Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/481

Rh able to check the very fallacious evidence of the litera scripta. In consequence of this, the dates usually given are those of the building of the first church on the spot, whereas, in a country so troubled by persecution as Armenia, the original church may have been rebuilt several times, and what we now see is often very modern indeed.

Among the churches now existing in Armenia, the oldest seems to be that in the village of Dighour near Ani. There are neither traditions nor inscriptions to assist

in fixing its date ; but, from the simplicity of its form and its quasi-classical details, it is evidently older than any other known examples, and with the aid of the information conveyed in De Vogue's recent publications we can have little hesitation in assigning it to the 7th century. The church is not large, being only 95 ft. long by 82 wide over all. Internally its design is characterized by extreme solidity and simplicity, and all the details are singularly classical in out- line. The dome is an ellipse, timidly constructed, with far more than the requisite amount of abutment. One of its most marked peculiarities is the existence of two apses externally, which form the transepts, and were no doubt intended to receive altars. Its flanks are ornamented by three-quarter columns of debased

classical design. These support an architrave which is bent over the heads of the windows as in the churches of Northern Syria erected during the 6th century. Its western and lateral doorways are ornamented by horse-shoe arches, which are worth remarking liere, as it is a feature which the Saracenic architects used so currently and employed for almost every class of opening. The oldest example of this form known is that of the vault of the building called Takht-i-Ghero, on Mount Zagros. In this little shrine all the other details are so purely and essentially classic that the building must be dated before or about the time of