Computational Analysis of Armenian Khachkar Motifs
Thesis Type: Doctorate
Institution Of The Thesis: Istanbul Kultur University, Lisansüstü Eğitim Enstitüsü, Mimarlık Anabilim Dalı, Turkey
Thesis Supervisor: Neşe Çakıcı Alp
Approval Date: 2024
Thesis Language: Turkish
Abstract:
The city of Van hosts many churches and monasteries that are important for Armenian religious architecture. In these structures, the Khachkar motif decorations, which are an artistic cultural heritage for Armenian religious architecture, come to the fore. Khachkar motifs emerge because of a process that requires effort and mastery. Armenian Khachkar motifs have been used as a means of expressing the spiritual longings, religious perceptions and ideas of the Armenian nation since the 9th century. It is thought that analyzing the design practices belonging to different cultural eras of the past will shed light on today's computational design theory and help understand the cultures of that era. For this purpose, the creative processes of Armenian architecture are examined through geometric motif designs. Khachkars, which consist of polygons, plant motifs, rosettes, sun disks, curved, broken and straight lines and shaped on rich geometric patterns, have played an important role in Armenian art having a unique and specialized visual tradition. Although there is not much research on these motifs in the literature, the research conducted has not gone beyond creating existing drawings and a brief review. In addition, a detailed computational analysis of these unique motifs found in Anatolia has not been conducted. One of the unique and important features of cultural heritage objects is their uniqueness. This reveals that their protection against ageing, accidents, destruction, etc. is of great importance. Although it does not replace physical protection, one way to do this is to mathematically define the objects in their current state. In this study, we aimed to analyze Armenian Khachkar motifs in traditional Armenian religious architecture, to derive new motifs from existing motifs, and to use a method to understand the morphological relationships between motifs found in different structures. A parametric definition method is used, which includes the necessary information to create Armenian Khachkar motifs and uses a form that derives representative codes. With this method, the capitals of Khachkar motifs on the wall surfaces of Armenian monasteries in Van, which differ and have rich geometry, are addressed. For this reason, a mathematical analysis is performed in the study to reveal the form discovery of Khachkars belonging to Armenian architecture in the 9th and 10th centuries. By geometrically decomposing the Armenian Khachkar motifs, the basic unit was extracted and its equivalent in the symmetry group, namely the cell unit, was found. Later, it became possible to make variations in the motifs whose mathematical analysis was performed, and parametric models were created. Finally, the morphological relationships between the motifs whose representative codes were created were revealed and examined because of certain algorithms. As a result of the study, it was understood that Armenian Khachkar motifs can be created with certain rules and that morphological relationships help in understanding the motifs. In addition, it is seen that parametric definition can be made and different transformations are realized in the motifs with this analysis. In this way, the advantage of examining Armenian Khachkar motifs containing complex details is obtained and it is possible to record these motifs that are important for cultural heritage.