Gagik I of Armenia

Gagik I (reigned 989 - 1020) was a Bagratid King of Armenia. His brother Smbat II the Conqueror (reigned 977-989) preceded him.

Gagik followed the footsteps of his predecessors in building churches and religious buildings in his capital Ani. After his death, his elder son, Smbat III, was crowned king while his younger son, Ashot, rebelled against Smbat and proclaimed his independence in the Kingdom of Lori-Joraget.

One of Gagik's principal projects was the church of St. Gregory in Ani (1001-10), loosely modeled on Zvartnots. During Nikolai Marr's excavation of its ruins in 1906, a large statue of King Gagik holding a model of his church was found in fragments. The statue was originally located in a niche high up in the north facade of the church. It was lost in uncertain circumstances at the end of the First World War. Only a few photographs record its appearance.

A surviving fragment of the statue is now in the Erzurum archeological museum. Exactly how, and when, it got there is unknown. According to the museum staff it was found somewhere in the vicinity of Erzurum and the finder brought it to the museum by car.

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