UNDER CONSTRUCTION

   Hayravank   or   Ayrivan;   22.4   km from the Sevan highway, on the left (E of the road) shortly after the Geghama Pensionat, a paved road leads to a rock outcrop with a fine view of Lake Sevan. There stands Hayravank monastery, with a late 9^th c church, a 12^th c. gavit, and khachkars. The rocks just NW preserve substantial walls of  a

   Exiting     E   at   a    somewhat    over- engineered cloverleaf intersection leads one toward Lake Sevan and the ancient village of Noratus or Noraduz. Turning right at the first street past the bridge leads to the S edge of town and S. Grigor Lusavorich church/Daputs Monastery of the 9-10^th c., rebuilt by the     11^th c.       architect        Khachatur.

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Bronze Age through medieval fort and settlement; nearby are Iron Age tombs. There are two shrines in the village, with inscribed khachkars.

Continuing straight into the center of village, the second left leads to the ruined S. Astvatsatsin church, a basilica built by Prince Sahak at the end of the 9^th c., probably on earlier foundations. Outside the W door are intriguing carved grave monuments. On the E edge of town is a huge medieval-modern cemetery with an impressive array of early khachkars as well as evocative modern funerary statuary. Continuing up the bare, windswept hillside beyond, there is a smaller cluster of khachkars around a medieval funeral chapel. Two km E of Noratus on the top of a hill is the Heri Dar cyclopean fortress with a large tomb and two big inhabited caves. On a promontory N of Noratus is a large, well-maintained forest of antenna masts, ostensibly belonging to Armentel.  A couple of km S of Noratus, near the former village of Artsvakar (formerly Ghshlakh, now a suburb of Gavar), are the Early Iron Age cyclopean fortresses of Ghslakh (near the lake), Zhami Dar (just W of Artsvakar) and Mrtbi Dzor (S of Zhami Dar).