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Western Armenia |
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Garmyrag Monastery (usually called Deveboynu Monastery in Turkish texts), situated in a mountainous area of Deveboynu peninsula on the South shore of the Lake Van |
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This view is seen when you proceed from the lake to the mountains (the Monastery is not visible from the shore and not very easy to be discovered) |
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View of the Church and the remnants of the monastery walls from the North-East |
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View of the Church from the North-East |
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Western wall of the Church. One can see Khachkars (cross-stones) above the windows. |
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View of the Church from the West. |
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View of the monastery remains from the North-West |
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View from the road, linking the monastery with the shoreline. |
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The Dome has rather odd holes, which origin is inexplicable to me, it's obvious however that they couldn't had shown up without human participation. |
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View of the entrance from the apse. |
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View of the north-eastern corner of the church. |
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The Apse from the West. |
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View of the Church from the South-East. |
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One more view from the north-west. Underneath is Lake Van. |
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The hachkar (cross-stone) on the western wall of nothern side-chapel. |
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Church entrance. |
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The monastery is situated in the canyon above the small river rushing to the Lake Van. On both sides of the canyon there are plenty of shepherd paths with herds of cows and sheep on the mountainsides. The area is completely uninhabited, and nobody but shepherds passes alongside the monastery's walls, and the howl of the wind alternating with rare mooing and yelling of cows and mules. And the church is used as a cattle-shed for the herds on their way from one pasture to another. |
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Khachkars (made mainly not of tufa but of rocks, like on Akhtamar island) were actively used in constructing the church's walls. One hundred years ago, at the time when the church was actually used for its direct purpose, the walls were whitewashed from the outside, and at present when the whitewash has disappeared, plenty of gravestones exposed on the walls. The were only two khachkars permanently seen on the western wall - one on the top of the facade and another, made of tufa, laid horizontally above the window. |
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The hachkar on the western wall of the church. |
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Western wall of the church & the hachkar |
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Some pictures of the southern church wall with the numerous hachkars (cross-stones) |
