Monastery of Saint Minas of Kes

Monastery of Saint Minas of Kes
ԿԵՍԻ Սբ. Մինաս վանք
Monastery of Saint Minas of Kes ; ԿԵՍԻ Սբ. Մինաս վանք
Religion
Affiliation	Armenian Apostolic Church
Region	Eastern Anatolia Region
Status	Ceased functioning as a monastery in 1915
Location
Location	Erzurum
	Shown within Turkey
Geographic coordinates	39°49′31″N 41°11′32″E / 39.8252°N 41.1921°E
Architecture
Style	Armenian
Completed	1790

The Monastery of Saint Minas is a former

Armenian churches constructed in the 19th century). Located at the western edge of Gezköy village of Erzurum province in Turkey now. The village of Gezköy (formerly known as "Kes") is about 9 km west of the centre of the city of Erzurum

.

Etymology

Saint Minas the

Saint Minas in the other Christian churches.
Toponym "Kes" (Armenian: Կես) in Armenian is for "half", which was a former (historical) name of the village of Gezköy, which in Turkish means "eye-village"^{[citation needed}

].

History

At the begin of the 19th century there were some 100 Armenian-populated villages in the Erzurum plain - by the end of the century that number had been reduced to around 50. The brief Russian liberation of parts from the Ottoman Empire during the 1828-29

khatchkar set into a wall of the church.^[2]

Current condition

The monastery still stands, however in a poor state. An encroaching development may mean it will be destroyed however.

References

^ These population figures are from Les Arméniens dans l'Empire Ottoman à la veille du Génocide by Raymond H. Kévorkian and Paul B. Paboujian, Paris, 1992
^ These details about the church are from Armenian Architecture: A Documented Photo-Archival Collection on Microfiche, V. L. Parsegian (project director), volume 5, Zug, Switzerland, 1980. The plan of the St. Minas church used on this webpage is adapted from a plan published in this microfiche.

[1] These population figures are from Les Arméniens dans l'Empire Ottoman à la veille du Génocide by Raymond H. Kévorkian and Paul B. Paboujian, Paris, 1992

[2] These details about the church are from Armenian Architecture: A Documented Photo-Archival Collection on Microfiche, V. L. Parsegian (project director), volume 5, Zug, Switzerland, 1980. The plan of the St. Minas church used on this webpage is adapted from a plan published in this microfiche.

[2]