Bana cathedral

Bana
The ruins of the cathedral in 2007
Basic information
Location	Şenkaya, Erzurum Province, Turkey
Geographic coordinates	40°40′05″N 42°16′12″E / 40.668061°N 42.269961°E / 40.668061; 42.269961Coordinates: 40°40′05″N 42°16′12″E / 40.668061°N 42.269961°E / 40.668061; 42.269961
Status	Abandoned
Architectural description
Architect(s)	Kvirik from Bana (during the rule of Adarnase II of Tao-Klarjeti)
Architectural type	Monastery, church
Architectural style	Armenian, Georgian
Completed	c. 653–658, rebuilt c. 881–923
Height (max)	37.45m

Bana (Georgian: ბანა; Armenian: Բանակ Banak), also known by the modern Turkish designation 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.

The Bana cathedral is located on the north bank of the Penek (Irlağaç) river near the village of Penek, in the Şenkaya district of Erzurum Province. "Penek" is a Turkified typonym deriving from the original name of the area: "Banak". Banaki means "camp" in Georgian and "army" in Armenian. It possibly takes its origin from a site in the Berdats Por district of Tayk – then a hereditary Mamikonian fiefdom – where the royal army (Արքունի բանակ, Ark'uni Banak) was headquartered during the rule of the Arshakuni in the 1st century.