PLACES OF WORSHIP
AVAN TEMPLE COMPLEX
(KATHOGHIKE, TSIRANAVOR, ST. ASTVATSATSIN), VI-VII-XVII centuries
State index: 1.2.10
Builder: “Anti-Catholicos” Hovhan Bagarantsi
Location: Marshal
Khudyakov Street,
2nd lane. The complex includes the Katoghike Church, the Catholicos Palace, the
cemetery with cross stones, early medieval monuments.
The Katoghike Church (Avan Cathedral, or Tsiranovor, that is
another
names of the Mother of God) was built by the Catholicos Hovhan Bagarantsi (ruled in 591-602) as his residence and the
spiritual center of the Byzantine part of Armenia. The architect behind the
monument is believed to be John the Deacon, whose name is inscribed on the
eastern facade. Some believe that it was constructed on the location of a
pre-existing structure (probably IV-V century). It is a monumental structure
made of red tuff, externally rectangular, internally cross-shaped, domed (the
dome has not been preserved), with four-tabernacle, dome-covered circular
sacristies in the four corners. The floor is tiled. A fish-shaped dragon stone
is attached above the western entrance (2nd millennium BC). XIII-XIV century
inscriptions are depicted on the walls. It is one of the first five-domed
churches of Armenian Christian architecture. This construction served as a prototype for the Hripsime type monuments in Armenia and Georgia.
Catholicos Palace was built
by Catholicos Hovhan Bagarantsi on the north side of the Cathedral in 591-602. It is one of
the few secular structures of the early Middle Ages, that have been preserved
to our days. It is destroyed now. The remains of the walls are 3-4 stone rows
high.
Cemetery- fragments of early medieval
tombstones (VI-VII centuries), XIII-XVII centuries cross-stones (some of them inscribed
and dated: 1191, 1605) and tombstones are preserved. Catholicos Hovhan Bagarantsi was buried on the south
side of the Cathedral
in 610/611.
The monument group was destroyed in 1679 from the great earthquake of the Ararat valley. In 1937, 1940, late 1950s and in 1968 excavation-cleaning works were carried out here. The monument was partially renovated in 1941 and 1968.
“Scientific Research Center of Historical and Cultural Heritage” SNCO
Yerevan Municipality
