Trdat the Architect

Trdat was an Armenian architect who lived from about the 940s to about the 1020s. He built the cathedral of Ani and repaired the dome of Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.¹

In 989 King Smbat II ordered him to build a new cathedral at Ani. The work was finished between about 1001 and 1006, with Queen Katramide supervising it. He also worked on the Church of Gagik, built under Gagik I.¹

An earthquake in 988 damaged the dome of Hagia Sophia. The Byzantine emperor Basil II commissioned Trdat to repair the western arch of the dome, and he rebuilt it with fifteen ribs. The work took six years, and the church reopened in 994.¹