An Outlook on Van-Aghtamar Monastery's Conservation and Restoration

Church of the Holy Cross in the Aghtamar Island, one of the most important islands in Lake Van, was built between 915 and 912 by Gagik Ist, Vaspurakan King. It was converted into a monastery with buildings other than the church, a cistern, a clergy school, the square hall (Jamaton), the campanile, a chapel, services court, catchment rooms, roof gardens, a graveyard and a port which had been built during various periods. Nationalism movements that had started in Europe and had supported by imperialist powers affected negatively Armenian people that were known as loyal nation in Ottoman State in the beginning of XIXth century and caused some undesirable events. As a result of negative events, Armenian people of the region were expatriated in 1918. The monastery that was not utilized between years of 1918 and 2005 was under impacts of nature. For this reason, flat soil roof covering system of southern annexes were ruined entirely and outer and interior walls are of the same section were ruined partly. Aghtamar Monastery's Conservation and Restoration works have been conducted by Ministry of Culture and Tourism and Van Governorate between the years of 2005 and 2012. Project application works for scouring, scientific excavation, restoration, conservation, land using and landscaping have been completed. After the restoration, Aghtamar church has been attracting approximately 225.000 local and international tourists by its architectural features today.