Lucine
Kasbarian
Dr. Christina Maranci, Arthur H. Dadian and Ara T. Oztemel Associate
Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts University in Medford,
Mass., has issued a call to save the 7th century Mren Cathedral of Western Armenia, located in
the Kars region of present-day Turkey. Prof. Maranci’s areas of expertise
include Byzantine art and architecture, and the art and architecture of the
Transcaucasus—principally Armenia. She is considered one of the world’s
authorities on the Mren Cathedral.
According to
Dr. Maranci, “the cathedral of Mren is now in danger of collapse.
Constructed circa 638 AD, Mren is a masterpiece of world art and a
product of the ‘Golden Age’ of Armenian architecture. Bearing an inscription
naming the Roman emperor Heraclius, and a unique sculpted relief image of
Heraclius returning Christendom’s greatest relic—the True Cross—to Jerusalem,
Mren preserves precious material evidence for one of the most dramatic and yet
poorly documented moments in history. It is also the largest domed basilica
surviving from the region, and a key example of the architectural achievements
of the seventh century.”
Dr. Maranci
stresses that Mren may not be standing much longer. “Photographs from the 1990s
to the first decade of the 21st century show the progressive collapse of the south
façade. Now the entire south aisle lies
in rubble on the ground, severely compromising the domed superstructure
of the monument and opening the interior and its wall paintings to the
elements,” she says. “The prospect of stabilizing what is left is at present
doubtful, however, because of Mren’s position within a military zone in Eastern
Turkey (Kars province) next to the closed Armenian-Turkish border. Visiting the
site is forbidden.”
Dr. Maranci is
campaigning to raise awareness about Mren’s precarious condition. “Mren has
stood for over a millennium, bearing world history on its walls,” she says. Its
collapse would represent a tragic loss to human knowledge.”
Following is an
interview with Dr. Maranci.
Lucine
Kasbarian: For years,
scholars and travelers have been unable to obtain official permission to visit
this site. When was the last time that architectural experts had access to
Mren?
Christina
Maranci: The last time
anyone was able to do substantial scientific work there was in the 1960s when
Nicole and Jean-Michel Thierry visited multiple times. I have never been there
although I have tried to get permission.
LK: Observers say that Mren Cathedral seems to rival in
size the Great Cathedral of Ani, and contains bas-reliefs and remnants of
frescos not unlike those at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Aghtamar.
Is forbidden access the reason why Mren is not as well known as these other two
monuments?
CM: Mren and Ani are comparable in size, and Mren
probably served as a local model for Ani Cathedral in its domed basilica layout
and form, although Ani exhibits typical features of the 10-11th century
Armenian architectural tradition. Mren has sculpted bas-reliefs on its portals
and over some windows, and preserves fragments of wall painting in the eastern
end. However, it bears nothing like the program of figural reliefs at
Aght’amar—something that makes this church anomalous even in the Armenian
tradition. Aght’amar’s wall painting is also better preserved. But the
inaccessibility of Mren surely shaped its scholarly reception and public
awareness about it. Toros Toramanyan, known as the father of Armenian
architectural historiography, tells us that he himself was only able to visit
it for one day.
LK: The website VirtualAni.org describes Mren as being
one of four structures similar in design and which were likely built around the
same time, the other three being the St. Gayane Church—built between 630 and 641 AD
at Etchmiadzin; the church of St. John at Bagavan—built between 632 - 639 AD
and north of the Lake Van region but now destroyed; and the Odzun
Basilica—probably built in the first half of the 7th century AD in
the Odzun region of Armenia. How does Mren compare in historical
importance to these other structures?
CM: Gayane is obviously important for its connections to
the conversion to Christianity tradition and because of its connections to the
Patriarch Ezr, who is thought to have built it. If the church of Bagavan were
standing today, it would have been, by far, the largest domed basilica in the
region. Odzun is difficult to discuss, because it has been renovated so many
times. While it dates to the early medieval period, it is generally thought to
have a 9th century phase and perhaps even later ones. Mren is the only one of
these monuments that is linked to the broader global world via its epigraphy
and sculpture. It speaks directly to the network of relationships between
empire, frontier, and local Armenian nobility. There is much more to say but
this is a start, one hopes.
LK: Even as Mren is on the brink of collapse, would you
say that it is one of the more intact monuments still standing in the Kars/Ani
region?
CM: Well, it is hard to say. So many are in danger, so
many have collapsed, and so many have been lost to historical record. But it is
remarkable in many ways that a 7th century monument, so isolated and in such a
seismic area, has survived as well as it has—so far.
LK: How can readers of this interview help bring
attention to Mren Cathedral so that scholars and restorers might conduct
important inspection and preservation work and so that Mren may become a
protected site?
CM: I am in the
midst of contacting UNESCO and, of course, nominating the monument to the World
Monuments Fund. I will also be organizing a global petition in the very near
future. In the meantime, readers who would like to get involved in the campaign
to save Mren Cathedral may signal their interest by contacting me at: Christina.Maranci@tufts.edu
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