Bana ( ka, ბანა; hy, Բանակ ''Banak''), also known by the modern Turkish designation Penek Kilisesi, is a ruined early medieval cathedral in present-day
Erzurum Province
Erzurum Province ( tr, Erzurum ili) is a province of Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the ...
, eastern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, in what had formerly been a historical marchland known to Armenians as
Tayk
Tayk ( hy, Տայք, Taykʿ) was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:
* Kogh
* Berdats por
* Partizats por
* Tchakatk
* Bokha
* Vokaghe
* Azordats por
* Arsiats por
There ...
and to Georgians as
Tao
''Tao'' or ''Dao'' is the natural order of the universe, whose character one's intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom, as conceived in the context of East Asian philosophy, East Asian religions, or any other philo ...
.
It is a large
tetraconch
A tetraconch, from the Greek for "four shells", is a building, usually a church or other religious building, with four apses, one in each direction, usually of equal size. The basic ground plan of the building is therefore a Greek cross. They are m ...
design, surrounded by a near-
rotunda polygonal
ambulatory
The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
and marked with a cylindrical drum. Generally believed to have been constructed in the 7th century, based on an 11th-century chronicle it was reconstructed by
Adarnase IV of Iberia
Adarnase IV ( ka, ადარნასე, tr) (died 923) was a member of the Georgian Bagratid dynasty of Tao-Klarjeti and prince of Iberia, responsible for the restoration of the Iberian kingship, which had been in abeyance since it had been ...
at some point between 881 and 923. Henceforth, it was used as a royal cathedral by the
Bagrationi dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is sometim ...
until the
Ottoman conquest of the area in the 16th century. The former cathedral was converted into a fortress by the Ottoman army during the
Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. The monastery was almost completely ruined during the
Russo-Turkish war
The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...
of 1877–78.
Location and etymology
The Bana cathedral is located on the north bank of the Penek (Irlağaç) river near the village of Penek, in the
Şenkaya district of
Erzurum Province
Erzurum Province ( tr, Erzurum ili) is a province of Turkey in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the country. The capital of the province is the city of Erzurum. It is bordered by the provinces of Kars and Ağrı to the east, Muş and Bingöl to the ...
. "Penek" is a
Turkified typonym deriving from the original name of the area: "Banak". Banak means "army" in Armenian, while banaki means "camp" in Georgian. It possibly takes its origin from a site in the Berdats Por district of
Tayk
Tayk ( hy, Տայք, Taykʿ) was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:
* Kogh
* Berdats por
* Partizats por
* Tchakatk
* Bokha
* Vokaghe
* Azordats por
* Arsiats por
There ...
– then a hereditary
Mamikonian
Mamikonian or Mamikonean ( Classical hy, Մամիկոնեան; reformed orthography: Մամիկոնյան; Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Mamigonian'') was an aristocratic dynasty which dominated Armenian politics between the 4th and 8th c ...
fiefdom – where the royal army (Արքունի բանակ, ''Ark'uni Banak'') was headquartered during the rule of the
Arshakuni in the 1st century.
History
The dating of the Bana cathedral is a subject of scholarly debate. The Bana cathedral is mentioned in the 11th-century chronicle of
Sumbat, who reports that the Georgian prince
Adarnase IV (r. 881–923) ordered the building of the church of Bana "by the hand" of Kwirike, who subsequently became the first bishop of Bana.
[Rapp, Stephen H. (2003), ''Studies in Medieval Georgian Historiography: Early Texts And Eurasian Contexts'', p. 390. Peeters Publishers, ] While the scholars such as
Ekvtime Taqaishvili
Ekvtime Takaishvili (also spelled Taqaishvili) () (January 5, 1862 – February 21, 1953) was a Georgian historian, archaeologist and public benefactor.
Born in the village of Likhauri in the western Georgian province of Guria to a local nobleman ...
, Shalva Amiranashvili, and
Stepan Mnatsakanian Stepan Mnatsakanian ( hy, Ստեփան Մնացականյան; 1917–1994) was a Soviet Armenian architect. He headed the Architecture Department of the Institute of Arts of the Armenian Academy of Sciences between 1983 and 1988.
See also
*Alexand ...
tend to interpret the passage literally,
Chubinashvili, Vakhtang Beridze and Tiran Marutyan identify Adarnase as a renovator, not a builder of the church. This view, now shared by some art scholars,
[ Abramishvili, G., Zakaraia, P., & Tsitsishvili, I (2000), ქართული ხუროთმოძღვრების ისტორია (''History of Georgian Architecture''), pp. 89-90. ]Tbilisi State University
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University ( ka, ივანე ჯავახიშვილის სახელობის თბილისის სახელმწიფო უნივერსიტეტი ''Ivane Javaxishvi ...
Press, dates the Bana church – clearly modeled on the contemporaneous
Zvartnots cathedral
Zvartnots Cathedral ( hy, Զուարթնոց ( classical); (reformed), sometimes rendered in scholarly works as Zuart'nots' or Zuart'noc' ; literally 'celestial angels cathedral') is a medieval Armenian cathedral near Vagharshapat (Ejmiatsin), ...
near
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Y ...
– to the mid-7th century. It was when the
Chalcedonian
Chalcedonian Christianity is the branch of Christianity that accepts and upholds theological and ecclesiological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the Fourth Ecumenical Council, held in 451. Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christolo ...
-Armenian catholicos Nerses III, who presided over several important religious projects Zvartnots included, resided in exile in
Tayk
Tayk ( hy, Տայք, Taykʿ) was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:
* Kogh
* Berdats por
* Partizats por
* Tchakatk
* Bokha
* Vokaghe
* Azordats por
* Arsiats por
There ...
c. 653–58.
[Бана]
(''Bana''), in: «Православная энциклопедия», Т. 4, С. 298 (''Orthodox Encyclopedia'', Vol. 4, p. 298) nline version/ref>[ Marutyan, Tiran. ''«Բանակ»'' (Banak). ]Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia
The ''Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia'' ( hy, Հայկական սովետական հանրագիտարան, ''Haykakan sovetakan hanragitaran''; ASE) publishing house was established in 1967 as a department of the Institute of History of the Armeni ...
. vol. ii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia (NAS RA) ( hy, Հայաստանի Հանրապետության գիտությունների ազգային ակադեմիա, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ, ''Hayastani Hanrapetut’yan gitut’yunneri az ...
, 1976, p. 269.
Devastated during the 8th century by the Byzantine–Arab war, the region of Tao was gradually resettled by its new masters, the Georgian Bagratids, and under their patronage a monastic revival took place. With the settlements gradually expanding from the predominantly Georgian-populated north to the predominantly Armenian populated south and south-west, the Georgian princes reconstructed a number of monasteries abandoned by Armenians and built new foundations.
From the time of Adarnase IV's reconstruction, the cathedral of Bana was one of the principal royal churches of the Bagrationi dynasty
The Bagrationi dynasty (; ) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world. In modern usage, the name of the dynasty is sometim ...
.[Antony Eastmond (1998), ''Royal Imagery in Medieval Georgia''. University Park, Pa: ]Penn State Press
The Penn State University Press, also known as The Pennsylvania State University Press, was established in 1956 and is a non-profit publisher of scholarly books and journals. It is the independent publishing branch of the Pennsylvania State Uni ...
, p. 233. It was used for the coronation of Bagrat IV in 1027 and his marriage to Helena
Helena may refer to:
People
*Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name)
*Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer
*Helena, mother of Constantine I
Places
Greece
* Helena (island)
Guyana
* ...
, a niece of the Byzantine emperor Romanos III Argyros
Romanos III Argyros ( el, Ρωμανός Αργυρός; Latinized Romanus III Argyrus; 968 – 11 April 1034), or Argyropoulos was Byzantine Emperor from 1028 until his death. He was a Byzantine noble and senior official in Constantinople whe ...
in 1032. In the 15th century, King Vakhtang IV of Georgia
Vakhtang IV ( Georgian: ვახტანგ IV) (c. 1413 – December 1446), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was a King of Georgia who reigned from 1433 to his death, associated to the throne of his father Alexander I from 1433 to the latter's ab ...
(r. 1442–1446) and his consort khatun were buried at Bana. It was also the seat of the Georgian Orthodox
The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...
bishop of Bana, whose diocese also included the neighboring areas of Taos-Kari, Panaskerti, and Oltisi. With the Ottoman conquest of the area in the 16th century, Bana was abandoned by Christians. During the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
(1853–1865), the Ottoman military
The military of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nun silahlı kuvvetleri) was the armed forces of the Ottoman Empire.
Army
The military of the Ottoman Empire can be divided in five main periods. The foundation era covers the ...
converted the church into a fortress, adding the crude bulwark still visible on the south side. During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78, it was shelled by the Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
artillery, blasting the dome off and inflicting severe damage on the edifice. Later the Russians carted off much of masonry to build a late 19th-century church in Oltu.
The church was first described and sketched by the German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
botanist Karl Koch in 1843. He declared it the most remarkable church in the East after the Hagia Sophia
Hagia Sophia ( 'Holy Wisdom'; ; ; ), officially the Hagia Sophia Grand Mosque ( tr, Ayasofya-i Kebir Cami-i Şerifi), is a mosque and major cultural and historical site in Istanbul, Turkey. The cathedral was originally built as a Greek Ortho ...
. Koch was followed by the Russian ethnographer Yevgeny Veidenbaum in 1879 and the Georgian historian Dimitri Bakradze
Dimitri Bakradze ( ka, დიმიტრი ბაქრაძე) (26 October 1826 – 10 February 1890) was a Georgian scholar who authored several influential works in the history, archaeology and ethnography of Georgia and the Caucasus.
He w ...
in 1881. The latter two found the church already without a dome, but reported about still surviving frescos and a Georgian inscription in the Asomtavruli
The Georgian scripts are the three writing systems used to write the Georgian language: #Asomtavruli, Asomtavruli, #Nuskhuri, Nuskhuri and #Mkhedruli, Mkhedruli. Although the systems differ in appearance, their Letter (alphabet), letters share t ...
script. From 1902 to 1907, the ruins of Bana were scrupulously studied by an expedition led by the Georgian archaeologist Ekvtime Taqaishvili. Inaccessible to Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
nationals, the monument was a subject of study of some Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
scholars during the Cold War
The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
era. In 1983 the American archaeologist and art historian, Dr. Robert W. Edwards, completed a scientific assessment of the complex as well as an accurate plan drawn to scale.
Architecture
Bana is an interpretation of the tetraconch
A tetraconch, from the Greek for "four shells", is a building, usually a church or other religious building, with four apses, one in each direction, usually of equal size. The basic ground plan of the building is therefore a Greek cross. They are m ...
-in-ambulatory
The ambulatory ( la, ambulatorium, ‘walking place’) is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th ...
(aisle
An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...
d tetraconch) design that was probably influenced by the "Golden Octagon" at Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
. Bana was a large tetraconch with three-tiered choirs
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which sp ...
and arcades in the lower parts of each apse
In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...
. The tetraconch was contained in a continuous polygonal ambulatory, almost a rotunda, with a diameter of 37.45m and with façades adorned with colonnades. The interior was essentially a large pyramid formed by the exterior polygon, tetraconch and the cupola resting upon a cylindrical drum. The pylons, located between the arms of the tetraconch, accommodated galleries on three levels.
The lower portions of each of the four apses, rather than having an unbroken wall, opened through arches into the surrounding ambulatory. The building was more than 30 m tall. The architectural details are notable for high craftsmanship and artistry. Round pillars, located within the span of the apses and galleries, were provided with capitals adorned with volutes. The façade had a blind arcade along its perimeter, the arches adorned with floral ornaments. What remains of the church is part of the lower-level floor half-submerged in its own ruins, including the east apse with one column of its colonnade with a carved capital.
The 1983 expedition made several remarkable discoveries. It is now certain that the church had two majors periods of construction. The first, which created the basic plan that survives today, had three phases (or re-modelings) that undoubtedly extended over many decades. The masonry was a uniform, well-cut ashlar that served as an inner and outer facing for a poured concrete core. At some period ''prior'' to the 19th century the church suffered a major structural failure (perhaps an earthquake) that necessitated the rebuilding and stabilization of the walls with a coarse masonry and massive amounts of mortar. The exterior windows of the ambulatory as well as the spaces between arches and columns were crudely filled. A square solid buttress with the identical coarse masonry was added at the east to support the apse and walls. There is no structural evidence that the Ottomans converted the church into a fortress during the Crimean War (e.g., adding open portals for guns and cannons or a surrounding circuit wall). During the 1870s Turkish troops and small arms were billeted there when the Russian attack inflicted substantial damage. Only formal excavations can determine the precise building periods and the origin of the builder(s).
Reconstruction in Georgia
On December 9, 2016, in the Patriarchate
Patriarchate ( grc, πατριαρχεῖον, ''patriarcheîon'') is an ecclesiological term in Christianity, designating the office and jurisdiction of an ecclesiastical patriarch.
According to Christian tradition three patriarchates were esta ...
of the Georgian Orthodox Church
The Apostolic Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამოციქულო ავტოკეფალური მართლმადიდებელი ეკლესია, tr), commonly ...
was held a presentation of Bana cathedral reconstruction project with an already existing model of the cathedral. As it is planned, the cathedral will be built in the east Georgian town Surami
Surami ( ka, სურამი) is a small town ('' daba'') in Georgia’s Shida Kartli region with the population of 7,492. It is a popular mountain climatic resort and a home to a medieval fortress.
Location
Surami is located on the southern ...
.
References
Further reading
* Abashidze, Irakli. Ed. ''Georgian Encyclopedia. Vol. IX.'' Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, 1985.
* Amiranashvili, Shalva. ''History of Georgian Art.'' Tbilisi, Georgian SSR: Khelovneba, 1961.
* Marutyan, Tiran (2003).'' Հայ Դասական Ճարտարապետության Ակունքներում (From the Sources of Classical Armenian Architecture)''. Yerevan: Mughni Publishing. .
* Mnatsakanian, Stepan. ''Զվարթնոցը և նույնատիպ հուշարձանները vartnots and Similar Monuments'. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1971.
*The Treasures of Tbilisi, ''New York Times''. September 30, 1990.
*Rosen, Roger. ''Georgia: A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus.'' Odyssey Publications: Hong Kong, 1999.
* Toramanian, Toros. ''Նյութեր հայկական ճարտարապետության պատմության'' (''Materials for the History of Armenian Architecture''). vol. ii. Yerevan, Armenian SSR: ArmFan Publishing, 1948.
Extensive photographic survey and plan of Bana Cathedral at Penek
{{Georgian churches in Turkey
Oriental Orthodox congregations established in the 7th century
Destroyed churches in Turkey
Armenian Apostolic churches in Turkey
Georgian churches in Turkey
Armenian Apostolic cathedrals in Turkey
Former buildings and structures in Turkey
Armenian buildings in Turkey