Bagaran (ancient city)

Founding and pagan period

According to the Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi, Bagaran was founded during the third century BC by King Orontes IV of Armenia. The city was founded simultaneously with the construction of the new capital, Yervandashat.^[3] It quickly became the religious centre of Armenia, replacing Armavir as the main spiritual site of the Orontid pagan temples.^[4]

King Orontes IV constructed pagan temples in Bagaran and appointed his brother, Yervaz, as the High Priest.^[5] By royal decree, an artificial oak forest-park was planted, which was subsequently enclosed by walls and converted into a royal hunting ground named "Tsnndots" ("Forest of Genesis").^[6] Following the completion of the enclosure, the park was populated with various animals, including roe deer, red deer, fallow deer, and wild boars. This grove held profound cultic significance, closely resembling the sacred "Sosyats" (Plane tree) forest of Armavir, where priests historically performed divinations based on the rustling of the leaves. Vestiges of the "Tsnndots" forest have survived to the present day in the form of dense shrublands.^[2]

The Campaign of Artaxias I and the Decline of the City

Artaxias I, the founder of the Artaxiad dynasty, overthrew Orontes IV and brought an end to the Orontid dynasty. He plundered the treasures from the pagan temples of Bagaran and ordered the High Priest Yervaz to be executed by drowning in the river with a stone tied around his neck.^[7] The pagan idols were subsequently transferred to the newly established capital of Artashat.^[8]

Artaxias I granted the High Priest's 500 servants to Smbat Bagratuni, who subsequently settled them in the Kogovit canton. This new settlement was also named Bagaran and later developed into a prominent feudal estate.^[9] After losing its status as a religious center, Bagaran declined in prominence and was not mentioned in historical sources for nearly a thousand years. During the second half of the sixth century, Bagaran, along with the entire canton of Arsharunik, became the property of the Kamsarakan princes^[10][11]․

The Bagratid Period (As Capital City)

The Bagratunis took over the city during the eighth century. In 895, after the establishment of the Kingdom of Armenia, Bagaran became the capital of an independent Armenian kingdom under Ashot I.^[12] His successor, Smbat I, moved the capital Bagaran to Shirakavan in 890. Under Bagratid rule, Bagaran remained one of the prosperous centers of the Armenian kingdom. Many Bagratuni rulers, including Ashot I, are buried in Bagaran.^[13]

Throughout the existence of their dynasty, the Bagratunis held four different capital cities (Bagaran, Shirakavan, Kars, and Ani); however, Bagaran maintained its economic and cultural significance from the 8th to the 11th centuries. During this period, major civil and ecclesiastical construction projects were carried out in the city.^[14]

Foreign Incursions and Final Decline

However, in 1045, Bagaran, along with the Armenian capital of Ani, was invaded by the Byzantines. In 1064, the city was attacked and heavily destroyed by the Seljuk Turks. During the twelfth century, the Shah-Armens took over Bagaran.

In 1211, the joint Armeno-Georgian forces led by the Zakarid princes liberated Bagaran. Over the following few decades, the city's prosperity began to recover; however, this resurgence was interrupted in 1236 by the Mongol-Tatar invasions, as a consequence of which the city entered a period of rapid decline.^[15]

In 1394, Bagaran was finally destroyed by Tamerlane.^[15] Following this invasion, the city was never rebuilt; during the 14th and 15th centuries, it was reduced to a heap of ruins, and the modest settlement that persisted within the area lost its former urban significance.^[5]

Citadel

The citadel of Bagaran was situated on the southwestern side of the defensive wall, atop the highest of the three rocky cliffs. Built with dressed stones, the citadel featured defensive bastions adorned with bas-reliefs. The remnants of the Bagratuni royal palaces were located within this area. The other two hills of the city were also fortified with walls, where the traces of structures with vaulted rooms have been preserved.^[16]

Cathedrals

The existence of five Armenian churches is recorded within the territory of Bagaran, four of which are explicitly mentioned in historical sources. More than ten inscriptions have been preserved on the walls of these structures, including lapidary inscriptions dating back to 956 and 1034 AD. The inscription from 1034 AD mentions a priest named Vahan, who referred to himself as a gtsogh (calligrapher).

St. Theodore Church

The main church of Bagaran.^[17] Its construction was initiated in 624 AD by Prince But Aravenyan and completed in 631 AD by his wife, Princess Anna. Until a later period, the cathedral remained standing, though it lacked its dome. Featuring a cross-shaped design both internally and externally, its architectural composition aligns with the Etchmiadzin Cathedral. According to architectural historians, the structural elements of Saint Theodore influenced the architecture of several European buildings through the mediation of Byzantium (such as the Oratory of Germigny-des-Prés in Orléans, Santa Maria presso San Satiro in Milan, the Nea Ekklesia of the Imperial Palace in Constantinople, and the Great Lavra on Mount Athos). The cathedral's lapidary inscriptions are engraved on the exterior walls, beginning from the northern side of the western apse and extending across the northern, eastern, and southern facades.^[18][19]

St. George Church

Located on the northern side of the citadel. It was constructed in 1030 AD during the reign of Catholicos Peter I of Armenia and King Hovhannes-Smbat. The church featured ornately carved khachkars. Throughout history, it was destroyed and rebuilt multiple times.^[19] The only surviving photograph of the church was taken by Karapet Hovhanjanyan in 1884.^[20]

St Shushanik Church

Located on the high grounds of the left bank of the Akhuryan. Its geographical coordinates correspond to 40° 12' 52" N latitude and 43° 39' 46" E longitude, sitting at an elevation of 1,160 meters above sea level. In the spring of 1909, while surveying and studying the cathedrals of Tekor, Yererouk, Mren, and Bagaran, the prominent architectural theorist Toros Toramanian briefly documented this hexa-apsidal (six-apsed) church. He characterized it as an octagonal church surrounded by a fortified wall with bastions (currently ruined) and tentatively dated it to the 11th century.^[21] The Shushanavank monument complex consists of hexa-apsidal and tetra-apsidal (four-apsed) churches, a single-nave chapel, a defensive wall, and the remnants of eastern auxiliary structures. Overall, the architectural decoration of the monument is highly restrained. The dome's drum, which features a circular layout both internally and externally, is crowned internally by a spherical dome and externally by a conical roof. The church has two entrances, opening from the western and southwestern apses. On the exterior, these entrances feature simple portals crowned with rectangular pilasters and arches.^[22] According to local tradition, Shushanik, the young daughter of an Armenian prince, went missing while wandering in the vicinity of Bagaran and was never found. In response, her father constructed a church on the left bank of the Akhuryan River, presumably at the exact site where she disappeared. According to another legend, a noble lady from Bagaran named Shushan, who resided on the left bank of the Akhuryan, once arrived late for divine liturgy; consequently, she commissioned the construction of a new church and named it Shushanavank.^[19]

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  St Theodore Church
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  St George Church
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  St Shushanik Church