Now for something more interesting: a relatively new and rarely mentioned artifact - the marble bull’s head from Garni, about which very little information is available. I will refer to the official channel of the Historical Monuments Preservation Service:
[One of the exceptional artifacts held in the collections of the State National Cultural Organization “Service for the Protection of the Historical Environment and Historical-Cultural Museums and Reserves” is a marble bull’s head discovered several years ago in the Garni Gorge.
After Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in Armenia in 301, although the fortresses and defensive complexes remained intact, pagan places of worship were razed to the ground. Only in a few places were some temples adapted to the new religion and rebuilt as Christian sanctuaries.
The Garni Temple is an exception, as it has been preserved in its original form and was used as a secular building. According to the account of Movses Khorenatsi, the “father of Armenian historiography” (presumably born around 410—died in 490), the Garni Temple was converted into the summer residence of Khosrovadukht, the sister of King Trdat III.
Followers of the new religion smashed to pieces and threw into the gorge the marble statue of Mithra, the sun god and bull-fighter, which had been installed in the apse.
Centuries later, during excavations near the temple, a bull’s hoof carved from white marble was discovered, which, according to experts, was part of this sculptural group. Two other fragments—a marble bull’s head and a fragment of the sculptural group’s pedestal—were discovered by chance in 2011 on a steep slope of the gorge.]
![The Bull’s Head from Garni
Now for something more interesting: a relatively new and rarely mentioned artifact - the marble bull’s head from Garni, about which very little information is available. I will refer to the official channel of the Historical Monuments Preservation Service:
[One of the exceptional artifacts held in the collections of the State National Cultural Organization “Service for the Protection of the Historical Environment and Historical-Cultural Museums and Reserves” is a marble bull’s head discovered several years ago in the Garni Gorge.
After Christianity was proclaimed the state religion in Armenia in 301, although the fortresses and defensive complexes remained intact, pagan places of worship were razed to the ground. Only in a few places were some temples adapted to the new religion and rebuilt as Christian sanctuaries.
The Garni Temple is an exception, as it has been preserved in its original form and was used as a secular building. According to the account of Movses Khorenatsi, the “father of Armenian historiography” (presumably born around 410—died in 490), the Garni Temple was converted into the summer residence of Khosrovadukht, the sister of King Trdat III.
Followers of the new religion smashed to pieces and threw into the gorge the marble statue of Mithra, the sun god and bull-fighter, which had been installed in the apse.
Centuries later, during excavations near the temple, a bull’s hoof carved from white marble was discovered, which, according to experts, was part of this sculptural group. Two other fragments—a marble bull’s head and a fragment of the sculptural group’s pedestal—were discovered by chance in 2011 on a steep slope of the gorge.]
Source: [ref:6a9da5cce342f]](https://www.mithraeum.eu/album/post/b52d0a7b17185ac6.jpg)
facebook.com«Գառնի» պատմամշակութային արգելոց-թանգարան / Garni Templehttps://www.facebook.com/149391158512910/posts/3017610305024300/