Ancient Armenian monastery complex Tzarakar discovered
September 20, 2013 – 12:48 AMT
PanARMENIAN.Net – The renowned ancient Armenian monastery complex
Tzarakar has been discovered near the village of Chukurayva, 5 kms
south-east of the fortified town of Kechror, modern-day Turkey (the
old Gabeghiank district, Ayrarat province of Greater
Armenia),peopleofar.wordpress.com says.
What remains of it are the interior cut-in-rock structures, the
exterior buildings are irretrievably lost.
The monastery consists of a church which has several entrances
connected with each other, at least six chapels and other adjoining
buildings. It is remarkable for its very interesting structure and
extended lapidary inscriptions. Despite it, however, until recently
neither specialists nor topographers ever paid any attention to it.
It was only in 1999 that the monument was first visited by a
specialist, namely Scottish researcher Stephen Sim, who took
photographs of it and made its schematic plan. Later it was visited by
seismologist Shiro Sasano, who published a small-scale research work
on it together with several photographs he had taken there in 2009.
In this way, these two foreign researchers discovered the cut-in-rock
monastery and made it known to the scientific world. They, however,
failed to find out its name and called it after the adjacent village
presently inhabited by Kurds.
Understanding the importance of conducting comprehensive studies in
the monastic complex, in 2010 the members of Research on Armenian
Architecture conducted scientific expeditions and revealed a lot of
information relating to it. The available sources attest that this
newly-discovered monument complex is the monastery of Tzarakar, which
is mentioned in medieval records, and the location of which remained
unknown until very recently.
As is known, Tzarakar was one of the renowned monastic complexes in
medieval Armenia, but in the course of centuries, it lost its glory
and significance and was consigned to oblivion to such an extent that
in our days even its location remained obscure.
Late 19th century, Gh. Alishan used the available sources to point to
the area where the monastery could have possibly been situated:
`…Tzarakar, which is mentioned in some works by historiographers and
geographers, is known to have stood in a naturally impregnable site in
the vicinity of Kechror: first of all, a cut-in-rock monastery was
erected…’
S. Eprikian came to the same conclusion: `Supposedly, a monastery of
this name and a village used to be situated near Kechror, Gabeghenk
District, Ayrarat [Province].’
The colophon of an Ashkharatsuyts (a geographical work), dating back
to 1656, also confirms: `…the district of Gabeghenits and the castle
of Kaput also called Artagereits – the town of Kechror is situated there
together with the cut-in-rock monastery of Tzarakar, where
Archimandrite Khachatur Kecharetsi’s grave is found…’
This passage reveals two facts of the utmost importance: firstly,
Tzarakar Monastery was cut in the rock, and secondly, most presumably,
it was situated not far from the town of Kechror. That Khachatur
Kecharetsi, a worker of education and a poet who lived between the
13th and 14th centuries, was buried somewhere near Kechror, is also
attested by the following note on a map of 1691 compiled by Yeremia
Chelebi Kyomurjian: `Town of Kechror, bordering on Basen, and
Archimandrite Khachatur’s grave.’ These two records clarify that the
monastery of Tzarakar was truly located near the fortress town of
Kechror.
Besides written records, the etymology of the toponym of Tzarakar was
also of importance to its identification. Every visitor may easily see
that the structures of the monastic complex are cut into quite friable
masses of rock which are naturally striped and have certain coloring,
looking like the parallel circular lines showing the age of a cut
tree – evidently, the name of Tzarakar, the Armenian equivalent for Tree
Stone, is conditioned by this resemblance meaning a monastery cut into
a tree-like stone.
The only surviving parts of Tzarakar Monastery are those of its
structures which are cut in the rock, and therefore, are difficult to
destroy, whereas the others have been irretrievably lost. For this
reason, at present the complex is considered as only a cut-in-rock one
consisting of 6 chapels and a main cruciform church with a pseudo-dome
surrounded with annexes.
http://www.panarmenian.net/eng/news/170241/Ancient_Armenian_monastery_complex_Tzarakar_discovered