754 Items
Zvartnots
Zvartnots is a centrally-planned cathedral in Armavir Province that was built in the seventh century by Catholicos Nerses III. Today it is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and it remains one of the most significant early Christian monuments in Armenia. From the early twentieth century onwards it has been explored in archaeological excavations and a number of archaeologists, art historians and architects have attempted to reconstruct the original form of the building from the extant architectural details. This website is not the place to rehearse the various arguments relating to the site, but a clear and convincing summary of this history and an up-to-date interpretation of the material is offered by Christina Maranci in Vigilant Powers: Three Churches of Early Medieval Armenia, Brepols; Turnhout, 2015. This entry is obviously not the place to detail this complex historiographical tradition, but it is hoped that specialists and non-specialists alike may find some of the attached images useful and/or interesting.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Architecture, Armenia, C7th, Centrally-Planned, Church, Nerses III, UNESCO, Zvartnots
St. Gayane, Echmiadzin (Vagharshapat)
The church of St. Gayane in Echmiadzin (now Vagharshapat) in Armavir Province was built in the seventh century. It is a three-naved domed basilica of the type encountered at Odzun and, as such, is included in the list of churches included in that entry. However, unlike most of the monuments on the list, the prominent location of this church in the Holy See of the Armenian Apostolic Church means that it was renovated in the seventeenth century and has therefore undergone more change than the other buildings of this type.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Armenia, Basilica, C17th, C7th, Church, Domed Basilica, Echmiadzin, St. Gayane, Vagharshapat
Yereruyk
The basilica of Yereruyk is located in the village of Anipemza in Shirak Province in Armenia, right by the border with Turkey. It is believed to date to the fourth and fifth centuries and is one of the earliest Christian monuments in the country. Since the nineteenth century frequent comparisons have been drawn between this site and basilicas in Syria based largely on floor plans and a few images. However there is little more contemporary literature that explores this analogy in any detail and this question is considered on this site in the article entitled The Missing Link? Preliminary Fieldwork in Armenia.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Archaeology, Architecture, Armenia, Basilica, C4th-C5th, Church, Three Church Basilica, Yereruyk
Odzun
The church at Odzun in the northern Lori Province of Armenia has been variously dated as between the fifth and seventh centuries, with many sources electing to place it in the sixth century, and was subject to alterations in the eighth century. It has been undergoing a process of renovation since 2012 and these renovations were still ongoing during the site visit in August 2017. The reason for visiting Odzun is that it is a domed basilica of a type that belongs to a small group of monuments recorded in Georgia, Armenia and territories formerly belonging to both nations that now lie in Turkey. Therefore this architectural type is comparable with the church of Tsromi (Georgia), Mren and Bagawan (Turkey) and St. Gayane in Echmiadzin (Armenia). As an aside it also possesses a unique early medieval funerary monument to the north of the church where two stelae are framed by a two-arched arcade in a manner that is reminiscent of some Roman funerary monuments in northwest Syria.
Type: Architecture
Tags: Architecture, Armenia, Basilica, C5th, C6th, C7th, C8th, Church, Domed Basilica, Funerary Stele, Odzun, Stela, Three Church Basilica
Rekha/Mt. Tkhoti
The (As)Syrian Father Tadeoz Stepantsmindeli is also known as Theodosius or Tata and is also referred to as bearing the toponym "Rekhali". This is because he was associated with the church of St. Stephen (Tsminda Stepanos) in the village of Rekha on the slope of Mt. Tkhoti in Shida Kartli. Today it is unclear which of the several ruined sites on the mountainside was Rekha and so Tadeoz Stepantsmindeli is the only one of these figures who does not have an ancient or modern monastery associated with him today.
Type: Landscape
Tags: (As)Syrian Fathers, Georgia, Mt. Tkhoti, Shida Kartli, Tadeoz Stepantsmindeli, Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers
Ulumbo
Mikael Ulumboeli is one of the lesser-known (As)Syrian Fathers and we have very little information about his life and death. A new monastery has been built near the village of Ulumbo and it is higher up from an earlier church that was remodelled in the nineteenth century. However, neither of these sites dates to late antiquity and the location of a presumed earlier foundation and/or saint's tomb remains unknown.
Type: Architecture
Tags: (As)Syrian Fathers, C19th, C21st, Church, Georgia, Mikael Ulumboeli, Monastery, Shida Kartli, Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers, Ulumbo
Breti
The village of Breti is believed to have been where one of the lesser-known (As)Syrian Fathers, Piros Breteli, founded a monastery in the sixth century. There are no traces of this presumed early foundation left today but a new religious community have now established a monastery around what they believe to be his tomb in the centre of the village. This is a friendly and welcoming monastery with a small church with new frescoes and the tomb is located in a small chapel to the north of the main nave. Above the grave is a fresco of the thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers and Piros Breteli is distinguished by the red writing in his halo.
Type: Architecture
Tags: (As)Syrian Fathers, Breti, C21st, Church, Fresco, Georgia, Monastery, Piros Breteli, Shida Kartli, Thirteen (As)Syrian Fathers, Tomb
Samtavro
Samtavro cemetery is the largest known in the Caucasus. It covers about 20 hectares and the later burials are placed on top of earlier ones. It is therefore a multi-period cemetery and has been called a ‘multi-terraced’ cemetery. The Bronze to Iron Age levels of the site contain 23 Middle Bronze Age graves (of which four are kurgans) (4,500 to 3,600 years ago); 14 from the transition from the Middle Bronze Age to the Late Bronze Age; 63 from the Late Bronze Age (3,600 to 2,900 years ago) and about 560 from the Early Iron Age (2,900 to 2,500 years ago).
The visible remains of tombs on the site, which you can see today, are from the Classical and Early Medieval periods. The Bronze Age remains which have been discovered are closer to the road, by the entrance to the site. The Classical and Early Medieval burials have a variety of forms. Over 1,000 graves have been discovered from the Roman period (C1st BCE to C4th CE). Some are sarcophagi, whilst others are cists – a rectangular grave lined with stone slabs. Other types are made from roof tiles instead of stone slabs or use pieces of stone from buildings. Some burials are in pits or in Qvevri (terracotta jars), and some are of mixed construction of brick, stone or tile. The majority are tile tombs, containing an individual inhumation, with varied grave goods such as jewellery, but no tools or weapons.
Type: Archaeological Site
Tags: Bronze Age, Cemetery, Cist, Georgia, Iberia, Kartli, Mtskheta, Qvevri, Roman, Samtavro, Sarcophagus, Tomb
Dzalisa Excavations
See the entry on Dzalisa for the history of the site and the excavated part of the Roman settlement.
Currently excavations are continuing each summer on the edge of the village burial ground where a significant late antique tomb was uncovered in 1988. In the last year a large mud brick complex - believed to be a temple - has been discovered and research by the National Museum of Georgia is ongoing in this sector of the site.
Type: Archaeological Excavation
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, Dzalisa, Georgia, Georgian National Museum, Iberia, Kartli, Late Antique, Mud Brick, Ptolemy, Roman, Temple, Tomb, Zalissa
Dzalisa
The archaeological remains at Dzalisa date to the C2nd CE and there is evidence that occupation continued into the middle ages with current research suggesting that the settlement was abandoned c. C8th CE. Whilst ancient writers did mention a Roman town this far east in Iberia, Dzalisa is the most significant Roman site found east of the Surami range of mountains and the site is probably the Zalissa mentioned by the writer Ptolemy (c.100- c.170 AD).
Today the archaeological remains cover a large area around the modern village of Dzalisa with excavations continuing every summer. It is estimated that the town covered 70 hectares in all and the reserve contains several excavated buildings, including a public bath, a swimming pool, a building with under-floor heating and part of a villa with mosaic flooring and what was probably a private bathing suite. The mosaics are only one of four examples of floor mosaic found on Georgian territory and the only one found east of the Surami mountain range.
Type: Archaeological Site
Tags: Archaeological Excavation, C2nd, C8th, Dzalisa, Georgia, Georgian National Museum, Iberia, Kartli, Mosaic, Ptolemy, Roman, Zalissa