Bana cathedral

Bana
The ruins of the cathedral in 2007
StatusAbandoned
Location
LocationŞenkaya, Erzurum Province, Turkey
Bana cathedral is located in Turkey
Bana cathedral
Shown within Turkey
Geographic coordinates40°40′05″N 42°16′12″E / 40.668061°N 42.269961°E / 40.668061; 42.269961
Architecture
Architect(s)Kvirik from Bana (during the rule of Adarnase II of Tao-Klarjeti)
TypeMonastery, church
StyleArmenian, Georgian
Completedc. 653–658, rebuilt c. 881–923
Height (max)37.45m

Bana (Georgian: ბანა; Armenian: Բանակ, romanizedBanak; Turkish: Penek Kilisesi) is a ruined early medieval cathedral in present-day Erzurum Province, eastern Turkey, in what had formerly been a historical marchland known to Armenians as Tayk and to Georgians as Tao.

It is a large tetraconch design, surrounded by a near-rotunda polygonal ambulatory and marked with a cylindrical drum. Generally believed to have been constructed in the 7th century, based on an 11th-century chronicle it was reconstructed by Adarnase IV of Iberia at some point between 881 and 923. Henceforth, it was used as a royal cathedral by the Bagrationi dynasty until the Ottoman conquest of the area in the 16th century. The former cathedral was converted into a fortress by the Ottoman army during the Crimean War. The monastery was almost completely ruined during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877–78.