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Temple of Garni

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Temple of Garni
Garni Temple 02.JPG
The temple in 2013
Temple of Garni is located in Armenia
Temple of Garni
Location within Armenia
General information
Status Museum (as part of a larger protected area)
occasional neopagan shrine
Type Pagan temple or tomb[1][2]
Architectural style Ancient Greek, Greco-Roman, Armenian influence
Location Garni, Kotayk Province, Armenia
Coordinates Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Elevation 1,396 m (4,580 ft)[3]
Completed First or second century AD[1]
Owner Armenian Ministry of Culture

The Temple of Garni (Armenian: Գառնիի հեթանոսական տաճար, Gařnii het’anosakan tačar, lit. "pagan temple of Garni")[upper-alpha 1] is a reconstructed classical Hellenistic temple in Garni, Armenia. It is the only Greco-Roman colonnaded building or temple in Armenia and the former Soviet Union.[2][4][5]

It is perhaps the best-known structure and symbol of pre-Christian Armenia.[6][7] It was probably built by king Tiridates I in the first century AD as a temple to the sun god Mihr. After Armenia's conversion to Christianity in the early fourth century, it was converted into a royal summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III. According to some scholars it was not a temple but a tomb and thus survived the universal destruction of pagan structures. It collapsed in a 1679 earthquake. Renewed interest in the 19th century led to its eventual reconstruction between 1969 and 1975. It is one of the main tourist attractions in Armenia and the central shrine of Armenian neopaganism.

Location

The temple is situated at the edge of a triangular cliff and is part of the fortress of Garni (Armenian: Գառնիի ամրոց, Gařnii amrots or Գառնու ամրոց, Gařnu amrots). One of the oldest fortresses in Armenia,[8] it is mentioned as Gorneas in the first-century Annals of Tacitus.[9] The site is located near the village of Garni, in Armenia's Kotayk Province and is officially known as the Garni Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve (Armenian: «Գառնի» պատմա-մշակութային արգելոց-թանգարան), which includes the temple, a bath complex, a royal summer palace, the seventh century church of St. Sion and other minor items (e.g. medieval khachkars). In total, the list of intangible historical and cultural monuments approved by the government of Armenia includes 11 items.[10] It occupies 3.5 hectares and is supervised by the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations, an agency attached to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Armenia.[11]

History

The Greek inscription

The precise date of construction of the temple is unknown and is subject to debate. The dominant view is that it was built in 77 AD, during the eleventh year of reign of king Tiridates I. In 1945 the painter Martiros Saryan discovered a Greek inscription,[upper-alpha 2] which named Tiridates the Sun (Helios) the founder of the temple.[13] The inscription reads:[14]

<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />

The Sun God Tiridates, uncontested king of Great Armenia built the temple and the impregnable fortress in the eleventh year of his reign when Mennieay was hazarapet [thousander, chiliarch] and Amateay was sparapet [general, commander].

Early medieval historian Movses Khorenatsi attributed the inscription to Tiridates III.[15] Most scholars now attribute the inscription to Tiridates I. Considering that the inscription says the temple was built in the eleventh year of reign of Tiridates I, the temple is believed to have been completed in 77 AD.[15] This date was proposed by Alexander Sahinian[16] and has since gained general acceptance in Armenia.[17] The date is primarily linked to the visit of Tiridates I to Rome in 66 AD, where he was coronated by Roman emperor Nero.[upper-alpha 3] To rebuilt the city of Artaxata (Artashat), destroyed by the Roman general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, Nero gave Tiridates 50 million drachmas and provided him with Roman craftsmen. Upon his return to Armenia Tiridates began a major project of reconstruction, which included rebuilding the fortified city of Garni. It is during this period that the temple is thought to have been built.[20] The temple is believed to have been dedicated to Mihr,[upper-alpha 4][21][22] the sun god in the Zoroastrian-influenced Armenian mythology and the equivalent of Mithra. Tiridates, like other Armenian monarchs, considered Mihr their patron. Some scholars have argued that the historical context during which the temple was built, i.e. after returning from Rome as king, it is natural that Tiridates dedicated the temple to his patron god.[20] James R. Russells finds the view of the structure being a temple of Mihr baseless. Russell is also sceptical that the inscription refers to the temple.[23]

According to a different interpretation of the extant literary testimonia and the evidence provided by coinage, the erection of the temple started in 115 AD. The pretext for its construction would have been the declaration of Armenia as a Roman province[15] and the temple would have housed the imperial effigy of Trajan.[24]

A newer alternative theory proposed by Wilkinson (1982) suggests that the building is a tomb, probably constructed circa 175 AD. This theory is based on a comparison to Graeco-Roman buildings of western Asia Minor (e.g. Nereid Monument, Belevi Mausoleum, Mausoleum at Halicarnassus),[9] the discovery of nearby graves that date to about that time, the discovery of a few marble pieces of the Asiatic sarcophagus style, and other arguments such as the unlikelihood that a pagan temple would survive destruction during Armenia's conversion to Christianity when all other such temples were destroyed. It might have been the tomb of an Armeno-Roman ruler such as Sohaemus or possibly Aurelius Pacorus (Bakur).[25]

Decline

In the early fourth century[upper-alpha 5] when Armenian King Tiridates III adopted Christianity as a state religion virtually all known pagan places of worship were destroyed.[31] The Temple of Garni is the only pagan[upper-alpha 6] and Hellenistic[21][36] structure to have survived the widespread destruction. It remains unknown why the temple was exempted from destruction, but philosopher Grigor Tananyan argues that its status as a "masterpiece of art" possibly saved it from destruction. He suggests that the temple was perceived to be a "quintessence of an entire culture."[37] Robert H. Hewsen suggested that the reason why it was not destroyed is because it was not a temple, but a tomb of a Roman-appointed king of Armenia. He also noted that in the seventh century a church was built immediately next to it and not in its place.[8]

Robert Ker Porter's drawing of the Garni Gorge (published in 1821).[38] Ruins of the temple can be seen on the promontory on the left.[9]
The ruins of the temple in the early 20th century (published in 1918)[39]

According to Movses Khorenatsi the temple was at the time converted into the summer house of Khosrovidukht, the sister of Tiridates III.[35] As its purpose changed the temple underwent some changes. The sacrificial altars in the outside of the temple and the cult statue in the cella were removed. The opening in the roof for skylight was closed. The stone structures for removal of water from the roof were also removed, while the entrance of the temple was transformed and adjusted for residence.[37] Almost nothing is known about the subsequent history of the temple.

Destruction and reconstruction

The entire colonnade of the temple collapsed in a devastating June 4,[40] 1679 earthquake,[41] the epicenter of which was, according to many scholars,[42] located in gorge of Garni.[43] Most of the original building blocks remained scattered at the site, allowing the building to be reconstructed.

European travelers mentioned the temple in their works as early as the 17th century.[1] Jean Chardin (1673, who visited Armenia before the earthquake) and James Morier (1810s)[44] both incorrectly described it through local informants since they never actually visited the site.[9] Upon Robert Ker Porter's visit the fortress was called "Takht-i Tiridates" ("Throne of Tiridates") by the locals. Ker Porter described what he saw as follows: "a confused pile beautiful fragments; columns, architraves, capitals, friezes, all mingled together in broken disorder."[9] Another European to visit and document the ruins of the temple was Dubois de Montpereux, who referred to the fortress as "Takh Terdat".[9] In his 1839 book he proposed a reconstruction plan.[9]

The first known proposal to reconstruct the temple was made by the archaeologist Aleksey Uvarov at the fifth All-Russian Archaeological Congress in 1880. He proposed its stones be moved to Tiflis (in Georgia) and be reconstructed there according to de Montpereux's plan.[45] Lori Khatchadourian suggests that the plan "could be read as an attempt at co-opting Armenia's Roman past to the glory of Russia through the relocation of its most iconic monument to the nearest administrative center."[45] The governor of Erivan, citing technical difficulties, did not implement the plan.[46]

A fountain dedicated to the reconstruction by Sahinian (1978)

In the subsequent decades scholars such as Nikoghayos Buniatian, Babken Arakelyan, and Nikolay Tokarsky studied the temple.[37] In 1909–11, during an excavation led by Nicholas Marr, the temple ruins were uncovered. Buniatian sought to reconstruct the temple in the 1930s.[46]

In 1949 the Armenian Academy of Sciences began major excavations of the site led by Babken Arakelyan. Architectural historian Alexander Sahinian focused on the temple itself. It was not until almost twenty years later, on December 10, 1968, that the Soviet Armenian government approved the reconstruction plan of the temple. A group led by Sahinian began reconstruction works in January 1969. It was completed by 1975,[47] almost 300 years after it was destroyed in an earthquake.[21][48] The temple was almost entirely rebuilt using its original stones, except the missing pieces which were filled with blank stones intended to be easily recognisable.[46] In 1978 a monument dedicated to Sahinian was erected not far from the temple.[48]

Architecture

Front view

Overview

The temple follows the style of classical Ancient Greek architecture which began developing in the seventh century BC.[49] Scholars have variously described the structure as Greek, Roman or Greco-Roman and have usually linked it to Hellenistic art, almost always pointing out its distinct features and local Armenian influence.[50] Some scholars have emphasized the Armenian influence on its architecture, calling it "Armenian-Hellenic" (Sahinian), while others have completely dismissed this view, calling it a "foreign structure on Armenian soil".[51] Toros Toramanian, for instance, stressed the singularity of the temple as a Roman-style building on the Armenian Highlands and "remarked that the Garni construction essentially had no influence on contemporary or subsequent Armenian architecture."[52]

Ground plan

More specifically, it is a peripteros (a temple surrounded by a portico with columns) built on an elevated podium.[53][46] It is constructed of grey basalt quarried locally.[53][9] The temple is composed of a portico (pronaos) and a cella (naos). The temple is supported by a total of twenty-four 6.54 m high columns of the Ionic order: six in the front and back and eight on the sides (the corner columns are listed twice).[53][49] Based on a comparative analysis Sahinian proposed that the columns of the temple of Garni have their origins in Asia Minor.[54]

Exterior

Fragment of frieze

The triangular pediment depicts sculptures of plants and geometrical figures.[55] The staircase has nine[46] unusually high steps—30 cm high around twice as high as the average height of stairs.[55] Tananyan suggests that the unusually high stairs compel a person ascending the staircase to feel humbled and make physical effort to reach the altar.[55] On the both sides of the staircase there are roughly square pedestals. Atlas, the Greek mythological Titan who held up the earth, is sculpted on both pedestals in a way seemingly trying to hold the entire temple on its shoulders. It is assumed that, originally, pedestals held up altars (sacrificial tables).[55]

The exterior of the temple is richly decorated. The frieze depicts a continuous line of acanthus. Furthermore, there are ornaments on the capital, architrave, and soffit. The stones in the front cornice depict sculptures of lion heads.[56] A fragment bearing of the lion heads from the architrave was removed by Captain J Buchan Telfer in the late nineteenth century and bequeathed by him to the British Museum in 1907.[57]

The altar

Cella

The cella of the temple is 7.132 m high, 7.98 m long, and 5.05 m wide.[55] Up to 20 people can fit inside the cella.[58] Due to the relatively small size of the cella, it has been proposed that a statue once stood inside and the ceremonies were held in the outside. Furthermore, white marble sculptures of bull hooves have been discovered some twenty meters from the temple which could possibly be the remains of a sculpture of the god Mihr, who was often portrayed in a fight with a bull.[56]

The cella is lit from two sources: the disproportionately large entrance (2.29 × 4.68 m) and the opening in the roof (1.74 × 1.26 m).[59]

Current state and use

Vardavar, a popular summer festival of pre-Christian (pagan) origins, being celebrated near the temple in 2014.

Tourist attraction

The temple of Garni, along with the nearby medieval monastery of Geghard, is one of the main tourist attraction sites in Armenia.[60][61] Most people visiting Garni also visit Geghard.[62] The two sites are often collectively known as Garni-Geghard (Գառնի-Գեղարդ).[63] In 2013 some 200,000 people visited the temple.[11] In recent years many notable individuals have visited the temple, such as Cypriot President Demetris Christofias,[64] Polish First Lady Anna Komorowska,[65] Austrian President Heinz Fischer,[66] Spanish opera singer Montserrat Caballé,[67] Greek President Karolos Papoulias,[68] American TV personalities Khloé and Kim Kardashian,[69] American keyboardist Derek Sherinian,[70] American comedian Conan O'Brien.[71] O'Brien, who visited the temple in October 2015 with his Armenian assistant Sona, filmed an episode in Armenia which included dancing at the temple of Garni.[72] The episode aired on his late-night talk show on November 17, 2015.[73]

A neopagan ritual in front of the temple

Preservation

The temple and the fortress are part of the Garni Historical and Cultural Museum Reserve, which is supervised by the Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservations, a government agency attached to the Armenian Ministry of Culture.[11] In a 2006 survey the state of conservation of Garni was rated by over three-quarters of the visitors as "good" or "very good".[62] In 2011 UNESCO awarded the Museum-Reservation of Garni the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes for "measures taken to preserve its cultural vestiges, and the emphasis placed on efforts to interpret and open the site for national and international visitors."[74]

Neopagan shrine

Since 1990,[75] the temple has been the central shrine[76][77] of the small number of followers of Armenian neopaganism who hold annual ceremonies at the temple,[78] especially on March 21—the pagan New Year.[75][79] Celebrations by neopagans are also held during the summer festival of Vardavar, which has pre-Christian (pagan) origins.[80][81]

Notable events

The square in front of the temple is a site of occasional concerts. In 1985 the Soviet televised music festival Pesnya goda ("Song of the Year") was recorded at the temple.[82] Another major concert was held on July 2, 2004 by the National Chamber Orchestra of Armenia, conducted by Aram Gharabekian.[83] The orchestra played the works of Aram Khachaturian, Komitas, Edvard Mirzoyan, Strauss, Mozart, and other composers.[84]

The torch of the first Pan-Armenian Games was lit near the temple on August 28, 1999.[85]

Incidents

On September 25, 2014 Maksim Nikitenko, a Russian tourist in his early 20s, defaced the temple[86] by spray painting "В мире идол ничто" (literally translating to "In the world, idol is nothing").[87][88] The painting was cleaned days later.[89] The Armenian state service for protection of historical and cultural reserves filed a civil lawsuit against Nikitenko in February 2015, in which the agency requested 839,390 AMD (~$1,760) to recover the damage resulting from vandalism.[90] In an April 2015 decision the Kotayk Province court ruled to take Nikitenko into custody for 2 months and fine him the requested amount.[91]

Gallery

See also

References

Notes

  1. Also known as Գառնիի տաճար Gařnii tačar or Գառնու տաճար Gařnu tačar, both meaning "Garni temple".
  2. "on a block of basalt 165 cm long, 50 cm high, and 79–80 cm thick; the letters are about 5 x 5.5 cm in size.[12]
  3. After the Roman–Parthian War over Armenia (58–63) a peace treaty was signed according to which Tiridates would be coronated by Nero and thus became an ally of Rome.[18] In exchange, Rome recognized Armenia's independence.[19]
  4. Khatchadourian writes that the "structure is most commonly regarded as a temple to the god Mihr".[9]
  5. The traditional date is 301 AD,[26] first calculated by historian Mikayel Chamchian.[27] A growing number of authors argue that the correct date is 314 by citing the Edict of Milan.[28][29] Elizabeth Redgate writes that "the scholarly consensus is to prefer c. 314."[30]
  6. "The monuments of Garni are the only vestiges of the pagan architecture of Armenia known to us. [...] The most important ruins are those of the temple"[32]
    "on the threshold of adopting Christianity as state religion, all pagan cultic structures (except the temple of Garni) were mercilessly destroyed"[33]
    "Armenia's only remaining pagan temple, at Garni"[34]
    "Գառնիի ճարտարապետական համալիրի անգին զարդն է տաճարը՝ հեթանոս հայության ճարտարապետական ժառանգությունից պահպանված միակ հիշատակարանը"[35]
    "The obliteration of pagan vestiges was so complete that almost no architectural remains or temple records have survived ... The only exception is the Temple of Garni"[31]

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Khatchadourian 2008, p. 251.
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  9. 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 9.6 9.7 9.8 Khatchadourian 2008, p. 252.
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  12. Russell 1987, p. 269.
  13. Tananyan 2014, pp. 31–32.
  14. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. cited in Nersessian 2001, p. 103
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Nersessian 2001, p. 101.
  16. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. Tananyan 2014, pp. 33–34.
  18. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. Tananyan 2014, p. 34.
  20. 20.0 20.1 Tananyan 2014, p. 35.
  21. 21.0 21.1 21.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. Bauer-Manndorff 1981, p. 72: "Only the temple of Mihr, in the fortress of Garni..."
  23. Russell 1987, p. 270: "Although Arm. scholars such as Arakelyan insist that the colonnaded building at Garni was a temple of Mihr, there is no evidence to support this save the inscription—and one cannot be certain that the inscription refers to it."
  24. Report by Kamilla Trever cited in Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. cited in Anne Elizabeth Redgate, The Armenians Blackwell Publishing, 2000, p. 102, footnote 39, ISBN 978-0-631-22037-4
  26. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. Panossian 2006, p. 106.
  28. Panossian 2006, p. 42.
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  30. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. 31.0 31.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  35. 35.0 35.1 Tananyan 2014, p. 31.
  36. Nersessian 2001, p. 100: "The pagan temple of Garni, dedicated to the god Mihr, is the only surviving Hellenistic building built by King Trdat I about 77 BC."
  37. 37.0 37.1 37.2 Tananyan 2014, p. 32.
  38. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Color pictures from before reconstruction can be found here.
  40. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  44. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  45. 45.0 45.1 Khatchadourian 2008, p. 256.
  46. 46.0 46.1 46.2 46.3 46.4 Tananyan 2014, p. 33.
  47. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  48. 48.0 48.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  49. 49.0 49.1 Tananyan 2014, p. 37.
  50. Bauer-Manndorff 1981, p. 65: "Although at first glance the temple of Garni would seem alien to Armenian architecture, it is not purely Hellenistic for it also follows ancient local traditions."
  51. Tananyan 2014, pp. 41–42.
  52. Khatchadourian 2008, p. 272.
  53. 53.0 53.1 53.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  54. Tananyan 2014, p. 41.
  55. 55.0 55.1 55.2 55.3 55.4 Tananyan 2014, p. 38.
  56. 56.0 56.1 Tananyan 2014, p. 39.
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  59. Tananyan 2014, pp. 38–39.
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  71. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Facebook photo
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Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links