The monastery of the Holy Mother of God of Tadem [Tadım], or of T‘lgadin [Kuyulu], the names of two neighboring localities, can be found south of Kharpert [Harput] at 38° 34’ N et 39° 10’ E. Below the heights of Chej Guedoug [Çec Tepe], it dominates a section of the Kharpert plain facing the mountains which, in the south-east, shelter in a high elevation the Dzovk’ Lake [Gölcük]. One can travel there by crossing the valley of Alodji Tzor north of Tadem and descending, farther on, the mountain of Mayram. Tadem was, at the turn of the 6th-7th centuries, the chief-place of the IVth Byzantine Armenia (Dadima).
The unusual floor plan and the small size of the church are reminiscent of certain 7th-century constructions. The narthex on the west side, similar to that of the nearby monastery of Saint George of Khule (see. n° 63), was probably added sometime between the 13th and the 18th century (at the latest). A perhaps apocryphal document places the archbishop Michel (Mik‘ayel) at Saint George of Khule in 1225, where he oversaw the simultaneous renovation of the monasteries of Saint-George, of Saint Abdelmeseh of Zartaridj [Değirmenönü ] and of Tadem. Cited in texts in 1628, 1651 and 1775, the monastery of the Holy Mother of God of Tadem once housed the archbishopric of Kharpert, in principle established at Saint George of Khule. When not serving simultaneously as abbot of Saint George of Khule and Tadem, its superiors were most often suffragan bishops. Nine villages in the vicinity were directly attached to Tadem. One religious community has been attested there, in 1852; but from the 1870s on, the monastery was administered by a manager and a short time later by a secular priest. The list of the superiors of the Holy Mother of God of Tadem and Saint George of Khule, diocesan primates of Kharpert, has been reconstructed, with a few gaps, from 1551 to 1915. Deported in 1915, Father Bsag Der Khorénian was the last to occupy this seat before the Great War.
Interior view from the church to narthex, 2012 (Haycar).
The monastery complex is made up of:
• The church of the Holy Mother of God, a square tetraconch without free-standing pillars, surmounted by a drum and a dome; this type of structure appeared in Armenian architecture in the 7th century. On the outside, the church measures 4.6 meters on both axes. The altar stands [stood] under a baldachin, or canopy, itself surmounted by three other smaller canopies housing on either side two icons representing Saint Gregory the Illuminator and Saint Stephen. This type of baldachin was also found in the neighboring monasteries of Saint George of Khule and Sorsor (n° 65).
• A later narthex with four monolithic columns and a skylight, encompassing the west conch of the church, the two comprising a bloc of 8.4 m from east to west. It is flanked on the south by a small, independent room measuring 2.1 x 2.4 m, probably the library. A wooden porch protected the entrance to the narthex.
• Commons buildings along a courtyard wall. These held fewer than ten cells standing under a terrace reached by a stairway leading to the forecourt, while a second set of stairs farther along in the courtyard led back down. A big stele engraved of cross faced the entrance gate to the courtyard.
• A healing fountain under an arch outside the courtyard wall, some 20 m from the entrance gate.
• A cemetery outside the walls near the entrance gate.
Plan (after J.M. Thierry).
The monastery possessed manuscripts and important properties. It was the destination of a pilgrimage for the feast of the Assumption.
Nothing remains of the commons, which have been replaced by vegetable gardens. The church, which was remarkable well preserved, today lies abandoned, and has lost a large number of facing stones as well as the pyramidal roof of its dome. Holes have been dug in several places in the narthex, and deep cuts have been made in the base of the columns, which now rest only on the central part of the section. Several openings have become gaping passages. The ditches that had been dug inside the narthex and the church have recently been filled in. In addition to the monastery, the village of Tadem had two more churches, both of which have been demolished.
Mekhitarian, 1958, 8-17, 24-25, 98-99, 105. Vahé Hayg, 1959, 65, 535-549, 579, 583. Oskian, 1962, 87-91. Chahbazian, 1967, 14-15, 122-123, 136-137. Kaloosdian, 2015, passim.