Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - VI. Across the Arax plain and in Erivan
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ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
144
by the powerful Katholikos Nerses 111 (a.d. 641-661), called
Shinogh (i.e. the Builder), who also built himself a palace near
by. The church was destroyed some time between a.d. 930
and 1000. Several churches are now known in Armenia, or
the region inhabited by Armenians, which were built on a
similar plan and at about the same time, or a couple of centuries
later. It seems to have been a type of building which was
especially developed in Armenia. Related types are to be
found at Ravenna, and in the cathedral at Aachen.
One had an excellent opportunity here of studying the
Armenian method of building. In particular, the remains of
the three huge piers are highly characteristic. They consist
of a very thick core of concrete with an outer shell composed
of accurately fitted blocks or thick slabs of stone—chiefly lava.
All the church buildings in Armenia are constructed in the
same way, of concrete faced with stone ; but the stones are
so perfectly fitted together that no kind of mortar has been
used between them, and it has frequently been thought that
the churches of Armenia are constructed entirely of stone.
These ruins show that the old Armenian builders must have
possessed a remarkably high degree of skill in making the
concrete for their walls, even as early as the seventh century,
when this church was erected. The binding material seems
to have been some sort of lime containing cement, which they
may have procured from the mountains to the west or south
west. This lime, mixed with volcanic gravel and sand,
formed a kind of concrete. When we remember that these
ruins have been exposed to all weathers, and to the severe
Armenian winter with its disintegrating frosts, for nearly
a thousand years since the church was destroyed in the tenth
century, it is indeed remarkable that this concrete should
still exist, to a large extent still tightly adhering to the
facing-stones. The domes of their churches were concreted
of the same material, covered inside with facing-stone ; in
many churches these domes have shown themselves to be
so strong that they have partially held together even after the
facing-stones have dropped off them.
This method of building was not the original one in Armenia;
apparently it was never used in building private houses,
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