Architecture
editOverview and description
editAccording to Varazdat Harutyunyan, it has largely stood intact and unaltered throughout history.[2] The most significant additions have been the portico and the bell tower in 1653 and 1790, respectively.[3] The church measures 22.8 by 17.7 metres (75 by 58 ft)[4][5] and rises around 23 m (75 ft) (inside height under the dome).[6][a] Stephen Brook described its external appearance "squat and compact" and the dome as a "short polygonal tower."[8] Adalian said it has a "near-pyramidal form."[9]
The south wall is 0.53 metres (1 ft 9 in) longer than the north wall (22.87 against 22.34 m), and the dimensions and positions of windows, doors, apses, and niches vary throughout the church, sometimes by more than a meter.[10] If every irregularity represented a seperate building phase, we would have to imagine a veritable jig-saw puzzle of dozens of phases. Changes in masonry are a much better index of successive building phases.[10]
St. Hripsime Church is a domed tetraconch enclosed in a rectangle, with two angular niches on the northern and southern side.[11][12] Wilhelm Lübke wrote that the church is built on "a most complicated variation of the cruciform ground-plan."[13]
The building is constructed of dark, ash-colored tufa bonded on the interior with concrete-like mortar. The whole rests, like a Greek temple, on a stepped stylobate. The small windows emphasize the mass and solidity of the structure.[14]
The interior is organized on a quatrefoil plan, with niches in the cardinal directions. In addition to these, there are niches on the diagonal corners, creating a fluid and dynamic interior space. The diagonal niches, having the form of three-quarter cylinders, may also have been intended to strengthen the abutment of the dome. They give access to four subsidiary chambers that flank the eastern and western niches. Though the building is biaxially symmetrical, the eastern apse is emphasized by the raised altar section that protrudes into the central space. Barrel vaults intervene between the axial niches and the central square. These vaults, which are wider along the main axis, accentuate the east-west direction. The whole composition is bound together to form a well-proportioned rectangle with large triangular recesses on the exterior that impart a rhythmic impression of the composition. The dome rests on a sixteen-sided windowed drum that has twelve windows at its base. Four of the windows are now obscured by small cylindrical towers that were added later as buttresses. The entrance porch on the west is also a later addition. The beauty of the St. Hripsime edifice derives from the simplicity and harmony of its different parts.[14]
Ըստ ճարտարապետական հորինվածքի՝ Ս. Հռիփսիմե տաճարն արտաքուստ ուղղանկյուն, քառախորան հատակագծով շինություն է: Ունի երկու մուտք' բացված արևմտյան և հարավային խաչաթևերում, իսկ ներսի չորս անկյուններում ավանդատներն են՝ քառակուսի եզրաձևերի մեջ: Ս. Հռիփսիմեի տիպի հուշարձաններում է, որ առաջին անգամ ի հայտ են գալիս սենյակներ կենտրոնագմբեթ հորինվածքի արևմտյան կողմում, որ մինչ այդ հայտնի չէր գմբեթավոր համակարգում26: Տաճարն ինքնատիպ է նաև պատերի արտաքին զույգ խորշերով, որոնք լույսի և ստվերի համակցությամբ ստեղծում են վերևում աղեղնաձև յուրօրինակ եռանկյունիներ:[15]
Ornaments
editBrook noted that ornament is "limited to window-hoods and inscriptions around the porch. The tall broad interior is taut with power, and the crossing piers rise to a complexity of squinches."[8]
Ինքնատիպ են նաև տաճարի պատուհանների կամարաձև պսակները՝ ոճավորված բուսական ու երկրաչափական զարդամոտիվներով, որոնք 7-րդ դարի ճարտարապետությանը բնորոշ նմուշներ են (նկ. 5ա-գ), ինչպես նաև ժամանակագրորեն վաղագույն վիմագրերը:[16]
Reception
editChristina Maranci described it as "one of the most admired monuments of early medieval Armenia."[17] The 10th century Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi described the 7th century church as a wonderful and splendid structure.[18][19] In modern times, on the occasion of its restoration, Catholicos Vazgen I described it as a masterpiece of Armenian architecture and "the most magnificent of our ancient shrines."[20] Its masterpiece status has been accepted widely.[21][MORE refs]
19th century European visitors similarly held it in high regard. Frédéric DuBois, who visited in 1833-34, found the "simplicity, massiveness, and grandeur" of the church to be the "key elements of the Armenian style."[22] John Mason Neale (1850) suggested that it is "the norm of all Armenian ecclesiastical buildings." He continued, "Indeed, notwithstanding its great rudeness, no feature afterwards occurs that does not, in an incipient state, manifest itself here."[23] H. F. B. Lynch, visiting in 1893, saw Hripsime as superior to Etchmiadzin Cathedral, "because it lacks the 'unsightly projections of apsidal arms'. It is the geometrically plain exterior of Hripsime, which is closer to a cube, that is favored."[24]
direct quotes from Lynch
Harold Buxton suggested that it is the most "perfect specimen of the best age of Armenian architecture."[25] Fridtjof Nansen called it beautiful, noting that the "proportions both of the interior and the exterior of this church give an impression of balance and harmony seldom equalled, and we may safely infer that such a mature form of construction was reached only after a long period of evolution."[6]
Soviet art historians Izmailova and Ayvazyan described it as "small in size but monumental in structure", standing out distinctly against the plain.[26] Ashot Arzumanyan, a Soviet Armenian writer, found beauty and simplicity merged in it. "Its proportions are perfect, its decoration is concise. Arches, niches, projections, a dome crowning the building - all create a sense of rhythm, harmony, and grandeur."[27]
In more recent decades, Howard L. Parsons called it "robust and finely proportioned".[28] Rouben Paul Adalian called it "exceptionally beautiful",[29] admiring the "utter harmony and perfect balance of its proportions",[9] and suggested that along with St. Gayane, it is as a model of the "austere beauty of early Armenian ecclesiastical architecture."[29] Frank Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash called it "one of the most refined examples of Armenian architecture",[14] and praised its "well-formed proportions and meticulous stonework".[30]
Modern
editIts architecture has been directly replicated or inspired several churches in the modern period, especially in the Armenian diaspora. Notable examples include St. Hripsime Church in Yalta, Crimea (1917),[31] St. Vartan Cathedral in Manhattan, New York (1968),[32] and St. Sarkis Church in Carrollton, Texas (2022).[33][34]
References
edit- Notes
- ^ John Mason Neale provided 84 feet (26 m) by 59.5 feet (18.1 m) and its height to the top of the cross at 104.5 feet (31.9 m).[7]
- Citations
- ^ Strzygowski 1918, p. 94.
- ^ Harutyunyan 1984, p. 32.
- ^ Harutyunyan 2018, p. 24.
- ^ Eremian 1974, p. 59.
- ^ Strzygowski 1918, p. 92.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Nansen
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Neale 1850, p. 296.
- ^ a b Brook, Stephen (1993). Claws of the Crab: Georgia and Armenia in Crisis. London: Trafalgar Square Publishing. p. 205. ISBN 978-1856191616.
- ^ a b Adalian 2010, p. 105.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
Mathews95
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
csufresno
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Foss
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Lübke, Wilhelm (1881). Cook, Clarence (ed.). Outlines of the History of Art Volume I. New York: Dodd, Mead, and Company. p. 441.
- ^ a b c Ching, Jarzombek & Prakash 2017, p. 285.
- ^ Harutyunyan 2018, pp. 22–23.
- ^ Harutyunyan 2018, p. 23.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Maranci2018
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Yovhannēs Drasxanakertc‘i (1987). History of Armenia. Translated by Krikor H. Maksoudian. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press. p. 97.
27. At about this time the great patriarch Komitas adorned the martyrium of the blessed Hrip'simeank' which formerly had been a dark and small building, with a more wonderful befitting respectable and splendid structure.
- ^ Harutyunyan 2018, p. 21.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Vazgen62
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Harutyunyan 2018, pp. 7, 18.
- ^ Maranci 1998, p. 15.
- ^ Neale 1850, p. 293.
- ^ Maranci 1998, p. 25.
- ^ Buxton, Noel; Buxton, Rev. Harold (1914), Travel and Politics in Armenia, London: Macmillan, p. 35
- ^ Izmailova, Tatyana; Ayvazyan, Mariam (1962). Искусство Армении [The Art of Armenia] (in Russian). Moscow: Iskusstvo. p. 32.
Небольшая по своим размерам, но монументальная постройка четко вырисовывается на фоне равнины.
- ^ Arzumanyan, Ashot M. [in Russian] (1979). Арагац [Aragats] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetsky Pisatel. p. 48.
Храм Рипсимэ. Красота и простота воедино слиты в этом, одном из самых прекрасных сооружений архитектурного комплекса города. Совершенны его пропорции, лаконичен его декор. Арки, ниши, выступы, купол, венчающий здание, — все создает ощущение ритма, гармонии, величественности.
- ^ Parsons, Howard Lee (1987). "The Armenian Apostolic Church". Christianity Today in the USSR. New York: International Publishers. p. 47. ISBN 9780717806515.
- ^ a b Adalian 2010, p. 298.
- ^ Ching, Jarzombek & Prakash 2017, p. 308.
- ^ Barskaya, T. N. "Армянская церковь в Ялте". crimea.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 September 2023.
За основу архитекторами была взята церковь святой Рипсиме, находящаяся в Эчмиадзине (618 г.).
- ^ "Dome of Armenian Cathedral Is Regilded". The New York Times. 5 December 1993.
- ^ "Saint Sarkis Church and Community Center". aiany.org. American Institute of Architects New York. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024.
the Church of Saint Sarkis is constructed to the precise scale and proportions of the ancient Church of Saint Hripsime
- ^ "New St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton, Texas Memorializes 1,400-Year-Old Armenian Sanctuary – Asbarez.com". Asbarez. April 21, 2022. Archived from the original on 11 January 2024.
Hotson and Terzyan began designing St. Sarkis with a brief that envisioned a new church building modeled on St. Hripsime