Guide
Çarpanak island lies north of Van, off the village of Çitören. In antiquity it was called Ktutz, a name taken to mean the magic point, and no one lives on it today.
The island holds a monastery complex thought to have been founded in the ninth century in the name of Saint Gregory and rebuilt in 1462. It is made up of the church of Saint John, a chapel, a library and a graveyard.
Its dome under a conical cap, which recalls the Seljuk tomb towers, and its entrance with muqarnas make the complex, in the directorate's account, a rare instance of medieval Christian and Muslim architecture brought together.
Less visited than Akdamar, it remains one of the most important pieces of cultural heritage in the Lake Van basin, for the quality of its workmanship, for the cream and brown Ahlat stone it is built of, and for the untouched air of the place.
