Aug/Sept 00 - Ruined Church of the Mother of god (Georgian, 10th-11th cent.) at İşhan or Ishkhani or Ishkhan, in the Yusufelli region

A friend of mine is Armenian, has conducted tours of Armenian sites in Armenia, Turkey, and Syria on his vacation, and could retire in Armenia. Every guidebook describes this as Georgian but he's convinced it's Armenian as he and his friends found part of a surviving Armenian inscription on a wall of the church. [Update: The description to this video on Youtube refers to an "inscription in the Georgian and Armenian language placed at the entrance to the chapel" which dates from 1006. See it at the 2:25 min. pt.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=VsPkodsJ5RE More on this point below.] He explained that after WWI a number of abandoned Armenian churches in E. Turkey were claimed by Georgians or Turks to be Georgian. The guidebooks don't say much about its history, the LP only that it was built in the 8th cent., enlarged in the 11th, and that it's "spectacularly sited" and "wonderful". (It's a beauty, there's a fresco on the ceiling under that conical dome with 4 chariots driven above clouds round the edge of the circle, below a blue sky with stars and angels. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishkhani#/media/File:Ishkhan_Monast... [More re this fresco below]). Fodors says it was built in the 10th cent. and Berlitz that it was "once the seat of a Georgian bishropric", that a section's now used as a mosque, and that it has the same plan as Osk Vank, the largest Georgian church in the area, built /b/ 958 and 966 by Prince David who became "King David the Great [and] made Georgia a dominant power in the Caucasus" for a time. So ... I don't know.

- Update: Wikipedia has more to say now. "The name Ishkhani derives from the word Իշխան, Ishkhan, “Prince” in Armenian. ... The earliest reference to the monastery is found in 'The Life of Grigol Khandzteli', a Georgian manuscript dating from 951 which is now kept in Jerusalem. It recounts that Saba, a nephew and follower of the priest Gregory of Khandzta, founded a monastery on the site of an earlier church built by [the Armenian] Catholicos Nerses III Ishkhanetsi (641-661), a native of the village of Ishkhan, which had a tetraconch plan (a central dome with 4 apses radiating to the cardinal points) and which was damaged in the Arab invasions of the 7th cent. 5 Georgian inscriptions within the church and on the southern facade commemorate 5 restorations from 917 to 1032. One ascribes the foundation of the church to Bagrat III. [As it was "constructed in stages /b/ the 8th and 11th cent.s, it ranks amongst the oldest extant Georgian sacred architecture." {RG}] ... The monastery had been one of the 5 patriarchates of Tao-Klarjeti and its church functioned as a cathedral until the 17th cent. It was used as the headquarters for Ottoman officers during the Russo-Turkish War in the 19th cent., while its west arm was converted into a mosque and remained so until 1983." (Wikipedia)

- The church is domed, cruciform, with outer dimensions of 35 x 20.7 m.s. The amazing central cupola, 42 m.s high, entirely intact and similar to that at Öşvank, seemed to float on 4 free-standing piers, each 2 m.s in diameter (as the roof had fallen in. But I've read it's been faithfully resurrected in a recent restoration.) The eastern cross-arm extends with an apse with a unique arrangement (or unique in Georgian churches, not in ancient Armenian churches): a horseshoe-shaped arcade with arches resting on 8 columns, each with a unique capital, opens onto a rectangular ambulatory. www.360cities.net/image/georgische-kirche1-ishan-ostanato... That apse, "the oldest surviving portion of the bldg., was modelled after the church at Bana" (RG. See my next photo, and see below.) 2-story pastophoria, used to store priestly vestments, etc., flank the apse.

- In 966, the interior walls of the church were painted with frescoes, but apart from the cupola, little remains. (The LP writes cryptically that whole walls were covered in blue frescoes in the 1980s.) The “Ascension of the Cross” in the ceiling of the cupola depicts a bejeweled cross in a white, moon-like circle carried by 4 flying angels on a background of vibrant, dark blue (lapis lazurite) with specks of white, a starry night sky. 4 2-wheeled chariots drawn by 4 winged horses and driven by a standing figure are at each axis just above the rim, depicting 'the Vision of Zechariah' (Book of Zechariah, 6:1-6) in the Old Testament. A Georgian inscription above each chariot indicates the colours of the horses; red, black, white and dappled (see below). (Neither my photo nor any I've seen does it any justice, but I'll scan mine anyway. What a thing to find and see in the open, and exposed for so many centuries.)

- 8 figures identified as prophets by some scholars alternate with 8 windows in the blind arcade of the drum and stand below angels in circular niches holding scepters. During restoration in 1032, their heads were replaced by round openings [? See 3 in this shot]. A female figure dressed in blue, carrying a diadem and holding a model of a church in her hand is visible on the intrado of the NW window. This has been interpreted by scholars as a depiction of either the Cappadocian Ste. Nino, who converted the Georgians to Christianity, or the first Christian queen of Georgia or a personification of the church itself.

- 22 geometric and floral motifs are employed in the sculptural decoration of the church. Animals and legendary creatures are depicted within the geometric patterns.

- The exterior walls of the church and the drum are decorated with blind arcades (seen here). The conícal roof of the cupola is covered with alternating rows of dark red and grey coloured glazed tiles (again, seen here).

- A Georgian inscription at the entrance to the chapel (from 1006) states that King Gurgen I dedicated it to the Holy Mother of God. Vaulted with a single nave, an apse and 2 windows, its outer dimensions are 10.3 x 5.7 m.s. (all Wikipedia)

- A famous, solid-gold processional cross found here in the 19th cent. is on display today in the state museum of Georgia in Tbilisi. (Bradt)

 

- From 'the Book of Zechariah': 6. Then I turned and raised my eyes and looked, and behold, four chariots were coming from between two mountains, and the mountains were mountains of bronze. With the first chariot were red horses, with the second chariot black horses, with the third chariot white horses, and with the fourth chariot dappled horses [or 'grizzled and bay horses'] - strong steeds. Then I answered and said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” And the angel answered and said unto me, “These are four spirits of heaven, who go out from their station before the Lord of all the earth. The one with the black horses is going to the north country, the white are going after them, and the dappled are going toward the south country.” Then the strong steeds went out, eager to go, that they might walk to and fro throughout the earth. And He said, “Go, walk to and fro throughout the earth.” So they walked to and fro throughout the earth. And He called to me, and spoke to me, saying, “See, those who go toward the north country have given rest to My Spirit in the north country.”

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=_106IfO6Kc0

 

- As to that Armenian inscription, recall that a monastery had been founded here in the mid-7th cent. by an 'exiled' [LP] Armenian bishop before it was rebuilt several times by Georgians. Could my friend have found an Armenian inscription that's older than the several other Georgian inscriptions? Was the first (Armenian) church entirely replaced by the Georgians, or have elements survived such as the arcaded apse, "modelled after the church at Bana", which in turn is similar to ancient Zvartnots (see my next photo. The best evidence suggests that the famous Bana church was Armenian. I suspect the said apse at Ishan and its columns date from Nerses III Ishkhanetsi's 7th cent. Armenian church.) Did Ishkhani / Ishkhan serve both local Georgian and Armenian communities? That would be consistent, if so, with the placement in 1006 of a bilingual inscription above the entrance to the chapel. "Alongside the row of the church fathers, on the north and south walls of the bema, a medallion was depicted above the arches leading from the chancel apse to the sides; ... The medallion had an 8-line asomtavruli inscription on the right. ... [Another] medallion on the north wall had long been lost (Ek’vt’ime T’aq’aishvili presumed the presence of the image of Queen Akhshen of Armenia here); a 7-line Armenian inscription was depicted on the left of this medallion." arthistory.tsu.ge/murals/painting/ishkhani-murals-of-the-...

 

- It was a 7 km.-long slog up a steep, twisty road from the D060 to the green mountain oasis of İşhan (Turkish) or Ishkhani (Armenian) or Ishkhan (Georgian), with no traffic. But views of the almost barren, steeply eroded mtn.s to the south, east and west in the early evening light were compensation. www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_pJ5AuGHnI The road passed a cemetery near the top. The RG writes that that "road up, not recommended for those suffering from vertigo, weaves a lonely course through a heavily eroded, lifeless moonscape, which makes it all the more surprising when you arrive at the church and its surrounding apple, mulberry, and walnut groves. This is charming İşhan village, which despite its beauty seems to be in near-terminal decline. Since the 1980s, when its school had over 130 students, that number has dwindled to 11." (RG, 2013 edition) www.google.com/maps/place/Ishkhani/@40.7855434,41.7304097...

 

- On my arrival in the village, I headed for the church, explored it some, took some photos, said Wow, and then, somewhere, spoke with a group of young local guys and either one kindly offered to put me up for the night or I made the request with an offer to pay and he kindly accepted. I slept the night in a spartan room in a separate building near his house but on his property. I said my thank yous the next morning and headed back to the church to explore it further and take photos in the morning light. Again, this was my favourite of the churches I toured in Turkey o/s Istanbul. It's exotic, unusual, ancient but well-preserved, immense, and the most spectacularly-situated temple that I can recall touring. It was bright but cool with plenty of shade (see the trees here), and that wonderful blue and silver dome-ceiling fresco, in particular the 4 chariots, is a treasure.

 

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=Haij8ALJppc

 

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaXgXlxQU2Y

- www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOT26lCqUiU

 

- The Rough Guide has a good write-up re this ancient Georgian kingdom.:

"Georgians have lived in the valleys of the Coruh, Tortum, Kura and Berta rivers, now in NE Turkey, since the Bronze Age. Like the neighbouring Armenians, they were among the first Near Eastern nations [is the Caucasus in the Near East?] to be evangelized, and were converted rapidly to Christianity by St. Nino of Cappadocia in the mid-4th cent. Unlike the Armenians, they never broke with the Orthodox Patriarchate in Constantinople, and maintained good relations with Byzantium.

- An effective Georgian state only entered the local stage in the 9th cent., under the auspices of the Bagratid dynasty. This clan contributed rulers to both the Georgian and Armenian lines, hence the partial overlap in the medieval history of the 2 kingdoms. They claimed direct descent from David and Bathsheba, which explains a preponderance of kings named David, a coat of arms laden with Old Testament symbols, and curiously Judaic stars of David embossed on many of their churches.

- Ashot I Kuropalates began the first stages of territorial expansion and of the construction of churches in the area, under the guidance of the monk Gregory Khantzeli [or of Khandzta]. Ashot's descendants included David 'the Great' Magistros of Oltu, as well as Bagrat III, who in 1008 succeeded in unifying the various Georgian principalities into one kingdom. The Selcuks arrived in 1064, ravaging Georgia and all of eastern Anatolia, but as soon as they turned to confront the Crusaders a Bagratid revival began. David the Restorer managed to expel the Selcuks by 1125, moved the Bagratid court to newly captured Tbilisi, then reunited the various feuding principalities ruled by minor Bagratid warlords.

- Under the rule of David's great grandfather Tamara, medieval Georgia acquired its greatest extent and prestige, controlling most of modern Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as the ancestral Georgian valleys. A formidable military strategist and shrewd diplomat, the queen displayed a humanity and tolerance unusual for the era. [Some in Iran might dispute this. The Georgians under Tamara massaced Muslims in Ardabil and in the NW, although in revenge for the preceding, infamous Selcuk Turkish massacre of Armenians and Georgians at Ani.] Many churches and monasteries were repaired or re-endowed under Tamara; despite being a woman and a non-Muslim, her name still elicits respect from local Turks. (This Turkish vlogger refers to her with respect on a tour of the former Georgian church at Parkhali in this vlog: www.youtube.com/watch?v=85gsyuMr5UU and refers to the church in the caption as 'Queen Tamara's treasure.' But the construction of that church predates Tamara's reign [1184-1213] by > 200 yrs.)

- Following the death of Tamara, the Georgian kingdom began a slow but steady decline, effectively partitioned /b/ the Ottoman and Persian empires. The rise of Imperial Russia signaled the end of any viable Georgian state, and the last semi-independent king effectively surrendered to Catherine the Great in 1783.

- These early Bagratid monastic churches all date from before the move NE to the Caucusus proper, and most are sited amidst oases at the heads of remote valleys. The Georgians borrowed many of the architectural features of Armenian churches. It takes a trained eye to distinguish the two styles, although generally the Georgians rarely attempted the rotundas or multi-lobed domed squares beloved of the Armenians.

- Almost all of these churches have suffered damage from dynamite and pick-axe wielding treasure hunters, as the locals have an unshakeable conviction that all the Christians who left the are in 1923 secreted precious items in or under their churches in the mistaken belief that they'd eventually be able to return." (All RG, 2013)

 

- The following is from an article written by Irene Giviashvili www.atinati.com/news/6388a71b7103640043fa3670 (I'll have to splice it into the RG 's write-up above sometime to reduce any repetition.)

- "Tao-Klarjeti is a general name coined in the academic language of the 19th cent. to define medieval Georgian heritage, movable and immovable, related to the “Georgian Kingdom” or the “Kingdom of Kartvelians”. Their Kingdom included the provinces of Erusheti, Artaani, Samtskhe, Shavsheti, Tao, Kola, and Klarjeti, which primarily comprised the basin of the River Chorokhi (Çoruh) and the headwaters of the River Mtkvari (Kura). Today it corresponds to the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan, and partially Kars in NE Turkiye. The Kingdom was split into two branches: the Klarjeti and the Tao, thus gaining the name the “Tao-Klarjeti Kingdom”. The millennial reign of the Bagrationi dynasty began in this region, but its history dates back to the very roots of the Georgian nation. The Georgian Chronicles provide a list of the oldest Georgian cities established by Kartlos, the mythical founder of the nation, and his descendants. Among the most ancient are the major cities of the region: the fortified city of Tukharisi in Klarjeti, Tsunda, and Artaani in Javakheti. Tao-Klarjeti played a much more important role in the history of Georgia than merely as another province. This is where the idea of a United Georgian state was born and executed, long before the first united army of the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia and Colchis (western Georgia) was formed. The 11th-cent. chronicler Leonti Mroveli recounts how in the 3rd cent. BC, King Parnavaz of Iberia resolved to confront the Eastern Roman Empire. He was joined in this campaign by the Colchians and Ossetians, and the site of the battle was a place named Huri (the city of demons), which at that time had already been abandoned. The rock-cut complex near the modern Altas (an old Huri, Ardahan) still bears the name “Nakalakoi” ('abandoned city' in Georgian), and most likely witnessed this story. The first church for the newly-Christianized Iberia was built here in the village of Erusheti, in Artaani, by Byzantine masons traveling to Mtskheta. When the newly converted Iberian King Mirian sent a mission to Constantinople, Constantine rewarded the Georgian King with holy relics and sent masons to build churches. The first episcopates were formed here in Klarjeti at Ahiza and Mere, followed by the first monastery at Opiza, all of which were established during the reign of King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 5th cent.

- During the era of Arab domination in eastern Georgia, which began in @ 640, Erismtavari Ashot Bagrationi (786 - 826) left Tbilisi and moved to the periphery, to the SW provinces of the country that bordered Byzantium. Accordingly, at the end of the 9th cent., a new principality was founded with its royal residence in Artanuji (Ardanuç, Turkiye). The area’s topography, featuring high plateaus and deep canyons, offered fertile farmland and easily defensible positions. Surrounded by the Islamic World while sharing a border with the Byzantine Empire, the Bagrationi Kings played a crucial role in changing the political and cultural landscape of the region.

- The Georgians of Tao-Klarjeti brought monasticism to a new level, particularly through the activities of Father Grigol Khantsteli (Gregory of Khantsta), who established new monasteries and restored old ones. These produced books, the finest masterpieces of metalwork, and were rich in icons and liturgical objects. The Georgian Chronicles state that “Klarjeti was protected by a rocky environment,” and it appears that such a location provided not only physical, but also spiritual tranquility for its inhabitants. In the mid-10th cent., leadership was taken up by the Tao branch of the Kingdom. King David III reigned with spectacular success from 958 to 1001, dramatically altering Georgian history with his diplomatic, military, political, economic, educational, and cultural achievements. The monasteries that were founded or redeveloped during his reign (Khakhuli, Oshki, Otkhta Eklesia and Parkhali) came to define the very borders of the Kingdom.

- Located at a geographical and cultural crossroads, and also owing to the political, religious, and cultural ideology of the Georgians of Tao-Klarjeti, the country became an integral part of and an active player in the regional changes that were occurring in the Caucasus and Anatolia. The religious centers in Tao-Klarjeti became points of transmission for cultural exchanges among Christian centers, as well as between the Christian and Islamic Worlds. At the same time, the fortifications that created a kind of grid of massive fortresses and small watchtowers served as a powerful barrier against political expansion.

- The importance of Tao-Klarjeti declined once the center of the united Georgian Kingdom moved first to Kutaisi (ca. 1000), and finally to Tbilisi (1122), although its cultural impact was diffused around the rest of Georgia. The historic Georgian provinces of Tao-Klarjeti were taken first by Ottoman Turkey in the 16th century, and ultimately by the Turkish Republic according to the Kars treaty of 1923.

- Evidence of the cultural and political importance of the area is seen in the ruins of more than a hundred churches, chapels, bridges, and fortifications.

● The preserved architectural monuments date from the 9-11th cc. There is a wide variety of architectural plans and their rendering. These include cross-domed churches, circular buildings, basilicas, and hall churches – modest in size but greatest in number.

● Almost all the churches were constructed with stones and mortar; there are very few examples of the use of brick.

● The use of stone made the development of sculpture possible, and the churches are richly decorated with geometric, floral ornamentations, and figurative reliefs.

● Inscriptions were applied liberally, giving accounts of the building processes as well as naming the donors and royal patrons; the masons’ initials are a common feature too.

● Most of the grand churches are part of monastic complexes that also include several small churches and chapels, large refectories, and various other monastic buildings.

● Almost all the larger churches have special spaces reserved for royalty and bishops.

● Most of the monuments have been preserved in their authentic original state. Only a few have undergone minor alterations."

 

- Caucasian history is a soup of tangled webs which comes through in this article in 'Caucusus Plus' reviewing Georgian heritage and history in northern modern Armenia.: kavkazplus.com/en/news.php?id=16049#.ZFZYraDMLrc Here's another from the same site: "Does Georgia persist because of the Armenians?", a rebuttal to a claim made by an Armenian TV presenter.: kavkazplus.com/en/news.php?id=11050#.ZFZ7DqDMLrc (That kavkazplus.com site has some surprisingly anti-Armenian articles. Some are a bit edgy and strange. I hesitate to include these links to those articles, which I'll review again later.) And here's an article from 2011 re a week-long visit to Georgia by "[Armenian] Catholicos Garegin II, which the [Apostolic] church hopes will help resolve disputes with the Georgian government and Georgian Orthodox Church over the country's Armenian religious heritage." www.rferl.org/a/armenia_church_leader_on_landmark_visit_t...

 

 

- Sufficiently sufficed with my tourism at İşhan/Ishkhan that morning, I took a long, pensive walk back down those 7 vertiginous km.s to the D060 with time for cogitation. Turning left, I then hiked further east through more of the best scenery I'd seen and would see that whole trip. (I took a photo towards the east down that road /b/ soaring canyon walls that I'll upload sometime.) My destination was the city of Kars ("one of the ancient Armenian capitals, after Artashat, Tigranakert, Vagharshapat and Dvin"). I followed the D060 alongside the Oltu stream east to the village of Coşkunlar where both the hwy. and the stream turn right (south), and then down to the T-junction with the D955 passing 2 ruined kales just east of the rd. not far north of that junction, Erkek kalesi (Mens' castle) www.castles.nl/erkek-castle and Kizkalesi (Girls' castle, not to be confused with the famous Crusader castle of the same name in the Mediterranean), only @ 300 m.s apart north to south, forming a defensive system in a valley where two rivers meet. Of the 2, Kizkalesi is the more dramatically sited, with an upper castle perched on a rocky ridge below a lower castle, "an eerie site, in keeping with the surreal landscape, where craggy gorges alternate with reddish bluffs (Bradt)," and was a miss. (It was right by the road.) I recall neither. (?)

- The city of Oltu was 15-20 clicks off route (detouring SW down the D955), 30-40 there and back, but it's home to the huge, well-preserved Oltu kalesi (the inner bailey really). Built by the Urartians @ 1,000 B.C., it "was of some importance in the Roman and Byzantine periods, and was occupied by Selcuks and Genoese colonists before falling to the Ottomans in the 16th cent" (LP) who would use it as a caravanserai. There's also an impressive Russian Orthodox church (1885-'90) on the other side of town which was a defunct fixer-upper in 2000, and now has a new steeple and a golden dome at the back end that looks just like a Gellhorn pessary. That church was built in part with early medieval masonry cannibalized from the awesome Bana cathedral (see the next photo), partially blown up by the Russians in the Russian-Turkish war. The city's best-known for the 'black amber' or jet mined nearby for prayer beads, etc. So that town might've been a miss.

- Living the good life directly beneath Oltu kalesi: www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsZ-3uCLctw .

 

- I then turned to head east again on the D060 (the D955 becomes the D060 at that junction) and caught a lift soon enough on a long-distance coach heading to Kars. (It's a rare event when a coach driver will stop for a hitch-hiker; the hitching in Eastern Turkey was that good, offsetting the lack of traffic.) I was heading to Kars in style when only 15 clicks or less further east I caught sight of an impressive round ruined construction not too far north of the road (@ 700 m.s) and had to apologize and ask the driver to stop again. It was a lucky thing, for that round pile was the impressive and architecturally influential Bana or Banak cathedral (Georgian Orthodox, originally Armenian Apostolic, 7th cent., reconstructed or renovated in the late 9th to early 10th). www.google.com/maps/place/Bana+Cathedral/@40.6676853,42.2... (See the next photo.)

 

Done