Page:A History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 2.djvu/496

480 480 BYZANTINE ARCHITECTURE. Part II. two examples. That under the fortress (Woodcut No. 936) seems, however, to be of considerable antiquity. There is one which in plan is Aery like those just described at Vardzie, said to belong to the 12th century, and another, almost absolutely identical Avith a Buddhist vihara, at Kieghart in Armenia, which has a date upon it, a.d. 1288. On the banks of the Kour, however, at Ouplous Tsikhe and Vardzie, are some excavations which are either temples or monas- teries, and which range from the Christian era downwards. These are generally assumed to be residences — one is called the palace of Queen Thamar — and they Avere evidently intended for some stately purpose. Yet they Avere not temples in any sense in which that term Avould be emj)loyed by the Greek or Roman world. Whatever their destination, these rock-cut examples make, Avhen taken altogether, as curious a group of monuments as are to be found in this corner of Asia, and which may lead afterwards to curious archa3ological infer- ences. At present we are liardly in a position to speculate on the subject, and merely point to it here as one well meriting further investigation.