Bestel Nu Book of Ahtamar Reliefs – Takeko Harada

This book covers almost all of the surviving narrative relief sculpture of the former Church of the Holy Cross built on the island of Ahtamar or Akdamar in Lake Van, eastern Turkey. Its objective is visual and descriptive. The subjects of the relief sculpture of Ahtamar is the result of a definite programme, probably the joint work of the architect Manuel and Gagik himself. This programme was shaped by the established church decoration of the time whose origins went back to early Christianity, and by the es…