User:Yerevantsi/sandbox/Hripsime2

Overview/description
It measures 22.8 by and rises around 23 m (inside height under the dome).

The south wall is more than a half meter longer than the north wall (22.87 against 22.34 m), and the dimensions and positions of windows, doors, apses, and niches vary throughout the church, sometimes by more than a meter. If every irregularity represented a seperate building phase, we would have to imagine a veritable jig-saw puzzle of dozens of phases. Changes in masonry are a much better index of successive building phases.

Stephen Brook described its external appearance "squat and compact" and the dome as a "short polygonal tower." Adalian: near-pyramidal form

Varazdat Harutyunyan Իր ողջ գոյության ընթացքում այն հիմնականում կանգուն և անփոփոխ է մնացել:

Է դարէն մինչև մեր օրերը պահպանուած է նոյնութեամբ Մեսրոպ վարդապետը հենց այս հանգամանքը նկատի ունենալով է նշել, որ Ղուկաս կաթողիկոսի՝ 1790 թ. տաճարի արևմտյան մուտքի դիմաց կառուցած զանգակատունը միմիայն եկեղեցու տգեղությանն է ծառայում22:

St. Hripsime Church is a domed tetraconch enclosed in a rectangle, with two angular niches on the northern and southern side. Wilhelm Lübke wrote that the church is built on "a most complicated variation of the cruciform ground-plan."

The building is constructed of dark, ash-colored tufa bonded on the interior with concrete-like mortar. The whole rests, like a Greek temple, on a stepped stylobate. The small windows emphasize the mass and solidity of the structure.

The interior is organized on a quatrefoil plan, with niches in the cardinal directions. In addition to these, there are niches on the diagonal corners, creating a fluid and dynamic interior space. The diagonal niches, having the form of three-quarter cylinders, may also have been intended to strengthen the abutment of the dome. They give access to four subsidiary chambers that flank the eastern and western niches. Though the building is biaxially symmetrical, the eastern apse is emphasized by the raised altar section that protrudes into the central space. Barrel vaults intervene between the axial niches and the central square. These vaults, which are wider along the main axis, accentuate the east-west direction. The whole composition is bound together to form a well-proportioned rectangle with large triangular recesses on the exterior that impart a rhythmic impression of the composition. The dome rests on a sixteen-sided windowed drum that has twelve windows at its base. Four of the windows are now obscured by small cylindrical towers that were added later as buttresses. The entrance porch on the west is also a later addition. The beauty of the St. Hripsime edifice derives from the simplicity and harmony of its different parts.

Ըստ ճարտարապետական հորինվածքի՝ Ս. Հռիփսիմե տաճարն արտաքուստ ուղղանկյուն, քառախորան հատակագծով շինություն է: Ունի երկու մուտք' բացված արևմտյան և հարավային խաչաթևերում, իսկ ներսի չորս անկյուններում ավանդատներն են՝ քառակուսի եզրաձևերի մեջ: Ս. Հռիփսիմեի տիպի հուշարձաններում է, որ առաջին անգամ ի հայտ են գալիս սենյակներ կենտրոնագմբեթ հորինվածքի արևմտյան կողմում, որ մինչ այդ հայտնի չէր գմբեթավոր համակարգում26: Տաճարն ինքնատիպ է նաև պատերի արտաքին զույգ խորշերով, որոնք լույսի և ստվերի համակցությամբ ստեղծում են վերևում աղեղնաձև յուրօրինակ եռանկյունիներ:

Ornaments
Brook noted that ornament is "limited to window-hoods and inscriptions around the porch. The tall broad interior is taut with power, and the crossing piers rise to a complexity of squinches."

Ինքնատիպ են նաև տաճարի պատուհանների կամարաձև պսակները՝ ոճավորված բուսական ու երկրաչափական զարդամոտիվներով, որոնք 7-րդ դարի ճարտարապետությանը բնորոշ նմուշներ են (նկ. 5ա-գ), ինչպես նաև ժամանակագրորեն վաղագույն վիմագրերը:

Reception
Christina Maranci described it as "one of the most admired monuments of early medieval Armenia." The 10th century Catholicos Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi described the 7th century church as a wonderful and splendid structure. In modern times, on the occasion of its restoration, Catholicos Vazgen I described it as a masterpiece of Armenian architecture and "the most magnificent of our ancient shrines." Its masterpiece status has been accepted widely.[MORE refs]

19th century European visitors similarly held it in high regard. Frédéric DuBois, who visited in 1833-34, found the "simplicity, massiveness, and grandeur" of the church to be the "key elements of the Armenian style." John Mason Neale (1850) suggested that it is "the norm of all Armenian ecclesiastical buildings." He continued, "Indeed, notwithstanding its great rudeness, no feature afterwards occurs that does not, in an incipient state, manifest itself here." H. F. B. Lynch, visiting in 1893, saw Hripsime as superior to Etchmiadzin Cathedral, "because it lacks the 'unsightly projections of apsidal arms'. It is the geometrically plain exterior of Hripsime, which is closer to a cube, that is favored." direct quotes from Lynch Harold Buxton suggested that it is the most "perfect specimen of the best age of Armenian architecture." Fridtjof Nansen called it beautiful, noting that the "proportions both of the interior and the exterior of this church give an impression of balance and harmony seldom equalled, and we may safely infer that such a mature form of construction was reached only after a long period of evolution."

Soviet art historians Izmailova and Ayvazyan described it as "small in size but monumental in structure", standing out distinctly against the plain. Ashot Arzumanyan, a Soviet Armenian writer, found beauty and simplicity merged in it. "Its proportions are perfect, its decoration is concise. Arches, niches, projections, a dome crowning the building - all create a sense of rhythm, harmony, and grandeur."

In more recent decades, Howard L. Parsons called it "robust and finely proportioned". Rouben Paul Adalian called it "exceptionally beautiful", admiring the "utter harmony and perfect balance of its proportions", and suggested that along with St. Gayane, it is as a model of the "austere beauty of early Armenian ecclesiastical architecture." Frank Ching, Mark Jarzombek and Vikramaditya Prakash called it "one of the most refined examples of Armenian architecture", and praised its "well-formed proportions and meticulous stonework".

Modern
Its architecture has been directly replicated or inspired several churches in the modern period, especially in the Armenian diaspora. Notable examples include:
 * St Hripsime Church in Yalta, Crimea (1917)
 * St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral in Manhattan, New York (1968)
 * St. Sarkis Armenian Church in Carrollton, Texas (2022)