THE FALL

THE CHURCH OF K‛OLATAK. NORTHEAST OF DVIN.
RECONSTRUCTION BY ARCHITECT MNAC‛AKANEAN

Written by Gevork Nazaryan

The city was conquered by the Arabs on October 17, 640 AD and subsequently lost much of its international importance. It later became the seat of the governor and remained so until 789. In the IXth and Xth centuries it was caught up in the conflicts between the Bagratid Royal House and Arab amirs (for detailed references on the early Islamic period, see Canard). Early in the Xth century the residence of the Catholicos was moved to Coravank in the Vaspurakan Province of Greater Armenia. The city flourished again during the reign of the Bagratid King Gagik I (990-1020) who was able to eliminate the rival amirates. Most of the archeological finds at the site are from the Bagratid period. After 1100 the city was briefly ruled by the Seljuk Turks. A late flowering took place in the time of the Armenian Zakarids (after 1200) until the Mongol conquerors again destroyed the city, between 1233 and 1236, thus bringing about its definitive decline. Today a small village remains in the proximity of the historic city.

THE INTERIOR HALLWAY OF THE CATHOLICOSAL QUARTERS. THE CEILING WAS
MADE IN THE TRADITIONAL HAZARASHEN ['THOUSAND LAYERS'] STYLE THAT WAS
COMMON THROUGHOUT SECULAR BUILDINGS OF THE CITY FOLK AND PEASANTRY
THE PILLAR AND THE BASE MOTIF OF THE COLUMNS
OF THE PATRIARCHAL PALACE.

The site of Dvin has been continuously excavated since 1937, except for a period during World War II. The finds have been widely published in several volumes and languages.

D U D U K -- THE TRADITIONAL ARMENIAN INSTRUMENT
UNEARTHED DURING THE EXCAVATIONS. DUDUK'S VERY POWERFUL
AND PROFOUND SOUND IS CONSIDERED BY MANY MUSICOLOGISTS
TO BE THE MOST SUBLIME AND SOUL MOVING INSTRUMENT EVER CREATED BY MAN.

THE  ANCIENT ARMENIAN INSTRUMENT IS ALL BUT A REFLECTION OF
THE INNERMOST BEING OF MAN...MANIFESTING...
THE ETERNAL UNMANIFEST MUSIC OF THE UNIVERSE...

THE GENERAL PLAN OF  T H E   M O T H E R   C H U R C H  OF DVIN
AFTER THE RECONSTRUCTION IN THE XTH CENTURY

THE RELIQUARY OF XOTAKERATS. 1300.

THE ENCIRCLED EQUILATERAL SPLIT [FISH] TAIL ARMENIAN SOLAR CROSS.
MADE OUT OF PURE GOLD AND EMBELLISHED WITH PRECIOUS STONES. OPEN
GATES LEAD TO THE POINTED ARCH THAT WITHIN CONTAINS THE COSMIC
CRUX/STAR GATE. EACH SEVEN STONES RUNNING VERTICALLY ACROSS THE SPINE
OF THE CROSS CORRESPONDS TO THE [CRYSTAL] CHAKRAS OF THE HUMAN BODY.
THE GREENISH-GOLDEN FERTILITY BRANCHES AND VEGETATIVE 8-ESQUE SPIRALS
SYMBOLICALLY STAND FOR LIFE AND ETERNITY CONTAINED IN THE 'MOMENT OF
TIME'. TWO SEMI-MYTHICAL CREATURES FACING EAST AND WEST AS THE PRIMORDIAL
DYAD THAT GIVES BIRTH TO LIFE.

CLOSE UP OF THE SUPERB CRAFTSMANSHIP OF THE SUBLIMINAL RELIQUARY.

The reconstruction of the Catholicosal Palace that was erected in the second half of the Vth century, a church with a 6th-century nave (the Martyrium of Yazd; cf. Kafadaryan, 1952, pp. 101-110), and the three-aisled Mother Church of Dvin with porticoes on three sides of a courtyard, which was dedicated in the middle of the Vth century to Saint Gregory the Illuminator, deserve special attention.

GRAND GALLERY WITH HAZARASHEN CROWNS IN THE CATHOLICOSAL PALACE.

COLUMN PILLAR. INTERWOVEN 'MESH' MATRIX/INFINITI.

According to the reports of contemporary Armenian historians of the period such as Thomas Arc‛runi, the last was built right on the site of a Fire Temple. After the Mother Churh was destroyed in the early 7th century it was rebuilt with fortifications [cf. Kafadaryan, 1952, pp. 111-122; for drawings, see Khatchatrian, pp.11-13]

GOLDEN NECKLACE EQUAL ARM SOLAR ARMENIAN CROSS IN THE FORM OF ANKH.
MARKED EIGHT POINTS LEADING TO THE NINTH IN THE CENTER WITH A MARKED
RUBY. A TEN [INFINITUM] CIRCLE AT THE TOP WITH INTERWOVEN HERMETIC
SNAKES FORMING THE DNA/SPIRAL OF LIFE RUNNING HORIZ. AND ACROSS THE SPINE...
VIITH CENTURY. DVIN.

GENERAL PLAN OF THE ONE OF THE CITY'S MUNICIPAL BATHS

In 893, as a result of a massive earthquake the city received a setback that did not have a lasting effect. The Bagratid monarchs rebuilt the damaged sections of the city restoring it to the previous status of a thriving center, which it remained before the destruction by the nomadic invaders in the XIIIth century.

A SECTION OF THE FLOOR MOSAIC UNEARTHED DURING THE EXCAVATIONS
LEFT AND RIGHT SPINNING COSMIC WHEELS WITHIN THE VULVAS/WOMBS/EYES