Church Restoration Raises Hopes For Turkish-Armenian Reconciliation
8/10/2005 at 18:54
Vanadzor.net
by Selcan Hacaoglu AP
Rainwater seeps through the conical dome of Akhtamar’s thousand-year-old church, washing away biblical frescoes from one of the finest surviving monuments of ancient Armenian culture. Bullet holes pock the sandstone walls. After a century of neglect and decades of political wrangling, Turkey has begun restoring the church, a renovation that comes as Turkish leaders face intense pressure from the European Union to improve their treatment of minorities.
The 2 million Turkish Lira ($1.5 million) restoration, ordered and paid for by the Turkish government, began in May and is raising hopes that a small, cautious thaw in relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia could expand.
[...]
The European Union urged Turkey last year to consider registering Akhtamar in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. [...].
Eastern Turkey was once a heartland of Armenian culture and more than a million Armenians lived in the area at the turn of the 19th century. [...].
Akhtamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was one of the most important churches of those ancient Armenian lands. It was built by Armenian King Gagik I of Vaspurakan and inaugurated in A.D. 921. Gagik’s historian, Thomas Ardzruni, described the church as being near a harbor and a palace with gilded cupolas, peacefully surrounded by the lake. Only the church survived.
By 1113, the church had become the center of the Armenian Patriarchate of Akhtamar and an inspiration to mystics in the area. The island was the center of a renowned school of scribal art and illumination.[...].
[...]
Today, there are virtually no Armenians in eastern Turkey, and Akhtamar has been empty for decades. Some of its reliefs are stained with paint and eggs thrown by vandals. Bullet holes, apparently from shepherds who used the site for target practice, mar the walls.
The church is considered one of the most important examples of Armenian architecture. Elaborate reliefs project up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) from brownish-red sandstone walls, almost like sculptures. Some depict biblical stories such as Jonah being swallowed by the whale and Daniel in the lion’s den. Others show cows, lions, birds and other animals to remind worshippers that the church is an image of paradise.
Erdogan’s government asked the Armenian Christian patriarch in Istanbul, where nearly all of Turkey’s remaining 65,000 Armenians live, to name an architect to help with the restoration. Zakarya Mildanoglu, the architect picked, says he hopes the restoration helps improve relations between Armenia and Turkey, but adds: "We need to be patient. Things that happened a century ago cannot be healed overnight."
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Vanadzor.net
by Selcan Hacaoglu AP
Rainwater seeps through the conical dome of Akhtamar’s thousand-year-old church, washing away biblical frescoes from one of the finest surviving monuments of ancient Armenian culture. Bullet holes pock the sandstone walls. After a century of neglect and decades of political wrangling, Turkey has begun restoring the church, a renovation that comes as Turkish leaders face intense pressure from the European Union to improve their treatment of minorities.
The 2 million Turkish Lira ($1.5 million) restoration, ordered and paid for by the Turkish government, began in May and is raising hopes that a small, cautious thaw in relations between Turkey and neighboring Armenia could expand.
[...]
The European Union urged Turkey last year to consider registering Akhtamar in UNESCO’s World Heritage List. [...].
Eastern Turkey was once a heartland of Armenian culture and more than a million Armenians lived in the area at the turn of the 19th century. [...].
Akhtamar, called the Church of Surp Khach, or Holy Cross, was one of the most important churches of those ancient Armenian lands. It was built by Armenian King Gagik I of Vaspurakan and inaugurated in A.D. 921. Gagik’s historian, Thomas Ardzruni, described the church as being near a harbor and a palace with gilded cupolas, peacefully surrounded by the lake. Only the church survived.
By 1113, the church had become the center of the Armenian Patriarchate of Akhtamar and an inspiration to mystics in the area. The island was the center of a renowned school of scribal art and illumination.[...].
[...]
Today, there are virtually no Armenians in eastern Turkey, and Akhtamar has been empty for decades. Some of its reliefs are stained with paint and eggs thrown by vandals. Bullet holes, apparently from shepherds who used the site for target practice, mar the walls.
The church is considered one of the most important examples of Armenian architecture. Elaborate reliefs project up to 10 centimeters (4 inches) from brownish-red sandstone walls, almost like sculptures. Some depict biblical stories such as Jonah being swallowed by the whale and Daniel in the lion’s den. Others show cows, lions, birds and other animals to remind worshippers that the church is an image of paradise.
Erdogan’s government asked the Armenian Christian patriarch in Istanbul, where nearly all of Turkey’s remaining 65,000 Armenians live, to name an architect to help with the restoration. Zakarya Mildanoglu, the architect picked, says he hopes the restoration helps improve relations between Armenia and Turkey, but adds: "We need to be patient. Things that happened a century ago cannot be healed overnight."
[...]
Note: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
posted by Vahe Balabanian at 5:30 AM
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