The birds, just like the cross, are a movable element of the composition. In khachkar composition the ideological indicator is not the bird itself but its position: the bottom position is mainly occupied by water and terrestrial birds, the middle position is occupied by woodpecker-like birds, and the top position by soaring birds. This Armenian variation of a common model of the world is one of the vividly represented features of the khachkar, when the top, the middle and the bottom are depicted through the hierarchy of the birds. Despite this, khachkars on which birds occupy the top position of the composition or the cornice are greater in numbers. These consist of twin partridges facing one another, doves or peacocks (drinking from the chalice, pecking the grape rods and bushes), which depicts the celestial-holy sphere, celestial garden, the immortality of souls, which can be reached through the mediation of the cross.
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The birds, just like the cross, are a movable element of the composition. In khachkar composition the ideological indicator is not the bird itself but its position: the bottom position is mainly occupied by water and terrestrial birds, the middle position is occupied by woodpecker-like birds, and the top position by soaring birds. This Armenian variation of a common model of the world is one of the vividly represented features of the khachkar, when the top, the middle and the bottom are depicted through the hierarchy of the birds. Despite this, khachkars on which birds occupy the top position of the composition or the cornice are greater in numbers. These consist of twin partridges facing one another, doves or peacocks (drinking from the chalice, pecking the grape rods and bushes), which depicts the celestial-holy sphere, celestial garden, the immortality of souls, which can be reached through the mediation of the cross.
