Tigran Honents

Tigran Honents was a wealthy Armenian merchant. His name was written in history thanks to his donation for building a church in Ani - a ruined medieval Armenian city-site situated in the Turkish province of Kars, near the border with Armenia.

Ani was an important crossroad for merchant caravans and the city controlled trade routes between Byzantium, Persia, Syria and central Asia. Merchants and craftsmen flocked to Ani from Armenia's older cities, accompanied by a flow of population from the rural areas of Armenia. The emigration of the population had started with the Mongol invasions, and by the mid-14th century Ani had ceased to be a trading city and the remaining trade routes now passed further to the south. Total abandonment of the site is probably the mid-18th century.

Tigran Honents commissioned the building of the church of Saint Gregory the Illuminator, (also known as the church of Tigran Honents) and it was completed in the year 1215. As well as paying for its construction he provided it with many precious objects, including crosses, lamps, gold and silver vessels, and religious relics.

The inscription on the eastern wall of this church tells us of its founder.

"In the year 664 (1215), by the grace of God, when the lord of this city of Ani was the strong and powerful Zakaria ... I, Tigran, servant of God, son of Sulem Smbatorents, of the Honents family, for the long life of my lords and of their children, built this monastery of St. Grigor, which was on the edge of an escarpment and in a place full of underbrush, and I bought it with my legitimate wealth from the owners and with great fatigue and expense, I provided it with defense all around; I built this church in the name of St. Grigor Lusavoritch and I embelished it with many decorations..."