THE KATCHKARS

The most recognizable Armenian art is the traditional stone carving. The carving of Khatchkars is an artistic Armenian tradition. An Armenian trademark and monopoly. Khatchkar, literally means "cross-stone"; khatch means cross and “kar” means stone. It refers to an upright basalt stone resting on a rectangular base with its back facing eastward. It is a slab of stone incorporating various patterns of carved crosses with inscriptions and different designs pertaining to various epochs. The front of the basalt stab is always hosting a large cross carved in the center and surrounded with elaborate designs and symmetrical designs that vary from one katchkar to another. Each single katchkar is unique in its design, carving style and geometrical form. There are thousands and thousands of them in all sizes, forms, shapes and heights, ranging from two feet to nine feet plus. The small size katchkars are usually found carved or placed into churches and cathedrals walls, incorporated into niches or placed at church doorways. The larger ones are found everywhere. Many of them were used as gravestones, tomb steles and monuments to commemorate events, completion of churches, military victories, life passages, to immortalize important events and achievements, commemorate the liberation of lands and territories which were captured and usurped by the enemies, the re-capture of a city lost to hostile conquering foreign power, completion of churches, etc.. Most commonly, Khatchkars were used as religious monuments to commemorate the dead. Traditionally the deceased was buried in the tomb with the head directed toward the east, in the direction of a Khatchkar which was placed at his/her feet.

Almost all katchkars, small and large include the name of the artist who carved the stone, the date he completed the work, the occasion or reason for which the slab was erected, as well as the name of the person, persons or family who commissioned the carving work, similar to the tradition that accompanied the illuminated manuscripts paintings. Thousands of these stone slabs still exist today in Armenia,Turkey, Isfahan and Jerusalem.

THE RELATION BETWEEN THE KATCHKARS AND EARLY VISHAPS STONES AND NEOLITHIC OBELISKS

Katchkars are not the first carved stones in Armenia. In the pre-historic times of Armenia, sculptured stones existed in the form of a very large and free-standing stone monuments of various forms and designs, usually taking the shape of a fish. They were called: Vishaps, and were referred to as the “dragon stones”. They were regularly found nearby creeks, lakes, rivers and fountains due to their religious and worshiping relationship with water. In fact, early Armenians worshiped Astghik, the goddess of water. Vishaps can still be found in Erevan, nearby Arayr, Mt. Aragats and mountain Geghama.

The Khachkars can be traced to Armenian prehistoric monuments, and more accurately to the 5^th millennium B.C. Their earliest roots may be traced to the gigantic polished black Neolithic obelisks Menhirs which appeared as early as 4,000 B.C. around Mokhra Blur near the capital Yerevan and to the colossal stones monuments found at Karahundj which were enigmatic and unique, for they contained perforated holes with telescopic measurements and scientific characteristics. Many astronomers believe that those massive stones are a structural part of one of the world’s oldest astronomical observatory as well as a temple. More intriguing and fascinating features of those obelisks were studied and carefully examined by researchers and scholars. For instance, on those massive obelisks, universal signs of paramount religious and scientific values appeared thousands of years before any other great civilization came to existence and or ever heard of. To name a few:

A- The sun was represented by a swirling disc or wheel, an ancient Armenian symbol which first appeared in the Paleolithic period of 20,000 to 12,000 B.C., (a pre-cursor to all the sun symbols in all forthcoming religions and cults).

B- The sign of the zodiac which can be traced to the 3^rd millennium B.C., (a pre-cursor to the Babylonian and Mesopotamian astrological calendars),

C- The sign of the cross (a pre-cursor to the Roman cross, Egyptian cross, Christian cross).

D- The swastika (a pre-cursor to the Buddhism Nihayana and Mahayana sects).

All those enigmatic signs and symbols were first found on ancient Armenian stones, obelisks, Menhirs, Vishaps, thousands of years before they re-surfaced again on monuments, obelisks, carved columns, temples entrances, tombs, terra-cotta tablets, parchments, scrolls, military equipment, tools, instruments, shields, armors and various other edifices and objects of the world’s most advanced and less privileged civilizations and cultures.

Ancient Armenian stones had already all the symbols and signs that one day… thousand years later will be used by empires, kingdoms, mighty nations, religions, men of art, science and wisdom as their own symbol and seal of accomplishments, advanced knowledge and supreme authority.

The ancient Armenian pre-historic and pre-medieval stones depicted and created the first and the majority of signs and symbols of the world’s religions, mightiest empires, fields of science, arts and discoveries and invincible kingdoms to be born. Ancient Armenians created and cemented the world’s first universal language and images of knowledge, science and arts through signs, symbols and graphic representations of the known and “what is to be discovered.”

Vishapakar, "Dragon Stone," ca. 1200 B.C., found on Mt. Gegham, Sardarapat Museum.rrr

Ancient Armenian obelisks served other purposes and needs as well. For instance, they were used as the world’s first frontiers stones by ancient civilizations including the Babylonians, Hittites and Mesopotamians to mark the frontiers of their territories. Nemruth, king of Babylonia used the ancient Armenian obelisks as boundary stones to mark the lands and territories of his kingdom.

By the Urarturian period, the obelisks were built from stone columns covered in cuneiform and incorporated a universal Khachkar symbol: The tree of life, which was represented by the Urarturians in a double set of eight branches crowned by three additional smaller branches at the top of the formation. Urarturians had another name for this symbol, frequently referred to as “THE TREE OF WISDOM” or “THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE”. Several of their inscriptions depicted a monarch or a God standing by the tree and reaching out for the branches. His attempt to reach the branches means his attempt to reach immortality or eternal life though wisdom and knowledge.

The tree of life is mentioned in the Genesis in the Bible, but its use in ancient Armenian iconography can be traced back to the Metsamorian era (5,000 B.C.). This symbol was widely used as symbol of fecundity, abundance, eternity and resurrection in the Middle and Near East countries and tribes. In Urartu, the tree of life as a concept and a symbol of eternity, a the immortality of the body and the soul was already de facto a common philosophico-religious belief and way ahead of all similar or identical beliefs to appear in the years to come in Eastern empires and kingdoms.

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THE KATCHKARS

By Maximillien de La Croix de Lafayette