Feast Day at the Monastery of Surb Karapet, Mush, 1903

Mush, the Monastery of Surb Karapet, 1903. Celebration of the monastery’s feast day. Western Armenia.

According to tradition, Gregory the Illuminator buried the relics of John the Baptist beneath the monastery chapel. Here are the graves of many princes and military leaders of the Mamikonyan family, among them Mushegh Mamikonyan, Gayl Vahan and Smbat Mamikonyan. In the 1920s the monastery was blown up by the Turks, and today only ruins remain. The khachkars were carried away by Kurds resettled in Mush and used as building material.

The photograph shows a tightrope walker crossing a stretched rope in front of a gathered crowd. People stand in the courtyard and sit on the roof of an arched building.