St. Gayane church

🔍 Research history

The church is mentioned by Armenian and foreign scientists and travelers having visited Armenia. It was included in works dedicated to both Armenian and medieval architecture (A. Jacobson, N. Tokarski, Hovh. Khalpakhchyan, M. Hasratyan, S. Mnatsakanyan). A comprehensive study dedicated to the monument was done by A. Ghazaryan, and the lithographs were thoroughly studied by A. by Harutyunyan.

🧱 Archaeological description

Stratigraphy
Historical information on the church construction is scarce. The construction protocol has not been preserved, but there are signs on the walls from the stones stacked in the VII century and mason masters’ marks.
There was no information about the monastery construction works until the 17th century. The church, neglected over the centuries, was renovated during the reign of Catholicos Philip I Aghbakets, in 1651-1653. All the roofs were rebuilt, the roof tiles were completely redone, the partially destroyed dome was restored, the tomb and the stage were rebuilt.
The monastery was in a dilapidated condition caused by the 1679 devastating earthquake. It was renovated during the reign of Catholicos Yeghiazar I Ayntaptsi. According to the inscription on the church western wall, he built the three-arched open hall in 1688, adjacent to the temple western wall, the tabernacles (liturgy tables), with the names of St. Peter and St. Paul apostles, crowned with a small belfry, on its northern and southern sides. Here are the tombstones of a number of patriarchs and high-ranking clerics who reigned in the Late Middle Ages.
He fenced and improved the entire territory of the monastery, built monastic cells, a farm house. A congregation was established on the spot. The Catholicos is buried on the northern side of the hall.
Catholicos Simeon I of Yerevan (1763-1780) built an underground building in the south-western part of the temple – “maghaza” (Arabic: “warehouse, cellar”), which served as a freezer.
The third important renovation works were carried out in the XIX century during the reign of Catholicos Gevork IV of Constantinople (1866-1882), under the guidance of a student of the Lazarian Seminary in Moscow, Reverend Vahan Bastamyants from Tiflis. He repaired the church walls, the northern door, improved the surroundings of the temple, built new buildings for the congregation, the large arched door of the wall, the rooms above the dormitory on the southern side of the courtyard, etc. A school was opened here where they studied Armenian and Russian. A printing house was founded (1870), where the student magazine “School” was published.
The church was partially renovated (roof and floor) during the reign of Khrimyan Hayrik (1898-1907). The last and main renovations were carried out during the reign of Catholicos Vazgen I (1955–1995). Since 1959, the plaster of the monument inner walls were cleaned, the sidewalks and the spring in the yard were improved, the roof, doors and windows were repaired, the floor was paved and the worn stones of the walls were replaced, a new altar was built (designed by B. Arzumanyan), it was repaired and the dome was partially raised to give the building a sleeker look, the black granite epitaph tombstone of the Virgin St. Gayane was installed in Nor Nakhijevan in 1910.
The works continued with the funds of a London-Armenian philanthropist Harutyun Mutafyan in 1980, in the memory of his relatives died during the 1915 Genocide.
Regular renovation works have been carried out in the monastery since 2004.
During the renovation works conducted in 1970-1980s, several murals were accidentally exposed while cleaning the plaster of the walls. On the apse of the western entrance is the scene “The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple”. Probably, it was later repainted and subjected to changes (A. Harutyunyan). The frescoes of the apostles Paul and Peter, the portrait of Jesus with a veil, accompanied by 2 angels, the image of Catholicos Yeghiazar I of Ayntapt, the scene “Crucifixion of Jesus” have been preserved.
The khachkars of the famous stone masons Sargis and Kiram are enchased on the altars walls of the hall.
A spring-monument was built on the left side of the road leading to the monastery main entrance, by architect R. Israelyan’s project. A spring-memorial was opened in 1984 on the right side of the road leading to the monastery main entrance in the memory of the Carnetians martyred during the Genocide. The Congregants of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, spiritual and cultural figures who lived and worked in the XIX-XX centuries are also buried around the church (mainly on the northern side).

Architecture
The church (16.75 x 23, 80 m) is built of yellow-brown tuff on a stepped earthen rampart. The inner space of the prayer hall with a rectangular plan is cross-shaped, it is divided into 3 naves by 4 powerful gables, and the dome with an 8-seated drum rises on the central square formed by the gables. The square-plan repositories are adjacent to the semi-circular upper tabernacle. The church has 3 entrances (the southern and northern ones were built in the XVII century). The entrance to the mausoleum is opened from the south-eastern vault. Most probably the entrance was from the front of the stage, as in the temple of Hripsime.
The exterior decoration is simple: the doors are paneled, the diagonal zones of the entrances, the arches of the windows are sculptured (geometric and plant motifs). The original forms of the eaves are not known. The red and white painted trims stand out in the interior features. There were probably frescoes on the walls at one time (A. Ghazaryan).
The inscription of Catholicos Hakob Shamakhetsi is exceptional on the western side of the central arch of the vestibule, and the sundial on the southern one.

🌍 Significance

The church is famous for its cemetery, where famous public and military figures were buried. On the northern side of the temple are Khachatur Abovyan’s son Vardan, Samson Ter-Poghosyan (Vardan, the hero of Raffi’s “Madman”, 1846-1911), Daniel Bek Pirumyan (1861-1921), the hero of the Sardarapat battles, Smbat Boroyan’s “Makhluto” (1875). -1956), tombstones of Lusine Zakaryan-Palyan.
It is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

📜 Traditional legends

Gayane is one of the 37 virgins who fled to Armenia from the persecutions of Roman Emperor Diocletian. When one of them, Hripsime, rejects the love of the great king Tiridates III of Armenia, the executioners brutally kill all of them by his order. Gayane was martyred with her 2 girlfriends.

📚 Sources

Literature

1. Agathanghegos 1835, Historical Armenian, Venice, Surb Lazar, 686 pages.
2. Alishan Gh. 1890, Ayrarat, Natural World of Armenia, Venice, St. Lazar, 590 pages.
3. Narrative of Arakel Vardapeti Darizhetsvoi 1896, Vagharshapat, Printing House of Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, 711 pages.
4. T. Nerses Abegha Khalatyan 2008, S. Renovations of the Gayane Monastery, Etchmiadzin, N 3, pp. 55-72.
5. Harutyunyan A. 2016, Vagharshapat monasteries and epitaphs, St. Etchmiadzin, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin ed., 548 pages.
6. Toramanian T. 2013, Materials of the history of Armenian architecture, Yerevan, YSU ed., 864 pages.
7. Shahkhatuniants Y. 2014, Signature of the Katoghike Church of Etchmiadzin and the ancient province of Ararat, St. Etchmiadzin, Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin ed., 560 pages.
8. Kazaryan A. 2012, Church architecture of the Transcaucasian countries of the VII century: the formation and development of traditions, Volume II, Moscow: Locus Standi, 640 p.

List of monuments
Armavir 3.2.16