Zartonk / Zart'onk' / Zvartnots / Zvarnotz / Zuartnots / Zvartnoc / Zuartnoc / Zart'onk'

INFORMATION

FontID: 05913ZVA
Object Type: Baptismal Font1
Church/Chapel: Church / Cathedral of St. Gregory (Cathedral of the Angels) [in ruins]
Church Patron Saints: St. Cregory the Great
Country Name: Armenia
Location: Armavir
Directions to Site: The ruins of this ancient church are located 3 km from Ejmiatsin (Echmiadzin), in Vagharshapat, about 50 km west of Yerevan, towards the border with Turkey
Font Location in Church: In the SE angle, between the tetra-lobed inner frame and the round outer wall
Date: ca. 650-659?
Century and Period: 7th century(mid), Early Christian
Church Notes: According to Thierry (2000?: 57) and the Rensselaer's Architecture Library web page of Armenian Religious sites, www.lib.rpi.edu/dept/library/html/ArmArch/Zva.html, this church was built ca. 650-659 AD "by the Katholikos Nerses III 'The Builder'". This same source informs that it was built "at the traditional site of the meeting between King Trdat and S. Gregory the Illuminator as described in the Armenian historian Agathangelos in his account of the conversion of Armenia to Christianity during the 4th century".
Font Notes:
Described and illustrated in Thierry (2000?: 57, 83) as a cruciform baptismal font found in the ruins of the ancient cathedral church of St. Gregory at Zvarnots; the baptismal font is displayed in the church plan (after Marur'yan) in this souyrce, at the southeast corner, between the tetra-lobed wall and the outer circular wall. The same source reports that a pit that holds ancient relics -located just before the absidal curve, was believed to have been an old baptistery. [ref. given in the source "AA vol. 1, fiche# 070-073]

MEDIUM AND MEASUREMENTS

Material: stone
Font Shape: cruciform
Basin Interior Shape: cruciform
Basin Exterior Shape: cruciform

REFERENCES

Thierry, Jean-Michel, L'Arménie au Moyen Age: les hommes et les monuments, La Pierre-qui-vire, Yonne: Zodiaque, 2000?