The Impact of the Constructive Solution on the Formation of the Portal in the Architecture of Armenian Churches of 4th-7th Centuries (original) (raw)
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Some Motives of the Decoration of the Monuments of Early Medieval Armenian Architecture
Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Architecture: Heritage, Traditions and Innovations (AHTI 2021), 2021
The following article concerns the very important aspect of the early medieval art of Armenia, namely the decoration motives of the monuments of the Early Medieval architecture, and their relations with the early Christian and early Byzantine monuments. The centuries-old political and cultural ties with the Eastern Roman Empire have left their mark on the monuments of the artistic culture of Armenia. In particular, this concerns the variety of ornamental motifs that were widely used in the Hellenistic and Roman monuments, after the Christian culture inherited them and through it reached all ends of the Eastern Christian world. In Armenian early medieval architecture these ornamental motifs were the important part of the inner and outer decoration of churches, martyria, as well as stelae, khachkars, etc. In this article, several new decorative motifs that were not considered earlier are highlighted, or they were known in general, however they hadn't been explored from the point of view of their origins and artistic parallels. A new approach could be considered the compositions single out from this point of view on the early khachkars, on the window moldings of the Ptghni church and the acanthus band of the Aruch church, as well as the vine scroll motif on the facades of the Church of the Holy Cross of Aghtamar similar to early Christian decorative compositions of the floor mosaics and sarcophagi.
The Architecture of the Armenian Church and Convent
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Until recently, the architecture of the Armenian Church has played a subordinate role in the study of the building, rather marginalized by the importance of the painted interior decoration as well as the intriguing historical context. 1 The church is indeed modest in size, of a simple typology-a single, short nave with an apse-and only sparsely decorated with sculpted elements. However, the elegance of the edifice as well as the high technical quality of the executed masonry tells a different tale. It testifies for the intended sophistication of the building, which was certainly more than a mere blank canvas for the (later) application of a painted cycle. 2 In consequence, a more in-detail appraisal of the architecture seems promising in several kinds of aspects. In its first part, this brief study intends to highlight the architectural characteristics of the church and their accordance or discordance with other churches of medieval Famagusta and the crusader territories. This evidence will then be used to evaluate previously proposed dates of erection. The second part will focus on the surrounding structures, today all but disappeared, and attempt the reconstruction of their
An Investigation of an Important Armenian Church Architecture in terms of Urban Identity: Digor Khtzkong / Kent Kimliği Açısından Önemli Bir Ermeni Kilise Mimarisinin İncelenmesi: Digor Khtzkong Manastırı, 2023
Cultural heritage enables us to have information about past civilizations that form the identity of the built environment in a residential area. While cultural heritage structures reflect the material properties and techniques of the period they belong to, the architectural styles they adopted, and the level of civilization, they express the societies they belong to and the way of life of the societies, world view, management style and religious structure. For this reason, the sustainability of cultural heritage is important for the preservation of the local identity of societies and the continuity of cultural values. However, historical buildings such as mosques, churches, monasteries, chapels, synagogues, madrasas, inns, baths and castles, which reflect the identity of different regions, were built in masonry. Masonry structures, on the other hand, are not resistant to natural disasters such as earthquakes. In this context, it is aimed to examine the monastery, which consists of five churches from the Armenian churches in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey. This monastery is Khıdskonk Monastery, which consists of the Churches of St. Karapet, Virgin Mary (Surp Asdvadzdzin), St. Stefanos, St. Krikor and St. Sarkis. The churches, which differ in terms of culture and architecture, are important in terms of having the first church plan typologies. The problem of the study is that the remains of four of the five churches that were built in the same region and that were recently built, and that only one church is partially preserved. Based on this problem, it is aimed to document and archive these churches, which are important for the Kars region, and to examine their plan typologies. In this context, the relationship between earthquake damage and typologies was investigated and evaluations were made for the churches surveyed in the sample area. As a result, by emphasizing the importance of cities for their identities, suggestions were made for the protection of cultural heritage.
Bagh-e Nazar, 2020
Problem statement: Today’s country of Armenia, a part of the ancient Urartu, as the first land that officially accepted Christianity, has built the oldest churches and has turned the old temples into churches. By the Armenians’ migration to Isfahan and, simultaneously, the establishment of the New Julfa during the reign of Shah Abbas the Great, the churches appeared in a different form. The construction of churches benefited ancient experiences whilst taking into consideration the Shah’s decree that new constructions should not conflict with the capital’s buildings. It seems that the previous studies on the New Julfa churches have not paid enough attention to the architectural and the cultural relations of the new context. Understanding the process of convergence between the Armenian religious architecture in New Julfa and the architecture of Isfahan, and its results could be applied in urban restoration and regeneration projects, especially in the Julfa neighborhood, which specifies the necessity of this research. Research objectives: The current study aims to find out the morphological transformations of the physical-spatial structure of the main building of churches in New Julfa, considering the interaction between the architecture of New Julfa and Isfahan’s prominent architecture. The study tries to answer these questions: Which type is generative and the initiator of the progress of church building morphology? How the architecture of the main building of churches has been converging toward the prominent architecture of Isfahan within their morphology evolution process? Research method: The research is carried out using an interpretive-historic method and the data is collected according to available documents and field observations. Conclusion: The outcome of the research implies the principle of some kind of restriction in the form of the Armenian church building. The existence of a generative type and getting influenced by the architectural techniques of the Shah Abbas period is confirmed in the course of formal evolution. Compared to the Isfahan prominent architecture of this period, the morphological changes of the main building in the churches are indicative of a tendency to converge to the Iranian style. The St. George Church is the first church building with the features of Iranian architecture, which provides the possibility of subsequent physical-spatial developments. The physical-spatial structure of the church of Holy Mother of God and the Bethlehem church is comparable to the structure of Sheikh Lutfollah and Abbasi Jame’ mosques, which indicates how the physical-spatial structure of the generative type developed.
A fidelity made of stone. The Armenian Architecture seen from the Vayots-Dzor’ fringe
2020
This research focuses on medieval architectures in the Armenian region of Vayots Dzor. The research mission is carried out since 2014 by the University of Florence, School of Architecture. In this paper, we show the results of a part of this research focusing on ancient buildings in the cities of Areni, Noravank and Yegheghis. We propose a series of unpublished cartographic elaborations showing the main flows of spreading of architectural typologies in Armenia, and then we focus on the analysis of the main religious structures of the village of Yegheghis. These analyses are based on architectural graphic elaborations to investigate the architectural Design, Space and Composition of medieval Armenian structures. The aim is to highlight the elements that define their architectural shape: the compositional rules, the structural design and the relationships between plan and elevation. Starting from the architectural analysis on religious buildings, we investigate the Armenian architect...
Sasanian Elements in Byzantine, Caucasian and Islamic Art and Culture, Neslihan Asutay-Effenberger, Falko Daim (Hrsg.), Byzanz zwischen Orient und Okzident, 15. Mainz, , 2019
A century ago, Josef Strzygowski considered that Armenian architecture played a transitional role between Iranian domed structures and Byzantine constructions of the Justinian epoch (6th century). Nowadays, some points of that almost forgotten theory require revision and further consideration. But several ideas of the famous scholar deserve our attention. In particular, it is important to deepen the study of the probable Sasanian origins of some decorative motives and relief images of medieval Armenian architecture taking into consideration their new meaning in the context of Christian culture. The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the Sasanian elements in the decoration system of Armenian churches of the 7th and the 10th-11th centuries, the periods of the highest development of national architecture, when it revealed the closest relationships with the Byzantine tradition. At the same time Armenian architecture interpreted both the Graeco-Roman and several local architectural peculiarities. The decoration of the domes in the interior of the 7th-century Armenian churches and the order-like blind arcades of the facades of the monuments of the Late Antique and Bagratid periods reveal Sasanian iconographic origins. Also, some ornaments and a range of mythical creatures on the reliefs and other features, such as the carpet-like curved ceilings of the zhamatun (narthex) of the Hoṙomos monastery, reflect the artistic characteristics of the Sasanian and early Islamic Iranian architecture.
Sustainable Engineering and Innovation, 2022
There are a lot of scientific and research reports dedicated to Armenian architecture from the ancient times to nowadays. There are many interesting and thoroughly researched reports of architectural and historical value done by not only Armenian but also foreign historians, architects, and engineers. Exploring Armenian architecture's chronology and research reports, we noticed that after independence of the Republic of Armenia (since 1991) there are few scientific reports which include the stages of development of architecture of newly independent Armenia, the current state of the architectural heritage and their observance. So we decided to study that period trying to show the problems and essential events as well as to introduce that period by the stages of development also including some examples of architectural heritage.
Architecture of Churches of Armenians in Tehran
THE TURKISH ONLINE JOURNAL OF DESIGN, ART AND COMMUNICATION
Armenian churches had been built in Tehran since 18 th and 19 th centuries, but the most important part is from 20 th century. These churches can be studied in three groups: the earliest churches group, the Church of St. Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) built by Nikolai Markov and finally the church of Saint Sargis (Armenian Prelacy of Tehran) along with the churches built afterwards. By studying the architecture of exact buildings in terms of plan and volume separately and in the political and cultural context of that period, especially when in compare with historical Armenian churches, contemporary Armenian churches, Armenian churches built in other areas of Iran and modern and contemporary churches of the world; comprehensive results are obtained about the architecture of them. So, in this study, the earliest churches along with a number of churches in other cities in Iran belong to a transition period between the architecture of Armenian churches in Isfahan and Tehran. The churches of Isfahan, in their turn, follow the Traditional Armenian architecture, in plan and interior spaces, and influenced by the architecture of Safavid period of Iran, in the total volume and façades. Second group can be seen as a type of classicism, which means the direct integration of Armenian traditional architecture. And the third group buildings, contemporary ones with deep roots in traditional architecture, have the obvious impact of modern and contemporary architecture of the world. These churches represent the same sense and concepts embodied in traditional Armenian architecture with an abstract language and remarkable artistic innovation. In addition, the direct use of concrete traditional churches or some types from Armenian architecture history or a new reading of them, provide a tight connection between these and their predecessors. According to the characteristics of all three groups and paying attention to this fact that, Armenian churches of Tehran have always had the common Armenian architectural design in their plan and interior space and also in their external volume, we should mention that this is a kind of return to roots, after the separation point in its historical aspect occurred in Isfahan. This return was identically at first and in addition with use of technology and innovation afterwards. So we should conclude that the architecture of Armenian churches established in Tehran have a single identity and must be called Armenian contemporary Church Tehran, by the way of cultural belonging in architecture .
Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, volume 324 (International Conference on Architecture: Heritage, Traditions and Innovations (AHTI 2019), 2019
The church in the Inner Castle of the Armenian capital Ani, which until now has not been studied properly, is one of the key monuments of the Armenian architectural tradition revival that began at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. The purpose of this article is to reveal the features of its plan and plastic decor, as well as the preliminary determination of the place of this building in the development of architecture and ornamental art of medieval Armenia. The article determines the origins of the architectural type of cruciform churches with rooms in the four corners, which formed the basis of the composition of the church and the circle of buildings of the 12th-13th centuries, in which the variability of embodiments of this type is apparent. In the analysis of the facades plastic, particular attention is paid to the blind-arcade on paired columns on the Western and Southern facades of the church as well as the design of the windows. It is noticed that the master builder of Aghjkaberd Church models the shapes of patterns with a certain degree of liveliness. He creates some plant motifs free from flat surfaces and models carvings in some places in a manner of the sculpture. In subsequent studies of this monument, the authors will clarify some forms of the composition, perform a more detailed reconstruction of the facade decor and identify the genesis of the unusual style of ornamental carving.