page_title: Makaravank
section_title: Main temple
hierarchical_section_title: Makaravank / Complex / Main temple
caption_attribution_description: Makaravank Monastery in Armenia.
context_page_description: Makaravank is a 10th to 13th century church complex near the Achajur village of Tavush Province, Armenia, located on the slope of Paitatap Mountain.
  Though the monastery is no longer used for services, the complex is well preserved. There are 4 churches, a gavit that serves the two largest of the churches, and other buildings which served secondary roles. At one time there used to be vast settlements around Makaravank, the presence of which was of great importance for the growth of the monastery.
context_section_description: Passing through the gate in the circuit wall, the main church of 1205, built by Vardan, son of Prince Bazaz, is on the right.
  The main temple is a domed hall. The diameter of the high dome is quite large, and the under-dome space predominates in the structures interior. The vertical orientation of the interior is emphasized by the pillars supporting the dome. Attached to the pillars are several faceted pilasters and half-columns which form, at the top, semi-circular and pointed arches bearing the supporting girth of the domes. High niches, semi-circular in the plan, framed with graceful arcatures on twin half-columns, which decorate the bottom of the altar apses, harmoniously fit in with the pillars.
  The walls of altar daises, decorated with geometrical ornaments, are of extraordinary interest. In Makaravank the profiled eight-pointed stars and octagons between them, arranged in two rows, are covered with varied and rich carving unique in the architecture of medieval Armenia. It features various floral motifs, making up unusual bouquets, all kinds of fishes and birds, as well as sphinxes and sirens. Of interest are a boatman looking ahead, and a man’s figure, placed inside an octagon up the left edge of the altar dais wall and inscribed "eritasard" - probably a self-portrait of the carver. All this is enclosed in a strongly profiled frame which draws the onlooker’s attention to the reliefs inside it.
  The exterior decoration of Makaravank’s main temple is the more expressive. Over the central window of the southern façade there is a sun dial and below it, on the cantilever column, a representation of a dove; the round windows vary in their shapes and ornamentation. The entrance portals are rectangular, with a semi-circular inner niche. The tympanum and the spandrel are composed of stones of various shapes and colors. The dome drum is skirted by a graceful twenty-arch arcature on twin half-columns.
  The arches are made as an ornamental band; the same band passes between the arches and the cornice. The arcature is harmoniously proportionate to the dome and to the overall volume of the church.
caption: Detail below altar
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