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The closeness to Kefkalesi may suggest some sort of continuity from an Urartian religious site. Large blocks of stone that are clearly Urartian in origin can be seen in the foundations of the church. However, it is not possible to say if these were taken from Kefkalesi or from an Urartian structure that was on the site of the monastery.
It is believed that the earliest known mention of this monastery is from the second quarter of the 8th century when, according to the Acts of the Martyrs, Vahan of Goghthen stayed there. He was the son of a local Armenian ruler and had been taken by the Arabs to Syria and raised as a Muslim. He was later sent back to Armenia to govern his territory under Arab suzerainty. However, as soon as he arrived he renounced Islam, returned to Christianity, came to Adilcevas, and retired into a nearby hermitage called Erashkhavor. His abandonment of Islam would eventually lead to his martyrdom around the year 737. Erashkhavor, which means Monastery of the Protector, is probably an earlier name for Sk'ants'elagorgivank. However, it is possible that Erashkhavor may have been another, now vanished, monastery that was also close to Adilcevaz.
The importance of the monastery arose from its possession of certain relics that were believed to have the power to cure disease. This accounts for its later name being Sk'ants'elagorgivank, the "Monastery of the Miracles". Until about the 14th century a relic known as the "Holy Emblem of War" affected these cures. After that time a second relic gradually superseded it. This new relic was a piece of a large bronze caldron that had been found, buried in the ground, by the monks during an epidemic of pestilence. It came to be believed that this was the basin in which Jesus had been washed in just after His birth. It is likely that what the monks had actually uncovered was part of an Urartian caldron.
During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries the monastery housed a scriptorium - about 20 manuscripts have been identified as having being created there.
At the end of the 19th century the monastery was still wealthy and owned much land. In 1893 an earthquake struck Adilcevas, destroying many houses. It is not know if the monastery was affected. In 1895 the monastery was attacked and robbed by Kurds, who also burned down the monastery's supplementary buildings. These were rebuilt at the start of the 20th century and the monastery continued to operate until 1915.
The whole of the drum and dome was intact when Thierry surveyed it in the late 1960s. Half of it has now collapsed: this happened probably during the 1980s (it had definitely collapsed by 1992).
Haykaberd (Armenian: Հայկաբերդ, meaning fortress of Hayk; Turkish: Çavuştepe) is an Urartian fortress in the Hayots Dzor (Armenian: Հայոց Ձոր) region of historic Armenia (now in the Gürpınar district of the Van Province in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia region). The fortress was founded in the 3rd millennium BC by Hayk, the Armenian progenitor, near the site where he slayed the invading Babylonian King Bel.
It is most likely to have been built in around 2400 BC soon after he slayed Bel. It remains in remants now, however.
History
"In the year 664 (A.D. 1215), by the grace of God, when the lord of this city of Ani was the strong and powerful Zakaria ... I, Tigran, servant of God, son of Sulem Smbatorents, of the Honents family, for the long life of my lords and of their children, built this monastery of St. Grigor, which was on the edge of an escarpment and in a place full of underbrush, and I bought it with my legitimate wealth from the owners and with great fatigue and expense, I provided it with defense all around; I built this church in the name of St. Grigor Lusavoritch and I embelished it with many decorations..."
Inscription on the eastern wall of this church
The inscription quoted above reveals that this church was commissioned by a wealthy merchant named Tigran Honents, and completed in the year 1215. As well as paying for its construction he provided it with many precious objects, including crosses, lamps, gold and silver vessels, and religious relics.
At that time Ani was under Georgian control - and this church is believed to have been devoted to the Georgian Orthodox Rite (and the frescoes within are thought to have been painted by Georgian artisans).
Recent Damage to the Frescoes
The defacing of faces in the frescoes by Muslims objecting to the depiction of images is predictable. The more accessible paintings have also been heavily damaged in recent years by tourist graffiti (both Turkish and foreign).
However the most serious damage is of a bizarre sort. In an effort to hide the graffiti damage, large areas of the frescoes have been covered in whitewash! The frescoes on the northern wall of the church were particularly badly damaged by graffiti (including a large CND symbol hacked into the plaster). To "tidy" this section up the entire lower registry of paintings has simply been chipped off.
This damage occurred in the early 1990s - during the period of professor Beyhan Karamağaralı's excavations and must have taken a considerable amount of time and effort to accomplish. It could not have been done without the use of scaffolding or ladders, and must have been officially sanctioned.
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History of the Monastery
The closeness to Kefkalesi may suggest some sort of continuity from an Urartian religious site. Large blocks of stone that are clearly Urartian in origin can be seen in the foundations of the church. However, it is not possible to say if these were taken from Kefkalesi or from an Urartian structure that was on the site of the monastery.
It is believed that the earliest known mention of this monastery is from the second quarter of the 8th century when, according to the Acts of the Martyrs, Vahan of Goghthen stayed there. He was the son of a local Armenian ruler and had been taken by the Arabs to Syria and raised as a Muslim. He was later sent back to Armenia to govern his territory under Arab suzerainty. However, as soon as he arrived he renounced Islam, returned to Christianity, came to Adilcevas, and retired into a nearby hermitage called Erashkhavor. His abandonment of Islam would eventually lead to his martyrdom around the year 737. Erashkhavor, which means Monastery of the Protector, is probably an earlier name for Sk'ants'elagorgivank. However, it is possible that Erashkhavor may have been another, now vanished, monastery that was also close to Adilcevaz.
The importance of the monastery arose from its possession of certain relics that were believed to have the power to cure disease. This accounts for its later name being Sk'ants'elagorgivank, the "Monastery of the Miracles". Until about the 14th century a relic known as the "Holy Emblem of War" affected these cures. After that time a second relic gradually superseded it. This new relic was a piece of a large bronze caldron that had been found, buried in the ground, by the monks during an epidemic of pestilence. It came to be believed that this was the basin in which Jesus had been washed in just after His birth. It is likely that what the monks had actually uncovered was part of an Urartian caldron.
During the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries the monastery housed a scriptorium - about 20 manuscripts have been identified as having being created there.
At the end of the 19th century the monastery was still wealthy and owned much land. In 1893 an earthquake struck Adilcevas, destroying many houses. It is not know if the monastery was affected. In 1895 the monastery was attacked and robbed by Kurds, who also burned down the monastery's supplementary buildings. These were rebuilt at the start of the 20th century and the monastery continued to operate until 1915.
The whole of the drum and dome was intact when Thierry surveyed it in the late 1960s. Half of it has now collapsed: this happened probably during the 1980s (it had definitely collapsed by 1992).
Haykaberd (Armenian: Հայկաբերդ, meaning fortress of Hayk; Turkish: Çavuştepe) is an Urartian fortress in the Hayots Dzor (Armenian: Հայոց Ձոր) region of historic Armenia (now in the Gürpınar district of the Van Province in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia region). The fortress was founded in the 3rd millennium BC by Hayk, the Armenian progenitor, near the site where he slayed the invading Babylonian King Bel.
It is most likely to have been built in around 2400 BC soon after he slayed Bel. It remains in remants now, however.
History "In the year 664 (A.D. 1215), by the grace of God, when the lord of this city of Ani was the strong and powerful Zakaria ... I, Tigran, servant of God, son of Sulem Smbatorents, of the Honents family, for the long life of my lords and of their children, built this monastery of St. Grigor, which was on the edge of an escarpment and in a place full of underbrush, and I bought it with my legitimate wealth from the owners and with great fatigue and expense, I provided it with defense all around; I built this church in the name of St. Grigor Lusavoritch and I embelished it with many decorations..."
The inscription quoted above reveals that this church was commissioned by a wealthy merchant named Tigran Honents, and completed in the year 1215. As well as paying for its construction he provided it with many precious objects, including crosses, lamps, gold and silver vessels, and religious relics.
At that time Ani was under Georgian control - and this church is believed to have been devoted to the Georgian Orthodox Rite (and the frescoes within are thought to have been painted by Georgian artisans). Recent Damage to the Frescoes
The defacing of faces in the frescoes by Muslims objecting to the depiction of images is predictable. The more accessible paintings have also been heavily damaged in recent years by tourist graffiti (both Turkish and foreign).
However the most serious damage is of a bizarre sort. In an effort to hide the graffiti damage, large areas of the frescoes have been covered in whitewash! The frescoes on the northern wall of the church were particularly badly damaged by graffiti (including a large CND symbol hacked into the plaster). To "tidy" this section up the entire lower registry of paintings has simply been chipped off.
This damage occurred in the early 1990s - during the period of professor Beyhan Karamağaralı's excavations and must have taken a considerable amount of time and effort to accomplish. It could not have been done without the use of scaffolding or ladders, and must have been officially sanctioned.