Akhtamar

an island on Lake Van (now on Turkish territory); residence of the Armenian Artsrunid tsars (10th—11th centuries). A unique monument of Armenian medieval architecture—the Church of the Holy Cross (915–921; architect, Manuel), which is decorated with frescoes and elegant stone carvings (reliefs on secular and biblical subjects, with ornamentation in the form of animals and plants)—and ruins of a tenth-century port have been preserved.