Publication details
The Epitome of Perfection. How a 13th-century liege family came to build the “perfect establishment”
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Appeared in Conference without Proceedings |
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| Citation | |
| Description | Hovhannavank is a mainly thirteenth-century monastery complex built by members of the Vachutian family: Vatché – with his wife Mamakhatun – and Kurd – with Khorishah –, who acquired nobility for their role in providing crucial military support to the Zakarian brotherd in the reconquest of Armenian territories occupied by the Seljuks. The monastery has been an important religious site since its foundation, and this lecture aims to study its value by drawing on available sources to understand its social and spiritual role. In particular, I will firstly take into consideration a late source, the chronicle of Zakaria Kanakertsi, a teacher trained there, who in 1687 took care to write the history of the monastery. The text bears witness to the longue durée of the monastery's fame and importance, so much so that, in Kanakertsi's words, Hovhannavank’ was widely recognized as "perfect and sublime". |
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