Penek Castle / Bana Cathedral

Locally known as Penek Castle, the ruins of Bana Cathedral, set in a green valley surrounded by high mountains and red hills, are an incredible sight. While time and history have not been kind to the once great church, the ruins of Bana Cathedral can still give a glimpse into the past glory of the place.

There is some debate as to exactly when Bana Cathedral was built with dates ranging from the 7th to the 10th centuries. The cathedral was built in an Armenian-Georgian style thought to be the same as the great Cathedral of Zvartnots (also ruined) in modern Armenia. The building consisted of a great outer circle set around a tetraconch, a cross or ‘+’ shape with rounded arms. Only a small section of one of the four great pillars remains and a small section of the second storey windows. As is common in the Armenian-Georgian style, there would have been a great conical dome reaching around thirty meters high to cap the church.

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The history of the decline of Bana Cathedral is somewhat murky and different accounts will sometimes contradict. The most commonly repeated story seems to be that the church was converted into a fort by the Ottomans during the Russio-Ottoman Wars of the late 1800’s. At this time the cathedral sat in a frontier zone between the Russian held City of Kars and the Ottoman garrisons at Erzururm. It’s said that it was during the fighting here that the dome was destroyed and much of the building collapsed. You can see rough stonework in various places where the church was altered to make the church a more suitable fortress.

Today the ruins are a beautiful sight set in a picturesque valley on a low hill above plowed fields. Visitors have come from as far away as Georgia to have wedding pictures done and locals still light candles among the fallen masonry.