Akdamar İsland

Akhtamar Island (also known as Aghtamar and Aght'amar; Turkish: Akdamar Adası; Armenian: Աղթամար, Kurdish: Aghtamar) is a small island in Lake Van in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey, about 0.7 km2 in size, situated about 3 km from the shoreline. At the western end of the island a hard, grey, limestone cliff rises 80 m above the lake's level (1,912 m above sea level). The island declines to the east to a level site where a spring provides ample water. It is home to a 10th century Armenian church, known as the Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross (915-921), and was the seat of an Armenian Catholicos from 1116 to 1895.
Categories: island
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akdamar
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:  38°20'29"N 43°2'8"E

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  • During his reign, King Gagik I (908-943/944) of the Armenian kingdom of Vaspurakan chose to reside on Akdamar Island, where he founded a settlement; erected a large, square palace; laid out streets, gardens, and orchards; and planted trees and designed areas of recreation for himself and his court. The only surviving structure from that period is the Palatine Cathedral of the Holy Cross. It was built of pink sandstone by the architect monk Manuel during the years 915-921, with an interior measuring 14.80m by 11.5m and the dome reaching 20.40m above ground. In later centuries, and until 1915, it formed part of a monastic complex, the ruins of which can still be seen to the south of the church. Between 1116 and 1895 Akdamar Island was the location of the Armenian Catholicosate of Aghtamar. Khachatur III, who died in 1895, was the last Catholicos of Aghtamar. In 1915, during the Armenian Genocide, the monks of Aghtamar were massacred, the cathedral looted, and the monastic buildings destroyed. The architecture of the church is based on a form that had been developed in Armenia several centuries earlier; the best-known example being that of the 7th century St. Hripsime church in Echmiadzin, incorporating a dome with a conical roof. The unique importance of the Cathedral Church of the Holy Cross comes from the extensive array of bas-relief carving of mostly biblical scenes that adorn its external walls. The meanings of these reliefs have been the subject of much and varied interpretation. Not all of this speculation has been produced in good faith - for example, Turkish sources stress alleged Islamic and Turkic influences behind the content of the reliefs and minimise native Armenian influences. Some scholars assert that the friezes parallel contemporary motifs found in Umayyad art - such as a turbaned prince, Arab styles of dress, wine imagery; allusions to royal Sassanian imagery are also present (Griffins, for example).
  • The historical territory of Armenia
  • Աղթամար
This article was last modified 5 years ago