Altınsaç Kilisesi

Altınsaç village, red church. Van da Urartu and one of the most beautiful examples of Armenian relics. A delightful place in a wonderful nature ...

Altınsaç Monastery This monastery, whose real name was St Thomas Monastery, was an important educational center and place of worship of its period. It is within the boundaries of Altınsaç village, formerly Kanzak (Kantsag). It was built in the 11th century for the storage of the sacred items belonging to one of the apostles, St. Thomas. Built to keep the holy relics of St. Thomas from the Apostles and is as important as the Akdamar Church for Christians, St. Thomas Monastery Church was built on a hill with an indescribable beautiful view against Lake Van. After the restoration in 1671, Jamatun was added to the western part of the church and was looted at the end of the 18th century. While the monastery has stood firm up to the present, it has been handled in a rectangular plan from the outside and the middle space is covered with a dome from the inside, a high hoop with twelve edges and a cone. The interior of the church is illuminated by windows opened on the west wall and the dome drum. You can reach the church in Altınsaç village of Gevaş district of Van by car or boat. The church located at the beginning of Deveboynu bay has a wonderful view. There is also a priest's garden 200 meters below the church, which was established in a forest area. In this garden, there are fresh water sources, mulberry, apple, apricot, plum and walnut trees. Looking from the church, the church on Akdamar island and the Varakvank churches on Erek Mountain can be seen directly. There is also a sundial on the wall of the church. In the backyard of the church, there is a priest's cemetery and the tombstones are still standing today.

Located in the village of Altınsaç in Van, the building was built on the slope of a valley overlooking Lake Van. XIII. The church, which dates back to the 15th century, was repaired in 1671 and a jamatun was added to its west. Although all the buildings belonging to the monastery have been destroyed, the church has survived in a very robust condition. From the jamat arranged as three naves, one passes to the vaulted entrance section, which opens to the naos with a wide arch (Plan-6). The middle space is covered by a dome that sits on arches rising above the corner walls. The dome is projected to the outside with a pyramidal cone on a high rim. There are deep arms on both sides of the domed central area. In the eastern part of the building, there is a semicircular apse from the inside, which does not extend outward. Small pastophorion cells are found in the north and south of the apse. These sections are connected to the side branches by a narrow corridor. The most distinctive feature of the structures in this type of spatial arrangement is that they have very thick corner walls and the curtain walls connecting these corners only fill the gaps, so that there is no function for carrying the dome. The reason why these walls, which form the four corners of the naos, are extremely thick is that the arches carrying the dome are fused with the buttresses on which they sit. In other words, the pillars, which lost their position in the interior, were approached until they touch the inner parts of the side walls and turned into wall braces. Between these buttresses and the tympanon walls, arms in vertical rectangular arrangements were formed. What a structure of this type needs is to expand the interior space without overflowing in all four directions. These structures, which have appeared as a very common scheme in the local architecture since the 10th century, are separated from the churches with a single nave scheme in the Byzantine period with a more spacious interior arrangement, and at this point, they flock with the Byzantine structures defined as kiborions. However, it is also difficult to define them as kiborion. Although there are four types of plan schemes in Van and its surroundings, the plan diversity is quite high in local churches. When the other four types are added to the basilica, domed basilica, central and mixed plan type, it is seen that eight types of schemes are used in eastern Christian architecture. In addition, there are also examples that do not fall into general evaluation, that is, without continuity. As in the early period of Byzantium, not much attention was paid to the basilical scheme used in the first buildings, and a rapid transition was made from the domed basilicas to the central plan arrangement. The idea of ​​collecting the space under a dome or creating an uninterrupted space in the naos caused the schemes defined as tetraconch, polygon or circular (central) and single nave to be widely used in the architecture of the region. Especially in single naves, with the legs attached to the corners and the side arms formed in the width of the arch, it was possible to create an extension without exceeding the main mass in the interior. Finally, we can say that; The local Christian architects interpreted the plan schemes they received from Byzantium, adding some unchangeable regional rules, which are the fusion of many cultures, to their architecture. Material, covering scheme, wall structure, façade decoration and most importantly, iiturjis caused differences in the implementation of the plans.

The ruins of the church that have collapsed within the borders of Van Gevaş. It is in ruins and the collapses continue, unfortunately. Transportation is a bit difficult. There is no public transportation. There are historical stones or tombstones on the grounds around the church. If only he was surrounded and protected.

It has a wonderful view with a beautiful historical texture, but leaving such a historical place neglected and the lack of a proper way to destroy the surrounding of the huge historical church as a barn is bad, but the place is beautiful yet unprocessed yet preserves its historical feature like yesterday.

The church in the village of Van Gevaş Altınsaç was built in the 11th century for the storage of items belonging to the Apostles, St. Thomas. The church, which we went on foot, was about 2000 mt high. Unfortunately, like other historical buildings, he had his share of indifference. It is better to travel especially in spring. Because the best season of the region is spring. We hope to be more interested in here as soon as possible

The collapsed Armenian church in class. A place where you have to go up rough village roads and mountain trails that are not paved by car. On top of the mountain, the scenery is good on sunny days

Altınsaç church is a beautiful church with a place where everyone can visit and see a beautiful church made with a beautiful architecture and all the stones on the walls of the church are decorated with crosses and writings. Patterned tombstones destroyed in the graves near the shore are broken down and scattered around