Society Travel
Khachtars
Throughout Armenia,the village of Oshakan is quite well known. Teachers from the surrounding area bring their first-graders here, because the great teacher Mesrop Mashtots is buried in a crypt in Oshakan. The primary students explore the shadows of the tomb reverently, honoring the creator of the alphabet that they have mastered with so much dedication and effort. All this brings one question to mind, “Why is it that Mashtots was buried here?”
There are many ways that I could have answered the question: I could have called up a friend of mine who is a historian, or even done the research myself. The best way, of course, was to travel to Oshakan, just 30 kilometers away from Yerevan. I set out on a hot and breezy summer day. The highway was in a great condition, but my companion and I never would have arrived without asking for directions from passers-by every now and then. Evidently, the local authorities firmly believed that every Armenian should be guided to the landmark by an innate sense of national identity. We did, however, encounter one homemade sign directing us to Oshakan. It seemed almost as though the locals were annoyed by the frequent inquiries of lost tourists and decided to save everyone some time.
The site that captures the travelers' attention first is the 19th century basilica. In the adjacent apricot orchard there is a crowd of curious sculptures, letter-shaped khachkars. One can spend hours tracing the continuous lines of the elaborate ornamentation. The subject of each of these khachkars, or more precisely “khachtars”, corresponds to the letter itself. For instance, the letter “P” is dedicated to Saint Peter. The all-knowing candle vendor told us that the khachkars were carved by four brothers from the village of Arshaluys and were installed there in 2005.
The basilica looked modest enough from the outside, but it was almost entirely covered by frescos on the inside, which is uncommon for Armenian churches. The main subject of the frescos is the life of Mesrop Mashtots, who was canonized by the Armenian Church. His tomb is located to the right of the altar. Returning to the original question, I found out that the issue of the sepulture of St. Mesrop was discussed on the level of a council of princes.
In the vicinity of the basilica there is a cemetery and a chapel called Tukh Manuk. Next to the cemetery is a hill crowned by ArmenTel’s radio towers and a strange-looking building. The name of the hill is Kond, and the building has an interesting story. One of the residents of Oshakan, who happened to be well-off, had a dream that he had to build a chapel dedicated to Gregory the Illuminator in his home village. Also being somewhat religious, he decided to follow his vision and commissioned the construction of the church on the hill. After a while, when the chapel was complete, he had another dream. The later dream prompted him to build a dome over the chapel. Incidentally, the construction of the dome was taking place when we came by. Because our car couldn’t manage the steep slopes, I rushed to the summit on foot. After a rough fifteen-minute hike, I was rewarded by a magnificent view.
On one side of the hill the view included Mount Aragats and Mount Arai Ler, with the Ararat Valley spreading on the other. Two builders, a father and a son, were working relentlessly on completing the dome under the harsh sun. The hill also held the ruins of the cycloid castle that dated back before the 1st millennia BC. These ruins were discovered during the construction of the radio towers, and ArmenTel had to pay fines for utilizing lands of archeological significance. A portion of the fines went to fund the excavation of the ruins of the castle, which was unfortunately later abandoned. Another important landmark in Oshakan was the bridge over the river Casakh. Built in 1706, the bridge significantly reduced the distance to Echmiadzin. Our friend, the candle vendor, also told us that there was a 7th century church, St. Sion, or Mankanots, as it is called by the locals. I gave in to my desire to see the Mankanots Church. Confused by the directions of the residents, we found ourselves in Voskevaz, a neighboring village. The patriotically predisposed residents tried to sell us their own St. John Church, and others recommended Badal’s Temple as the infamous St. Sion. Nevertheless, we did not regret the side journey: stunning vineyards spread over the picturesque countryside, the area was famous for its wine. Because our driver refused to drive any further, we followed on foot. We soon discovered one of our promised pseudo-destinations, the Temple of Badal, which was beautifully located overlooking the Casakh River Canyon. On our way back we finally found St. Sion. We were amazed by its modesty and beauty. It was quite similar to Ashtarak’s Karmravor Church of the 7th century, only smaller. It was located between Voskevaz and Oshakan on the bank of River Shahband, a tributary of Casakh. The interior decor of the church consisted of replicas of Rafael’s “Madonna” and Leonardo’s “Last Supper”, as well as other articles of arts-and-crafts, mostly made by the local children. Overwhelmed and tired by our sight-seeing, as well as the long hike, we rested on a bench next to a manmade basin by the river. The clouds gathering around Aragats suggested rain, so we decided to hurry back to Yerevan.
Yerevan Magazine, Winter, N3, 2008
