Church of the Holy Mother of God of T‘ughkh

The church of the Holy Mother of God in T‘ughkh, or T‘ukh [Çağlayan], built at 38° 28’N and 42° 18’E, stands on a rise in this village, which is today the southern extension of the town of Tadwan [Tatvan] at the mouth of the Aznwatzor Valley [Güzel Dere].

It is an ancient single-vessel church with a barrel vault and a transverse arch, measuring 14.7 × 9m and dating from the 5^th-7^th centuries. It is characterized by a horseshoe apse, preceded by a triumphal arch set on two engaged fluted columns and, on the south side, by niches under arches, one of which gives onto a side chamber built into the southeast corner of the edifice. The church has two entrances, one on the south and one on the west.

Plan, west elevation and section (Cuneo, 1973, 136-138 )

It was supposed that this church once housed the relics of Saint Yztpuzit, a Persian saint of the Armenian Church, before they we were removed to the neighboring monastery dedicated to this same saint (n° 14). This hypothesis rests above all on the incontestable age of the monument and the importance of the locality of T‘ughkh, which was still a diocesan see in the 17^th century. T‘ughkh is known in particular for having been the theater of a battle in 898 between Sempad, King of Armenia, and the Emir of Amida [Diyarbakır]. A manuscript was copied there in 1429, under the protection of the Holy Mother of God and Saint Yztpuzit.

Intérieur, mur nord : cuve baptismale, croix votives et pilier engagé, 1983 (OTC, 83/359).

The church of the Holy Mother of God in T‘ughkh was confiscated after the Great War. The roof and outer walls were badly damaged in the 1970s, with a great number of slabs having been torn off. The southeast corner had collapsed and the vault was open to the sky in some places. The deterioration and degradations have continued, and today the church has been almost entirely destroyed.