X AD - Lake Van, Turkey

The Armenian chronicler Thovma Ardzruni competently reports the important building work accomplished by Derenik and his son Gagik, kings of Vaspurakan. He provides interesting information about the building of the harbor, church, palace and other edifices on the island of Akhtamar. Of all those buildings there remains but the church of Surp Khach (Holy Cross), erected between 915 and 921 by the outstanding architect, sculptor, and painter, Manuel, under the patronage of King Gagik Ardzruni. This is one of the finest jewels of Armenian architecture, and that is why it has received the special attention of both Armenian and foreign academics. In its design and conception of volumes and surfaces, this sanctuary is an intellectually original variation of the cruciform and central cupola'd churches of the high Middle Ages, of which the church of Surp Echmiadzin of Zoradir is a specimen discovered by Italian archeologists at Vaspurakan. It differs from them in an unprecedented richness of shapes and particularly in the number as well as variety of its mural high reliefs, which constitute an innovation in Armenian architecture.

Because if those magnificent high reliefs it is truly difficult to consider the church of Akhtamar only from the standpoint of architecture. Three bands of high reliefs cover all the walls of the church and are grouped according to the theme they represent. Side by side with religious subjects, Old and New Testament, are found numerous scenes from daily life such as hunting, work, and festivities, which are precious sources of information on the customs of the 10th century and mark the entrance of lay ideas into the realm of art. The high reliefs, representing among others the Virgin Mary, Christ, the Apostles, David and Goliath, Abraham and Isaac, Adam and Eve, King Gagik, hunting and the harvesting of grapes, are rendered with extraordinary dynamic realism; they portray authentically spiritual and ordinary life and illustrate the national character as well as human kind. All the interior walls and even the cupola are covered with beautiful frescoes, the best of which is the one painted on the high altar wall representing the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, sitting on a white ass. Because of its novel conception, its high reliefs and frescoes of rare artistic value, the church of Akhtamar deserves a particular place in the history of not only Armenian, but also world architecture. Akhtamar now lies in Turkish territory on Lake Van.  [Paragraph Source: Monuments of Armenia]