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"The AVAN project"
The 6th century church Surb Hovhannes in Avan (Yerevan)
An interdisciplinary research project, Armenia September 2006
Laser-scan and technical documentation: 25th, 26th September, 2006
Surb Hovhannes church in Avan, a northern district of Yerevan, can be regarded as one of the most
important central-domed erections of early medieval Christian Armenia. This architectural type is
also presented by other large monuments of the 7th cc., such as St. Hripsime in Vałaršapat, Sisavan
in Sisan, S. T'argmanč'ac in Aygešat, S. Gevorg in Garnahovit and Ciranavor in Aramus.
According to the 7th century Armenian historian Sebeos, the church and the ruined palace nearby
were erected by the rival-catholicos Hovhan Baganvanec'i. There is no inscriptional information
regarding the date of construction. It was however possible to date the church on the basis of
historical circumstances and architectural details: Eremyan (1969) considers the church to have
been built in 588/90-595/597. Łafadaryan and Marut'yan (1976) suggest that it was built before
Hovhan's accession (c. 582-584). Marut'yan proposes that a door under the northern apse was
created after the church's construction (C. 582-584). It became necessary to have a passageway to
the palace (c. 591-582) of the newly established catholicos.
The church was in ruins until it was partially restored in 1941. Further work was done in 1968. At
present, only portions of the lower walls are standing. The upper areas, vaults, dome, and roof are
still missing.
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A short architectural description
The church, constructed on a stepped platform, is a complex
central-plan church masked on the exterior by massive
rectilinear walls. It is quatrefoil with an octagonal central bay
once surmounted by a dome. In addition to the four
semicircular apses, there are four small 3/4 circle diagonal
niches which lead to four circular chambers in the corners of
the church. According to T'oramanyan (1942), on the basis of
evidence in an early photograph by Hovsepyan, there were
cupolas erected above each of the four corner chambers. If
this theory is correct, S. Hovhannes would be the first
example of a church with five cupolas. Marut'yan also
suggest s that Avan was dedicated to the Apostles as in the
case of the five-domed church of the holy apostles as in the
case of the five-domed church of the holy apostles in
Constantinople (c. 536-50).
The western portal has a beautifully ornamented casing, three-quartered pillars with capitals and
lunettes, which are very peculiar to early monuments. As the outstanding historian of Armenian
architecture Toramanyan thought, the church had five peaks - one in the centre and the other four in
the corners, over the round side-chapels. The present condition of the monument has not allowed
giving a final answer to this question – so far.
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A three-dimensional laser scan of S. Hovhannes
LEICA Geosystems
has agreed to cooperate with the Universities of Innsbruck, of Salzburg
and of Yerevan to survey the church of the late 6th century in September 2006 with a most modern
surveying technology.
In a co-operation of DI Klaus Kerkow from the “Sat Ing - Engineering office Kerkow” from
Berlin, a representative of LEICA Geosystems and two students of the Technical Professional
School Berlin they use the 3D-Laserscanning-Technology for the digital representation of the
church. LEICA Geosystems is one of the most successful producers of surveying instruments
worldwide. Among other instruments LEICA Geosystems also develops and distributes 3DLaserscanning-Systems. These High-Definition Surveying (HDS) sensors are capable of capturing
and displaying reality in 3D point clouds. The data already give a very precise, three-dimensional
documentation of the surveyed grounds.
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Armenological and art-historian research
In addition to this technical part of this interdisciplinary project,
the armenologist J. Dum-Tragut focused on the study of
Armenian sources about the church and catholicos Hovhan
Baganvanec'i, as well in chronicles and Classical and Medieval
as in architectural literature. Particular scientific attention will be
paid to the careful and precise taking of the inscriptions on the
western wall. The art-historian Ch. Maranci advised the team on
the architectural details of Avan church, as well as on all
sculptural and decorative elements of the church, in order to
evaluate and date the church also from the view point of
Armenian art history. This cooperation of Armenology and Art
History has the goal to study the church from various points of
view– and above all to study the building embedded in the
(church) history of Armenia in the late 6th and beginning of the
7th century.
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Avan's S. Hovhannes and Aramus' Ciranavor
Avan is an important church in the history of Armenian Architecture since it is considered to be the
prototype of St. Hrip'sime completed by 618. It seems that the first church to follow the AVANType was Ciranavor church in Aramus: there are obvious structural similarities between these two
churches. And Ciranavor was also a catholicos' church in the 8th century: Davit' Aramonec'i (728741).
There have been discussions about dating the erection of the church because of the reports of
Armenian medieval chroniclers that the church was "build" by catholicos Davit'. Thus is was first
dated to the 8th century, but further architectural investigation will also proof that the church was
built at in the 7th century, and was only rebuild by catholicos Davit'.
The closely studied and - above all - much better conserved S. Hovhannes can help to understand
and to reconstruct the heavily ruined Ciranavor Church of Aramus, which was in the focus of a
major research project as part of the interdisciplinary project "Medieval Aramus" in the scope of the
Project ARAMUS of the University of Innsbruck and the State University Yerevan, under the
special direction of the armenologue J. Dum-Tragut, University Salzburg. The technical survey and
a detailed structural recording of the Aramus church was carried out and completed in 2005 in form
of the MA-theses of A. Schumacher and A. Schmidt/Berlin, the analysis and the scientific report is
in progress and will appear as PH.D. by M.-T. Mittermayr, Institute for Architecture of non-western
tradition, Vienna University of Technology of Vienna.
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Indisciplinary cooperations to guarantee maximum findings
The specific cooperation of technical and human sciences and specialists in various scientific fields
in the AVAN project will contribute to consolidated findings and will also provide modernized
scientific insights into the architecture of 7th century Armenia, the general history of Armenian
architecture and the history of early medieval Armenian Church.
One must also emphasize the fact that it was the first time in the history of Armenia, that an
Armenian churched was be surveyed and investigated by means of three-dimensional laser
supported the AVAN-project by providing the scanner and
scanning. LEICA Geosystems
a specialist free of costs!
This modern technology will also contribute to the development of architectural studies in Armenia
and will open doors to new methods for an optimal, true to original reconstruction and re-building
of the manifold remains of medieval churches and monasteries in Armenia.
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Participants in the AVAN-Project:
Doc. Dr. Jasmine Dum-Tragut, Department for Armenian Studies, ORIENTALE LUMEN
Mayr-Melnhof Institute for the Christian East, Moenchsberg 2a, A-5020 Salzburg.
(Armenological studies, general supervisor)
DI Klaus Kerkow, “Sat Ing - Engineering office Kerkow”, Satellite Geodesy and
Surveying; Clara-Zetkin-Straße 100, D - 14612 Falkensee. (Survey, technical supervisor)
Jan Wittkamp, LEICA Geosystems, Münsterstrasse 306, D -40470 Düsseldorf. (Laser-scan)
Antje Schumacher and Andre Schmidt, students from Technical Professional School Berlin
(survey). The project resulted in their MA-thesis.