HIDDEN MONUMENTS OF ANATOLIA ARE NOW READY TO COME TO LIGHT

Aghtamar Holy Cross Church

After the Abbasid Caliph Muqtadir gave the title of kingdom to Gagik, the prince of Vaspurakan, the two brothers, Gagik and Gurgen initiated intensive reconstructions on the island of Aghtamar. Gurgen runs the reconstructions in Baskale, the capital of the Agbak region. The most important structures of King Gagik are in Vostan (Gevaş) to the south of Lake Van and in Aghtamar Island.

Architectural Details

Church Sections

The Church of the Holy Cross has a four-leaf clover-shaped cross plan with a central dome,in exterior dimensions of 16.00m x 12.50m. After the addition of the communityhall to the western cross arm in 1763, this facade was covered up to theplastic ornaments.

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Akdamar Church is remarkable for the richness of its unique stone reliefs inspired from the Bible and the Torah. In this respect, it has a special place in East-West Christian Art. With its high reliefs scattered all over the facade, it is unique and original compared to other Armenian churches.

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It can be understood that in its original state, thefrescoes inspired from the Torah and the Bible comletely covered the vaults,cross arms and the dome frames. Akdamar wall paintings gain prominence as themost extensive and earliest historical samples.

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The drawings of the Church of the Holy Cross are taken fromthe Documents of Armenian Architecture - Aght'amar (Milano, Italy: EdizioniAres, 1974).

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Van Basin

Van Region is located on a rugged geography, where the mountainranges get very close to each other and between the tremendous volcanosreaching out to Nemrut and Tendurek, that gets more elevated towards the east.
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