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146 ARMENIA AND THE NEAR EAST
piers, and pictures the whole building raised to its full height
with all its pillars and arches and the lofty dome above from
which the light shone down, one can imagine that it was a
truly magnificent edifice. It must have been famous through
out the land of the Armenians, for when it was destroyed an
exact copy of it was erected by King Gaghik at Ani, the new
capital, in a.d. iooi. This church, however, was likewise
destroyed in the year 1064, when the Seljuk Turks under Alp
Arslan captured and laid waste the town. 1
It increases one’s respect for the ancient culture of Armenia
to see the perfection to which they had brought their architec
ture in the seventh century, when the Christian architecture
of Europe was still in its infancy.
It is said that this church was built in honour of the Arme
nian Saint Gregory the Illuminator on the spot where King
Tiridates came from his capital, Vagharshapat, to meet the
holy man. According to another tradition that we heard,
the site of the church was previously one of the holy places of
the fire-worshippers.
Under the church we saw some rooms with small square
hoies or cells, not unlike those of a columbarium ; but what
they were used for, it is difficult to say. The ground below
this layer sounded hollow, and many interesting things may
be found when it has been excavated. Among the things
found in the ruins is a large stone with a long cuneiform
inscription dating from the time of the pre-Armenian Khal
dians ; no doubt it was used in some way in the church, as
was often the case with these old stones bearing heathen
inscriptions, to which, presumably, a certain religious signifi
cance was attached.
Adjoining the square round the church, on its south and
part of its west side, was formerly a large block of buildings,
the foundations of which have now been excavated. Here
one can see the remains of a large pillared hall and other halls
and living-rooms. Evidently, too, there was once an arcade
with pillars bordering the church quadrangle. These
buildings belonged to the palace of the Katholikos, in which
he resided with his court when staying in this part of the
Cf. Strzygowski, op. eit., vol. i, p. 119.
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