Trdat was active in Armenia before and after his reconstruction of the
Hagia Sophia. In 961,
Ashot III moved his
capital from
Kars to the great
city of
Ani where he assembled new
palaces and rebuilt the
walls. The
Catholicosate was moved to the
Argina district in the
suburbs of Ani where Trdat completed the building of the Catholicosal palace and the
Mother Cathedral of Ani. This
cathedral offers an example of a cruciform
domedchurch within a rectangular plan.[1] Trdat is also believed to have designed or supervised the construction of Surb Nshan (Holy Sign, completed in 991), the oldest structure at
Haghpat Monastery.[2]
Byzantine Empire
After a great earthquake in 989 partly collapsed the dome of
Hagia Sophia,
Byzantine officials summoned Trdat to
Byzantium to organize its repair. The rebuilt dome was completed by 994.[3] As the contemporary Armenian historian
Stepanos Taronetsi (Asoghik) comment
Even [Hagia] Sophia, the cathedral, was torn to pieces from top to bottom. On account of this, many skillful workers among the Greeks tried repeatedly to reconstruct it. The architect and stonemason Trdat of the Armenians also happened to be there, presented a plan, and with wise understanding prepared a model, and began to undertake the initial construction, so that [the church] was rebuilt more handsomely than before.[4]
References
^Macler, Frédéric. "Armenia: The Kingdom of the Bagratides" in The Cambridge Medieval History: The Eastern Roman Empire (717-1453), ed.
John Bury. Cambridge: The University Press, 1927, vol. 4, p. 161.
^(in Russian)Hovhannisyan, Konstantine. Зодчий Трдат [The Architect Trdat]. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1951, pp. 59-83.
^Vasn oroy bazum c'an elew arhestawor cartarac'n Yunac' ar i verstin norogel:
Ayl and dipeal cartarapetin Hayoc' Trdatay k'aragorci; tay zorinak sinuacoyn,
imastun hancarov patrasteal zkalapars kazmacoyn ew skzbnaureal
zsineln. or ew gelec'kapes sinec'aw paycar k'an zaira'inn. Malxasean,
Step'anos Taronec'woy, Patmut'iwn Tiezerakan, 28, pp. 250-51, as translated in
Christina Maranci. "
The Architect Trdat: Building Practices and Cross-Cultural Exchange in Byzantium and Armenia," The Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 62/3 (September 2003), pp. 295.
_______________. "The Architect Trdat: From the Great Church at Ani to the Great Church at Constantinople," in Armenian Kars and Ani, ed.
Richard G. Hovannisian. Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishers, 2011, pp. 101–26.
(in Armenian)Toramanian, Toros. Նյութեր հայկական ճարտարապետության պատմության [Materials for the History of Armenian Architecture]. Yerevan: ArmFan Publishing, 1948, vol. 2.