St. Nshan or Kopatap Monastery of Bist
Location: Bist
Destruction
When historian Argam Ayvazyan documented the St. Nshan or Kopatap Monastery of Bist during his fieldwork (1964-1987), the basilica was well-preserved. The monastery was a prominent medieval cultural center. According to tradition, Mesrop Mashtots, inventor of the Armenian alphabet, visited St. Nshan and several manuscripts were copied and illuminated in its scriptorium, some of which are now preserved in the Madenataran, a manuscript museum and research institute in Yerevan, Armenia. St. Nshan or Kopatap consisted of one nave, two aisles, a five-sided apse, with an arcaded porch to the south (see plan below). Armenian inscriptions were set in the southern facade and in the interior. 1,2 The monastery was destroyed by June 15, 2006, when the QuickBird-2 satellite captured an image of the now vacant site with piles of debris and clear indications of recent earthmoving.
Swipe right to see St. Nshan Monastery in 1973; swipe left to see the vacant and scoured site after destruction in 2006.
Geolocation
St. Nshan Monastery was located 1km north of Bist village. 1,2 The monastery's location is marked on the 1:50K scale Soviet topographic map of 1974. CHW confirmed the monastery's precise location using KH-9 hexagon satellite imagery dated July 29, 1974.
Timeline
Image Gallery
Images © Argam Ayvazyan Archive, used with permission.
References
1 Ayvazyan, Argam. The Historical Monuments of Nakhichevan. Transl. Krikor H. Maksoudian. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1990, p. 42-43.
2 Ayvazyan, Argam. Nakhijevani ISSH haykakan hushardzannery. Hamahavak tsutsak. Yerevan: Hayastan, 1986, p. 57.
3 Research on Armenian Architecture, Nakhijevan: Atlas. Yerevan: Tigran Metz Publishing House, 2012.
4 KH-9 Hexagon, D3C1206-100170A020, July 29, 1973.
5 Generalnyi shtab, J-38-32-G (Tivi), 1:50,000, 1974.
6 Maxar Technologies & East View Geospatial, June 15, 2006.
