CHAPTER V

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ARMENIA.

CONTENTS.

Churches at Dighour, Usunlar, Pitzounda, Bedochwinta, Mokwi, Etchmiasdin, and Kouthais—Churches at Ani and Samthawis—Details.

CHRONOLOGY.

Dates. Tiridates converted to Christianity by Gregory II. A.D. 276 St. Gregory confirmed as Pontiff by Pope Sylvester 319 Christianity proscribed and persecuted by the Persians 428-632 Fall of Sassanide dynasty. 632 Establishment of Bagratide dynasty under Ashdod 859 Greatest prosperity under Apas 928 Ashdod III. 951 Sempad II. 977-989 Alp Arslan takes Ani 1064 Gajih, last of the dynasty, slain 1079 Gengis Khan 1222

The architectural province of Armenia forms an almost exact pendant to that of Greece in the history of Byzantine architecture. Both were early converted to Christianity, and Greece remained Christian without any interruption from that time to this. Yet all her earlier churches have perished, we hardly know why, and left us nothing but an essentially Mediæval style. Nearly the same thing happened in Armenia, but there the loss is only too easily accounted for. The Persian persecution in the 5th and 6th centuries must have been severe and lasting, and the great _bouleversement_ of the Mahomedan irruption in the 7th century would easily account for the disappearance of all the earlier monuments. When, in more tranquil times—in the 8th and 9th centuries—the Christians were permitted to rebuild their churches, we find them all of the same small type as those of Greece, with tall domes, painted with frescoes internally, and depending for external effect far more on minute elaboration of details than on any grandeur of design or proportion.

Although the troubles and persecutions from the 5th to the 8th century may have caused the destruction of the greater part of the monuments, it by no means follows that all have perished. On the contrary, we know of the church above alluded to (p. 428) as still existing at Nisibin and belonging to the 4th century, and there can be little doubt that many others exist in various corners of the land; but they have hardly yet been looked for, at least not by anyone competent to discriminate between what was really old and what may have belonged to some subsequent rebuilding or repair.

[Illustration: 343. View of Church at Dighour. (From Texier.)]

Till this more careful examination of the province shall have been accomplished, our history of the style cannot be carried back beyond the Hejira. Even then very great difficulty exists in arranging the materials, and in assigning correct dates to the various examples. In the works of Texier,[243] Dubois,[244] Brosset,[245] and Grimm[246] some forty or fifty churches are described and figured in more or less detail, but in most cases the dates assigned to them are derived from written testimony only, the authors not having sufficient knowledge of the style to be able to check the very fallacious evidence of the _litera scripta_. In consequence of this, the dates usually given are those of the building of the first church on the spot, whereas, in a country so troubled by persecution as Armenia, the original church may have been rebuilt several times, and what we now see is often very modern indeed.

[Illustration: 344. Plan of Church at Dighour. (From Texier.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

Among the churches now existing in Armenia, the oldest seems to be that in the village of Dighour near Ani. There are neither traditions nor inscriptions to assist in fixing its date; but, from the simplicity of its form and its quasi-classical details, it is evidently older than any other known examples, and with the aid of the information conveyed in De Vogüé’s recent publications we can have little hesitation in assigning it to the 7th century.[247] The church is not large, being only 95 ft. long by 82 wide over all. Internally its design is characterised by extreme solidity and simplicity, and all the details are singularly classical in outline. The dome is an ellipse, timidly constructed, with far more than the requisite amount of abutment. One of its most marked peculiarities is the existence of two external niches placed in projecting wings and which were no doubt intended to receive altars. Its flanks are ornamented by three-quarter columns of debased classical design. These support an architrave which is bent over the heads of the windows as in the churches of Northern Syria erected during the 6th century.

[Illustration: 345. Section of Dome at Dighour.]

Its western and lateral doorways are ornamented by horse-shoe arches, which are worth remarking here, as it is a feature which the Saracenic architects used so currently and employed for almost every class of opening. The oldest example of this form known is in the doorway of the building called Takt-i-Gero on Mount Zagros.[248] In this little shrine, all the other details are so purely and essentially classic that the building must be dated before or about the time of Constantine. The horse-shoe arch again occurs in the church at Dana on the Euphrates in 540.[249] At Dighour we find it used, not in construction but as an ornamental feature. The stilting of the arch was evidently one of those experiments which the architects of that time were making in order to free themselves from the trammels of the Roman semi-circular arch. The Saracens carried it much further and used it with marked success, but this is probably the last occasion in which it was employed by a Christian architect as a decorative expedient.

The six buttresses, with their offsets, which adorn the façade, are another curious feature in the archæology of this church. If they are integral parts of the original design, which there seems no reason to doubt, they anticipate by several centuries the appearance of this form in Western Europe.

[Illustration: 346. Plan of Church at Usunlar. (From Grimm.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 347. West Elevation of Church at Usunlar. (From Grimm.) Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 348. Plan of Church at Pitzounda. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

One of the oldest and least altered of the Armenian churches seems to be that of Usunlar, said to have been erected by the Catholicos Jean IV. between the years 718 and 726. In plan it looks like a peristylar temple, but the verandahs which surround it are only low arcades, and have very little affinity with classical forms. These are carried round the front, but there pierced only by the doorway. The elevation, as here exhibited, is simple, but sufficiently expresses the internal arrangements, and, with an octagonal dome, forms, when seen in perspective, a pleasing object from every point of view. Both plan and design are, however, exceptional in the province. A far more usual arrangement is that found at Pitzounda in Abkassia, which may be considered as the typical form of an Armenian church. It is said to have been erected by the Emperor Justinian, and there is nothing in the style or ornamentation of the lower part that seems to gainsay its being his. But the plan is so like many that belong to a much later age, that we must hesitate before we can feel sure that it has not been rebuilt at some more modern date. Its cupola certainly belongs to a period long after the erection of Sta. Irene at Constantinople (Woodcut No. 327), when the dome pierced with tall windows had become the fashionable form of dome in the Byzantine school. Its interior, also, is unusually tall, and the pointed arches under the dome look like integral parts of the design, and when so employed belong certainly to a much more modern date. On the whole, therefore, it seems that this church, as we now see it, may have been rebuilt in the 9th or 10th century.

[Illustration: 349. Section of Church at Pitzounda. (From Dubois.) No scale.]

[Illustration: 350. View of Church at Pitzounda. (From Dubois.)]

Whatever its date, it is a pleasing example of the style. Externally it is devoid of ornament except what is obtained by the insertion of tiles between the courses of the stone, and a similar relief to the windows; but even this little introduction of colour gives it a gay and cheerful appearance, more than could easily be obtained by mouldings or carving in stone.

The upper galleries of the nave and the chapels of the choir are also well expressed in the external design, and altogether, for a small church—which it is (only 137 ft. by 75)—it is as pleasing a composition as could easily be found.

The idea that the date of this church is considerably more modern than Dubois and others are inclined to assign to it, is confirmed by a comparison of its plan with that at Bedochwinta, which Brosset determines from inscriptions to belong to the date 1556-1575; and the knowledge lately acquired tends strongly to the conviction that this plan of church belongs to a later period in the Middle Ages, though it is difficult to determine when it was introduced, and it may be only a continuation of a much earlier form.

[Illustration: 351. Church at Bedochwinta. (From Brosset.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

One other church of this part of the world seems to claim especial mention, that of Mokwi, built in the 10th century, and painted as we learn from inscriptions, between 1080 and 1125. It is a large and handsome church, but its principal interest lies in the fact that in dimensions and arrangement it is almost identical with the contemporaneous church of Sta. Sophia at Novogorod, showing a connection between the two countries which will be more particularly pointed out hereafter. It is now very much ruined, and covered with a veil of creepers which prevents its outward form from being easily distinguished.

[Illustration: 352. Plan of Church at Mokwi. Scale 100 feet to 1 in.[250]]

As will be perceived, its plan is only an extension of the two last mentioned, having five aisles instead of three; but it is smaller in scale and more timid in execution. The church which it most resembles is that at Trabala in Syria (Woodcut No. 330), which is certainly of an earlier date than any we are acquainted with further east. Practically the same plan occurs at Athens (Woodcut No. 338), and at Mistra (Woodcut No. 339), but these seem on a smaller scale than at Mokwi, so that it may be considered as the typical form of a Neo-Byzantine church for four or five centuries, and it would consequently be unsafe to attempt to fix a date from its peculiarities.

[Illustration: 353. Plan of Church at Etchmiasdin. (From Brosset.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 354. Church of Kouthais. (From Dubois.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

Interesting as these may be in an historical point of view, the most important ecclesiastical establishment in this part of the world is that of Etchmiasdin. Here are four churches built on the spots from which, according to tradition, rose the two arches or rainbows, crossing one another at right angles, on which our Saviour is said to have sat when he appeared to St. Gregory. They consequently ought to be at the four angles of a square, or rectangle of some sort, but this is far from being the case. The principal of these churches is that whose plan is represented in Woodcut No. 353. It stands in the centre of a large square, surrounded by ecclesiastical buildings, and is on the whole rather an imposing edifice. Its porch is modern; so also, comparatively speaking, is its dome; but the plan, if not the greater part of the substructure, is ancient, and exhibits the plainness and simplicity characteristic of its age. The other three churches lay claim to as remote a date of foundation as this, but all have been so altered in modern times that they have now no title to antiquity.

[Illustration: 355. Window at Kouthais. (From Dubois.)]

The idea that the churches at Pitzounda and Bedochwinta must be comparatively modern is confirmed by comparing their plan with that of Kouthais, a church which there seems no reasonable ground for doubting was founded in 1007, and erected, pretty much as we now find it, in the early part of the 11th century. It has neither coupled piers nor pointed arches, but is adorned externally with reed-like pilasters and elaborate frets, such as were certainly employed at Ani in the course of the 11th century. The annexed elevation (Woodcut No. 355) of one of its windows exhibits the Armenian style of decoration of this age, but is such as certainly was not employed before this time, though with various modifications it became typical of the style at its period of greatest development.

ANI.

[Illustration: 356. Plan of Cathedral at Ani. (From Texier.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.]

[Illustration: 357. Section of Cathedral at Ani. Scale 50 ft. to 1 in.]

Even Etchmiasdin, however, sinks into insignificance, in an architectural point of view, when compared with Ani, which was the capital of Armenia during its period of greatest unity and elevation, and was adorned by the Bagratide dynasty with a series of buildings which still strike the traveller with admiration, at least for the beauty of their details; for, like all churches in this part of the world, they are very small. If, however, the cathedral at Ani is interesting to the architect from its style, it is still more so to the archæologist from its date, since there seems no reason to doubt that it was built in the year 1010, as recorded in an inscription on its walls. This, perhaps, might be put on one side as a mistake, if it were not that there are two beautiful inscriptions on the façade, one of which is dated 1049, the other 1059. To this we must add our knowledge that the city was sacked by Alp Arslan in 1064, and that the dynasty which alone could erect such a monument was extinguished in 1080. With all this evidence, it is startling to find a church not only with pointed arches but with coupled piers and all the characteristics of a complete pointed-arch style, such as might be found in Italy or Sicily not earlier than the 13th century. This peculiarity is, however, confined to the constructive parts of the interior. The plan is that of Pitzounda or Bedochwinta, modified only by the superior constructive arrangement which the pointed arch enabled the architects to introduce; and externally the only pointed arch anywhere to be detected, is in the transept, where the arch of the vault is simulated to pass through to the exterior.

[Illustration: 358. Side Elevation of Cathedral at Ani. Enlarged scale.]

In the plan and elevation of the building will be observed a peculiarity which was afterwards almost universal in the style. It is the angular recess which marks the form of the apses outside without breaking the main lines of the building. In the lateral elevation of this cathedral (Woodcut No. 358) they are introduced on each side of the portal where the construction did not require them, in order to match those at the east end. But in the Cathedral at Samthawis (Woodcut No. 359) they are seen in their proper places on each side of the central apse. Though this church was erected between the years 1050-1079, we find these niches adorned with a foliation (Woodcut No. 360) very like what we are accustomed to consider the invention of the 14th century in Europe, though even more elegant than anything of its class used by the Gothic architects.

At Sandjerli, not far from Ani, is another church, which from inscriptions translated by M. Brosset, and from sections given by him, appears to belong to the same date (1033-1044), and to possess coupled columns and pointed arches like those of the cathedral of Ani, which indeed it resembles in many points, and which renders the date above given highly probable.

[Illustration: 359. East Elevation of Chapel at Samthawis. (From Grimm.)]

[Illustration: 360. Niche at Samthawis. (From Grimm.)]

[Illustration: 361. Plan of Tomb at Ani. (From Texier.)]

[Illustration: 362. Tomb at Ani. (From Texier.)]

The plans above quoted may probably be taken as those most typical of the style, but in no part of the world are the arrangements of churches so various. All being small, there were no constructive difficulties to be encountered, and as no congregation was to be accommodated, the architects apparently considered themselves at liberty to follow their fancies in any manner that occurred to them. The consequence is that the plans of Armenian churches defy classification; some are square, or rectangles of every conceivable proportion of length to breadth, some octagons or hexagons, and some of the most indescribable irregularity. Frequently two, three, or four are grouped and joined together. In some instances the sacred number of seven are coupled together in one design, though more generally each little church is an independent erection; but they are all so small that their plans are of comparatively little importance. No grandeur of effect or poetry of perspective can be obtained without considerable dimensions, and these are not to be found in Armenia.

[Illustration: 363. Tomb at Varzahan. (From Layard’s ‘Nineveh and Babylon.’)]

There are also some examples of circular churches, but these are far from being numerous. Generally speaking they are tombs, or connected with sepulchral rites, and are indeed mere amplifications of the usual tombs of the natives of the country, which are generally little models of the domes of Armenian churches placed on the ground, though perhaps it would be more correct to say that the domes were copied from the tombs than the reverse.

The most elegant of all those hitherto made known is one found at Ani, illustrated in Woodcuts Nos. 361, 362. Notwithstanding the smallness of its dimensions, it is one of the most elegant sepulchral chapels known.

Another on a larger scale (Woodcut No. 363) is borrowed from Mr. Layard’s book. This tomb shows all the peculiarities of the Armenian style of the 11th or 12th century. Though so much larger, it is by no means so beautiful as the last mentioned tomb at Ani. In its ornamentation a further refinement is introduced, inasmuch as the reed-like columns are tied together by true love-knots instead of capitals—a freak not uncommon either in Europe at the same age, or in the East at the present day, but by no means to be recommended as an architectural expedient.

[Illustration: 364. Capital at Ani. (From Grimm.)]

[Illustration: 365. Capital at Gelathi. (From Grimm.)]

With scarcely an exception, all the buildings in the Armenian provinces are so small that they would hardly deserve a place in a history of architecture were it not for the ingenuity of their plans and the elegance of their details. The beauty of the latter is so remarkable that, in order to convey a correct notion of the style, it would be necessary to illustrate them to an extent incompatible with the scope of this work. In them too will be found much that has hitherto been ascribed to other sources. The annexed capital (Woodcut No. 364), for instance, would generally be put down as Saracenic of the best age, but it belongs, with a great deal more quite as elegant, to one of the churches at Ani; and the capital from Gelathi (Woodcut No. 365) would not excite attention if found in Ireland. The interlacing scrolls which occupy its head are one of the most usual as well as one of the most elegant modes of decoration employed in the province, and are applied with a variety and complexity nowhere else found in stone, though they may be equalled in some works illustrated by the pen.

Besides, however, its beauty in an artistic point of view, this basket pattern, as it is sometimes called, is still more so as an Ethnographic indication which, when properly investigated, may lead to the most important conclusions. The three following woodcuts, Nos. 366, 367, and 368, taken from churches at a now deserted village called Ish Khan, will serve to explain its more usual forms; but it occurs almost everywhere in the Armenian architectural province, and with as infinite a variety of details as are to be found with its employment in Irish manuscripts.

[Illustration: 366. Window in small Church at Ish Khan, Tortoom. (From a Photograph.)]

[Illustration: 367. Window in Ish Khan Church, Tortoom. (From a Photograph.)]

[Illustration: 368. Jamb of doorway at Ish Khan Church, Armenia. (From a Photograph.)]

Out of Armenia it occurs in the church at Kurtea el Argyisch in Wallachia (Woodcut No. 385), and is found in Hungary and Styria, and no antiquary will probably fail to recognise it as the most usual and beautiful pattern on Irish crosses and Scotch sculptured stones. On the other hand it occurs frequently in the monolithic deepdans or lamp-posts and in the temples on the Canarese or West Coast of India, and in all these instances with so little change of form that it is almost impossible that these examples should be independent inventions. Still the gaps in the sequence are so great that it is very difficult to see how they could emanate from one centre. Few, however, who know anything of the early architecture of Ireland can fancy that it did come from Rome across Great Britain, but that it must have had its origin further east, among some people using groups of churches and small cells, instead of congregational basilicas. So far, too, as we can yet see, it is to the East we must look for the original design of the mysterious round towers which form so characteristic a feature of Irish architecture, and were afterwards so conspicuous as minars in the East, and nowhere more so than in Armenia. Recent researches, too, are making it more and more clear that Nestorian churches did exist all down the West Coast of India from a very early period, so that it would not be impossible that from Persia and Armenia they introduced the favourite style of ornament.

All this may seem idle speculation, and it may turn out that the similarities are accidental, but at present it certainly does not look as if they were, and if they do emanate from a common centre, tracing them back to their original may lead to such curious ethnological and historical conclusions that it is at all events worth while pointing them out in order that others may pursue the investigation to its legitimate conclusion.

Taken altogether, Armenian architecture is far more remarkable for elegance than for grandeur, and possesses none of that greatness of conception or beauty of outline essential to an important architectural style. It is still worthy of more attention than it has hitherto received, even for its own sake. Its great title to interest will always be its ethnological value, being the direct descendant of the Sassanian style, and the immediate parent of that of Russia. At the same time, standing on the eastern confines of the Byzantine Empire, it received thence that impress of Christian art which distinguished it from the former, and which it transmitted to the latter. It thus forms one of those important links in the chain of architectural history which when lost render the study of the subject so dark and perplexed, but when appreciated add so immensely to its philosophical interest.

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