Christian and Islamic Encounters: Muqarnas in Armenian Medieval Tradition

The period spanning the 12th to 14th centuries was marked as an unprecedented stage for Armenian history and culture. The Armenian kingdom was established in Cilicia, geographically distant from the primary Armenian territories. Concurrently, Eastern Armenian lands came under the dominion of Georgian Queen Tamar and were governed by Zak῾aryan (Mkhargrdzeli) brothers. The Armenian historical sources indicate that the Armenian rulers maintained active diplomatic engagements with the Byzantine Empire, while also cultivating political relations with the Seljuk and, subsequently, the Ayyubid authorities. This intricate and multifaceted political landscape profoundly influenced the cultural sphere. It shaped new societal values and, notably, formed a new cultural and artistic sensibility among the Armenian elite that vividly manifested in the monuments they commissioned.  The present study aims to focus on the religious architecture of the capital city of Ani and present-day Armenia during the 13th-14th centuries. This period witnessed significant transformations in the ornamental vocabulary of architectural decoration. Of particular interest is the introduction and development of one especially striking feature: the muqarnas ornamentation. It became an integral component of Armenian religious architecture. The muqarnas motif lavishly appears on the façades, particularly in the portal decoration and window frames of the gavits (narthex), as well as in the interior space: on the oculus ceilings of gavits, niches, etc. In contrast to Islamic architecture, where muqarnas is extensively applied to brick structures and exhibits a wide variety of forms, its applications in Armenian architecture are primarily confined to tuff stone structures, with relatively limited variations. Muqarnas emerged as one of the distinctive motives of the 13th-14th century Armenian architecture, a feature that did not become characteristic of neighboring Georgian contemporary monuments.