«Going deeper into the process of the excavations of Gagkashen St. Grigor we discover a new world of great interest», wrote Toros Toramanian.
The third volume of the book by Toros Toromanyan St. Grigor (Gagkashen) Church of Ani republished in 2014 by «Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservation». This is the fourth in the series of Documents of Armenian Historical and Cultural Heritage” published by NCSO.
This volume which published in Armenian, Russian and English presents T. Toramanian`s measurements and reconstruction of St. Grigor (Gagkashen) Church of Ani. T. Toramanian worked at the field measurement drafts of Gagkashen between 1905 and 1906, along with the excavations of the monument. Toros Toramanian sent to Marr 6 drawings of the reconstruction of the church. These materials he included in his report made during the general meeting of the Archaeological Society of St. Petersburg and a gathering of the Armenian Church Council. In 1907 Marr published the results of the excavations of Gagkashen and presented T. Toramanian`s reconstruction drawings. In 1913, for the purpose of publishing a joint research on Armenian architecture, T. Toramanian gave a great number of drawings including all the drafts relating to Gagkashen, to J. Strzygowski, but part of them were not returned and are now considered at lost.
The archives of the «Service for the Protection of Historical Environment and Cultural Museum Reservation» retain nine sheets of original drawings regarding Gagkashen made by T. Toramanian: three of them are final reconstruction versions (a facade of the church and sections shaded with ink); four are draft measurement copies (a plan and details in pencil) and the remaining two are unfinished draft copies (plan parts in pencil). T. Toramnain`s private fund in the Service contains eight sheets of drawings the originals of which have not come down to us.
The compilers found it necessary to include these photos in the book to present the monument as comprehensively as possible.
The compliers of the third volume of the book also used Toromanian`s materials integrated in two volumes, several correspondences authored by T. Toromanian and a letter of explanation justifying reconstruction of Gagkashen.
Toramanian`s pictures and measurements were made after excavations of the monument, more than a century ago. Five sheets of church measurements are presented for the first time. The investigation of the preserved sections of Gagkashen is also the key for the solution of many problems connected with the reconstruction of the Zvartnots Cathedral.
