Unexpected discovery: a new church, inscription tombstones are found in Kecharis

An early medieval church was discovered in the Kecharis monastery complex during the renovation works and the excavations carried out within their scope. We talked about the details archaeologist Tigran Aleksanyan with.

– The new church was discovered during the improvement works. in which part is it located?

– The church was opened in the central part of the monastic complex, next to the Catholic and Saint Grigor Lusavorich churches. In the past, there were well-maintained, green paths leading to the monastery, and there was never any doubt that there was a church there. The roads have been repaired regularly.

2025 according to the previously prepared plan, improvement works were undertaken in the territory of the monastery. During the earthworks, gravestones from the 11th-13th centuries were regularly found, and we did a short excavation to understand how widespread they are, what kind of environment there is in the surroundings. And when we realized that the graves continue and we are dealing with the cemetery, we stopped all kinds of construction works on the site, and started large-scale excavations.

– In other words, both the cemetery and the church were discovered.

– Yes, they are from different eras. Tombstones dating back to the 11th-13th centuries were discovered around the Catholic church, which is very legitimate, because it is the stage of the Kecharis monastery’s foundation and flourishing. The buried persons are related to the activities of the monastery. And already to the east, when we continued the excavation, the new church was accidentally opened, which was built earlier, in the 6th-7th centuries.

I should mention that it is completely new. A church was discovered, about which there was no information until now, neither in inscriptions, nor among historians, nor in previous researches.

– What is the reason that there has been no information until now?

– I can’t say. It is also strange for us, because in the 11th century, when they started building the Church of St. Grigor the Illuminator, there are extensive testimonies about the foundation of the church, construction stages, builders, rebuilders, but to our surprise, there is no word about the church that existed before that.

– There were inscriptions on the tombstones.

– Yes, a part is a protocol, from the 11th, 12th, 13th centuries. Some have names on them. We made an interesting discovery. was a record stone, which was later turned into a khachkar plinth… the content was something like this. left the leader of the monastery, Barsegh Anetsi, who later became a Catholicos. There is talk about the brotherly death of his brother, who was killed in the fight against the Seljuks and was buried in the territory of the Kecharis monastery. We have not found that grave yet.

– We opened about 106 tombstones. There is a large cemetery under the entire southern wall of the Catholic church. The area was completely covered with soil, and that too was unknown.

– Is it known who is buried there?

– Yes. They are mainly spiritual persons. priests, holy fathers who served in the Kecharis monastery in the 12th-13th centuries.

– Do all tombstones have inscriptions?

– To some. There are gravestones with well-crafted, ornate patterns, but without inscriptions. In general, they have many similarities with the tombstone art of medieval Armenia. there are minor peculiarities of some lines, patterns, plant decorations.

– A toaster was also found. Do the church and the bakery have anything to do with each other?

– When the church was bowed down, in the later period there were attached buildings on the western side, probably residential or utility rooms. We have partially opened and already, if we continue the excavation, new rooms will be opened, because the walls are already outlined. Presumably, they are living rooms of the abbots of the monastery, and the toaster was a necessary everyday item in the household.

– You were working with a lithologist. Are all the records decoded?

– All the records I mentioned have been deciphered. In general, the lithographs of the Kotayk region, particularly of the Kecharis monastery, have also been studied, and the newly discovered inscriptions are under study, and the details will be published soon. The newly discovered church, unlike the other structures of the monastery, is built of tuff. And the monastery is made of basalt. What is interesting? there is no tuff in that region.  Through preliminary studies, we found out that the tuff was brought from the mines of Agarak village of Ashtarak region. It is an interesting circumstance. the stone was specially taken and built.

It is a construction art characteristic of the early Middle Ages, 5-7 centuries.  It is made of large tuff slabs, is notched, strong, but with certain plan deviations, which we are also studying. Maybe it is a consequence of the earthquake, because there are deviations of the walls in both vertical and horizontal direction. In our opinion, in 1003, when the first church of Kecharis Monastery was started to be built, they saw the new church. it was partially destroyed, they cleaned the rubble, conserved the walls, but did not restore it, maybe due to some technical problems.

The church was no longer restored, instead, new churches were built next to it, which were supplemented with new structures in the 11th-13th centuries, and the Kecharis monastery complex was formed.

It is interesting that the monastery was built on the site of an older church.  There is such a point of view in Armenology that apparently, at least in the case of important monastic complexes, they are built on the site of old sanctuaries. The results of these excavations seem to confirm this view.

When I say old church, I mean earlier, 5-8 centuries. There are many such cases. The most significant is Tatev Monastery. There was an older structure, later they constantly either rebuilt or built a new one next to it, and monastic complexes were formed. The choice of place is actually not accidental.

– I think in the 1980s and 2000s, renovation works were done in that area, but they didn’t find anything.

– Since the 1930s, regular restoration works have taken place in the territory of the monastery. In the 1940s, 1950s, 1980s, too. The Kecharis monastery was completely restored in 1998, 2001, ahead of the 1700th anniversary of the adoption of Christianity. But, along with that, archeological excavations have never been carried out in the area. There is a reason for this, because none of our previous explorers have any words, descriptions, anything in the old photos about possible earlier structures.

There was no doubt that there were earlier layers in the area.  Usually, excavations are carried out before such works, but since they have been restored regularly and nothing has come to light, they did not even suspect it.  We carried out extensive excavations and, in fact, there were very important results.

– Did you find any things in the church?

– We found items from different periods. 5th-7th centuries related to the church itself, mainly construction pottery, tiles, and in the rooms opened next to it, everyday household, economic pottery of the developed Middle Ages, various vessels, dishes.

– Is it possible that one day the newly found church will be restored?

– I cannot say, that is also being discussed. When we continue the excavations this year and the ancient site is completely opened, we will discuss this issue with the architects. does its technical condition allow it or not, maybe the walls are weak…

Maybe we should just leave it like that, just fix the existing one, that is also very interesting.  It is a ready-made ancient site, where you can see a half-destroyed church. Geological, technical, architectural studies should be carried out, combined with archaeological data and we will understand what we will do in the end.

– What are your expectations from the excavation?

– We started the excavation last year in autumn, this year we will continue it more regularly and for a longer period of time. Then a project of improvement will be drawn up, we will move on to the construction phase, because the project that was there actually disappeared.  The alleyways of that section must be completely transformed. they will approach from another side, but at the same time we will ensure the visibility of the newly opened church. Then we will understand how we solve the conservation issue.

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