Sourp Tovmas Arakelotz Gantsaqa Armenian Monastery

 church, ruins, monastery, draw only border, Armenian Apostolic church

St.Thomas of the Apostles - Gantsaq - was an ancient Armenian Apostolic Vank (Monastery) constructed in the 13-th century and renovated in 1580's. It is perched on a steep hill overlooking Divabouyn [ Deveboynu] peninsula cove off the central south shores of lake Van. This beautiful monastery served as a haven for Armenian monks and hermits for solace in religious education and worship up until summer of 1895, when during the Hamidian mwide-scale massacres and pogroms against the Armenians in Eastern Anatolia were perpetrated by order of Sultan II. Abdul Hamid Han by the Kurdish Hamidiye regiments and bashibozouq muslim fanatic criminal bands (chete eshqiyalar), as a result this sacred Monastery was plundered, the monks murdered and the church desecrated and half-ruined .. The monastery was abandoned after 1895 as its location is in a remote, desolate area southeast of Van city and due to lack of convenient access and any security, it was left in abandon. Nowadays it is located about 1.5km NW of the village of Altınsaç [ called Gantsaq | Գանձակ before 1915 ] and it commands beautiful views of the Deveboynu peninsula and of lake Van as well as the beautiful mountains around it. There is an ancient ( 14th century through 19th century ) Armenian graveyard for christian monks who served The Lord in this monastery and the tombstones have inscriptions in Armenian.