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Noravank is a 13th-century Armenian monastery, located 122 km from Yerevan in a narrow gorge made by the Amaghu River, best known for its two-story Surb Astvatsatsin (Holy Mother of God) church, which grants access to the second floor by way of a narrow stone-made staircase jutting out from the face of building.
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27 ARMENIA Noravank Monastery 2
Noravank (meaning “New Monastery”) is a 13th-century Armenian monastery, located 122km from Yerevan in a narrow gorge made by the Amaghu river. The gorge is known for its tall, sheer, brick-red cliffs surrounding the monastery. Noravank was founded in 1205 and became the residence of the Orbelian princes. The architect Siranes and the miniature painter and sculptor Momik worked here in the latter part of the thirteenth and early fourteenth century. In the 13th and 14th centuries it became a major religious and cultural center of Armenia.
The second church is the Surb Karapet, a cross within square design with restored drum and dome built in 1216–1227, just North of the ruins of the original Surb Karapet, destroyed in an earthquake.
The south entrance to Surp Karapet (St. John the Baptist) church
Cross decoration on the north wall of ground floor of Surp Astvatsatsin
The façade of Surb Karapet Church with a striking depiction of God the Father (upper relief) blessing the Crucifix with his right hand and holding in his left hand the head of Adam, with a dove — the Holy Spirit — above it
God the Father blessing the Crucifix with right hand and holding in his left hand the head of Adam
God the Father holding in his left hand the head of Adam, with a dove — the Holy Spirit — above it
The semi-circular tympanum of the door is filled with an ornament and with a representation of the Holy Virgin seated on a rug with the Child and flanked by two saints
The sculptor of the grandest portions of Noravank was an artist by the name of Momik, who created the lovely stonework that survives today
Forming the western antechamber is an impressive gavit of 1261, decorated with splendid khachkars and with a series of inscribed gravestones in the floor
In 1321 the building, was covered with a new roof in the shape of an enormous stone tent. This made the structure quite different from other Armenian monuments of the same kind.
The gavit ceiling has four rows of brackets forming stalactite vaulting with a square lighting aperture at the top
Surb Karapet chutch On altar The Virgin by Vartkes Surenyants (1860-1921)
In 1340 an earthquake destroyed the dome of the church which in 1361 was reconstructed by the architect Siranes. In 1931 the dome was damaged during another earthquake
In 1949, the roof and the walls of the church were repaired and finally completely renovated in 1998 with the aid of an Armenian-Canadian family
Ornament on the ceiling of the Saint Grigor chapel made with the Vordan Karmir (Cochineal Red) pigment
The side chapel of Surb (Saint) Grigor was added by the architect Siranes to the northern wall of Surb Karapet church in 1275. The chapel contains more Orbelian family tombs, including a splendid carved lion/human tombstone dated 1300
carved lion/human tombstone dated 1300, covering the grave of Elikum son of Prince Tarsayich Orbelian.
