The monument and the world : Zuart'noc' and the problem of origins

What are the sources of the seventh-century church of Zuart'noc'? It depends on whom you ask. The question is particularly interesting because 1. the monument has been in ruins since the eleventh century and 2. scholars have interpreted its remains in relation to a variety of architectural traditions, including those of the South Caucasus, Constantinople, Syria and Mesopotamia, and the Holy Land. This essay surveys the range of opinions, demonstrating how certain features of the monument, as well as other kinds of evidence, bolster this or that argument. It concludes with a new proposal: that the most compelling parallel for Zuart'noc' lies in contemporary Armenian historiography, which positions Armenia within a broad, supranational sphere.