic arch. A small chapel from a later period stands on the southeast side.

The church dedicated to St. Astvatzatzin is situated a short distance to the southeast of the other. It was built thanks to the same contribution of Princess Mariam and at the same time as or immediately after St. Arakelots, of which it is a somewhat larger architectural replica. Overall, the construction features and details of the two churches are fairly similar. But St. Astvatzatzin has been reshaped more widely and has been given additional spaces. Today, we find a small chapel on the southeast side from a later age; there are also later auxiliary chambers at the east and west corners of the north side. One entered the church through the gavit on the west side of the church. This was probably an addition, datable to the 9th and 10th centuries. It comprised a square space with neither columns nor piers. Two pairs of wooden piers bore a yerdik (a corbelled lantern or small dome) of beams, also in wood. Today, all that remains of the building are the foundations and two very fine wooden capitals conserved in the Museum of Yerevan, testimony of what was probably the prototype of the gavit.

Source: Stepan Mnatsakanian, Lake Sevan: A Constellation of Architectural Types of Medieval Armenian Monuments
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