LocationLake Van contains four islands that have the remains of Armenian monasteries built upon them; they are Aght'amar, Ktutz, Lim, and Arter. The island of Arter, also known as Kuşadasi ("Bird Island" in Turkish), is the smallest and the least visited of the four. It is located about four kilometers to the west of Aght'amar island. History
A legend explaining the origin of the island's monastery concerns the celebrated 10th century cleric Saint Gregory of Narek. Gregory was in prayer at his monastery at Narek, overlooking Lake Van, when he saw a vision of the Virgin and Child seated amidst clouds over the island of Arter. At the same time he heard a whispering voice telling him to approach the vision. This Gregory did by miraculously running over the waves to reach the island, and the monastery on Arter was founded to commemorate the event.
An inscription on the island, now missing, is said to have carried the date 1292 and mentioned the patriarch Ter Step'anos. The monastery is known to have been restored in 1766 by its head, vardapet James of Batakan. Batakan was village located somewhere between Vostan (Gevaş) and Narek. However, in 1772 the monastic communuity dispersed after James had been imprisoned and tortured.
Formerly, the island was very difficult to reach because of the lack of transport. Now, because of the large number of commercial boats for hire, the only difficulties are the expense and the unpredictable waters of Lake Van. The Monastery Buildings
The monastery once had two churches. Only one, known as the church of the Mother of God, now survives, along with the foundations of some monastic buildings. They are located at the highest point of the island and are clearly visible from afar.
Externally, the church is rectangular and probably had a double pitched roof. The whole structure is built out of roughly dressed slabs of schist, and there are no decorative features. Some of the stones on the outside walls carry crudely carved inscriptions and crosses.
J. M. Thierry ¹ wrote that the surviving church is probably pre-Arab, (seventh century, or earlier). This is because of features like the horseshoe-shaped plan of the apse. However, even though the structure is well built, I think that it is unlikely that a rubble / fieldstone construction could have survived from such an early period. Also, the re-used khatchkar embedded in the south wall is from a much later period. It may have been placed there during the 1776 restoration of the monastery; perhaps the whole church dates from that restoration.
|
|
9. The apse of the church |
10. The south wall of the church |
11. Inscriptions on the east facade | <||||
12. Panoramic view from Arter island - the second island is Aght'amar, the mountain is called Artos | ||||||
13. Sunset over Arter island with, in the background, the mountains that extend out to the Deveboynu peninsula |
REFERENCES:
1. Thierry, Jean-Michel, Monastères Arméniens du Vaspurakan: Couvent de la Mère de Dieu d'Arter in Revue des Études Arméniennes, volume XII, 1977, pages 198-200.
|