AGENCY FOR CONSERVATION
OF HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL MONUMENTS
MONASTERY OF HAGHBAT - CHURCH OF THE HOLY SIGN
(976 A.D.)
THE ARMENIAN HISTORIAN STEPHEN OF TARON REPORTS IN HIS ELEVENTH-CENTURY WORK THAT THERE WERE FIVE HUNDRED PERSONS LIVING IN THE MONASTERIES OF HAGHBAT AND SANAHIN. BOTH MONASTERIES PLAYED IMPORTANT HISTORIC ROLES THROUGH THEIR THEOLOGIANS, SCHOLARS AND TEACHERS. HAGHBAT HAD AN ACADEMY, A SCRIPTORIUM FOR THE COPYING AND ILLUSTRATING OF MANUSCRIPTS, AND A LIBRARY WITH AN EXTENSIVE COLLECTION OF RELIGIOUS, PHILOSOPHICAL, HISTORICAL AND SCIENTIFIC TEXTS.
HAGHBAT IS PERCHED AT THE TOP OF A MOUNTAIN NEAR SANAHIN OVERLOOKING DRAMATIC VISTAS OF MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS. AS AT SANAHIN, THE TOWERED WALLS ENCLOSE SOME OF THE MOST INNOVATIVE MEDIEVAL STRUCTURES IN ARMENIA INCLUDING THREE CHURCHES, A LIBRARY, GALLERY, REFECTORY, BELL TOWER, MAUSOLEA AND KHACHKARS (ORNATELY CARVED CROSS STONES) BUILT BETWEEN THE TENTH AND THE THIRTEENTH CENTURIES. AS AT SANAHIN, QUEEN KHOSROVANUSH WAS THE PATRON OF THE MAIN CHURCH, ST. NSHAN ("HOLY SIGN") BUILT IN 976 991, DEDICATED TO HER SONS WHOSE IMAGES ARE CARVED UNDER THE EAST GABLE HOLDING A MODEL OF THE CHURCH. THE DESIGN MAY HAVE BEEN BY TRDAT, THE FAMED ARCHITECT WHO HAD BEEN CALLED UPON TO REPAIR THE MASSIVE DOME OF THE FAMOUS CATHEDRAL OF HAGIA SOPHIA IN CONSTANTINOPLE, THE CAPITAL OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE. LATER, BY 1010 AD, HE HAD COMPLETED THE CATHEDRAL OF ANI THE CAPITAL CITY OF MEDIEVAL ARMENIA KNOWN AS THE CITY OF ONE THOUSAND AND ONE CHURCHES.
ST. NSHAN IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF THE HALL TYPE CHURCH WITH A CENTRAL DOME, INTERIOR CRUCIFORM PLAN, AND TWO STORY CHAMBERS IN ALL FOUR CORNERS OF THE CHURCH, A DESIGN WHICH BECAME POPULAR IN ARMENIA AT THIS TIME. THE WALL PAINTINGS ON THE INTERIOR INCLUDED IMAGES OF CHRIST AND A PORTRAIT OF A PRINCELY DONOR. ITS GAVIT HAS A DRAMATIC VAULTING SYSTEM USING CROSS RIBS TO SUPPORT THE STONE CEILING A FEATURE USED LATER IN SOME MEDIEVAL FRENCH CHURCHES. OTHER NOTABLE STRUCTURES WERE COMMISSIONED BY PRINCESS KHATUN, AND ABBOTS HAMAZASP AND HOVHANNES.
(WITH THE GENEROSITY AND ASSISTANCE OF THE ARMENIAN LIBRARY AND MUSEUM OF AMERICA, IN WATERTOWN, MASSACHUSETTS.)
