Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/485

Rh i;k. i::, Ch. v. ARMENIA. 463 and it would consequently be unsafe to attempt to.fix a date from its peculiarities. Interesting as these may be in an historical point of view, the most important ecclesiastical establishment in this part of the world is that of Etchnuasdin. Here are four churches built on the spots from which, accord- inu" to tradition, rose the two arches or rainbows, crossing one another at right angles, on which our Saviour is said to have sat when he appeared to St. Gregory. They consequently ought to be at the four angles of a square, or rectangle of some sort, but this is far from being the case. The principal of these churches is that whose plan is represented in Woodcut No. 919. It stands in the centre of a large square, surrounded by ecclesiastical build- ings, and is on the whole rather an imposing edifice. Its j^orch is modern ; so also, compara- tively speaking, is its dome ; but the ])lan, if not the greater part of the substructure, is an- cient, and exhibits the plainness and sinijjlicity characteristic of its age. The other three churches lay claim to as remote a date of foundation as this, but all have been so altered in modern times that they have now no title to antiquity. The idea that the churches at Pitzounda and Bedochwinta must be comparatively modern is confirmed by comparing their plan with that of Kouthais, a church which there seems no reasonable ground for doubting 919. Plan of Church at Etchmiasdin. (From Brosset.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 920. Church of Kouthais. (From Dubois.) Scale 100 ft. to 1 in. 921. Window at Kouthais. (From Dubois.)