Religious architecture of Christian in Erzincan

The research area in Erzincan, an important city of Eastern Anatolia Region, was determined in a way to cover the provinces and districts and the studies were started. While conducting these studies, adherence to Art History methods was taken as a basis, and the researches on the buildings were concluded accordingly. Thirteen artefacts were identified, although various problems were encountered during the fieldwork of religious buildings. The current state of these structures was discussed in terms of both architecture and decoration. Of these thirteen works, four are monasteries and nine are church structures. This study is important in terms of bringing the current status of architectural works to the scientific world. Two monasteries discovered outside of these buildings were not visited due to security reasons. It was observed that all three church buildings was not survived intact. The current situation of the buildings was revealed together with the field studies and supported by the plan drawings and the religious works were introduced thanks to this basis. In addition, the places of monasteries and churches in Armenian architecture were primarily mentioned. In the evaluation part, the plan type and architectural textures of the buildings were included. In this study, which included Erzincan province and its districts, it was seen that the buildings were quite rich in terms of plan types. Religious buildings were created based on six different plan schemes. In this context, it was seen that the works were made according to four basilical plan, four single naves, two free cross plan, two triconch (three clover leaves) plan, one tetraconch (four clover leaves) plan and one closed cross plan. The absence of building inscriptions for dating in any of these religious structures prevented a precise dating of the buildings. For this reason, it was tried to date the examined works by looking at their plan and architectural features. Most of the architectural structures have wall niches in different numbers and it is noteworthy that these wall niches find their place in the interior of the buildings. In addition, the mobility of the church facades is provided by the entrances, window openings and cross motifs in several buildings. In all of the religious buildings examined, the bearing element is the body walls. In addition, columns, wall piers and arches have been used. It is seen that the structures that are tried to be given in detail were built simply in terms of decoration, except for a few exceptional cases. The use of the cross motif, which has an important place in Armenian Art as in all Christian Art, is frequently used. When the material used in the buildings was analyzed, mainly rough-cut stone and rubble stone materials could be seen. In addition, ın addition to this, partly cut stone and a little brick were used. Considering all the data, it was observed that the buildings were built with an understanding that is far from showing and used for functional purposes. Therefore, it can be thought that economic conditions were the effective reson for his. Despite being exposed to many natural disasters or wars, these works that have survived to the present day should be evaluated within the cultural heritage of our country.