PAGE 1

 

vn1.jpg (71220 bytes)

vn16.jpg (42259 bytes)

vn14.jpg (63011 bytes)

vn15.jpg (48621 bytes)

vn13.jpg (47460 bytes)

 

     

    

vn2.jpg (66717 bytes)

 

 

   Noravank (“New monastery”) was founded by Bishop  Hovhannes,  Abbot  of Vahanavank (in Syunik W of Kapan), who moved there in 1105 and built the original S. Karapet church. According to Stepanos Orbelian, Hovhannes went to the Persian (actually Seljuk) Sultan Mahmud and came back with a firman giving him possession. He gathered religious folk, and established a rule barring women and lewd persons. Unfortunately, the evil amira (lord) of the nearby castle of Hraskaberd (scanty ruins of which, not firmly identified, are somewhere in the hills SE) plotted to kill him and destroy the monastery. Hovhannes, who was gifted in languages, went to Isfahan, cured the Sultan's sick son, and came back with the title deeds to Hraskaberd and 12 nearby estates, and a trusty band of heavily armed men who pushed the amira and his family off a cliff.  A century later, Stepanos says, a group of "Persians" rebuilt Hraskaberd, but   two lieutenants of the Zakarian brothers kicked them out in favor of Liparit Orbelian and reestablished the monastery's claim to the estates surrounding. Bishop Hovhannes led a holy life and worked numerous miracles, such as catching in his hands unharmed a woman and infant who fell off the cliff. During the 13th and 14th centuries a series of princes of the Orbelian clan built churches which served as the burial site for the family. The monastery became the center of the Syunik bishopric. The nearest and grandest church is the Astvatsatsin (“Mother of God”), also called Burtelashen (“Burtel-built”) in honor of Prince Burtel Orbelian, its donor. The church, completed in 1339, is said to be the masterpiece of the talented sculptor and miniaturist Momik. In modern times the church has had a plain hipped roof, but in 1997 the drum and conical roof were rebuilt to reflect the original glory still attested  by  battered   fragments.   The   ground   floor  (locked  in  1999  during

vn12.jpg (56656 bytes)

    

vn3.jpg (67467 bytes)

vn11.jpg (50877 bytes)

   

vn4.jpg (43951 bytes)

vn10.jpg (49375 bytes)

   

vn5.jpg (63313 bytes)

vn6.jpg (70347 bytes)

vn7.jpg (37299 bytes)

vn8.jpg (62765 bytes)

vn9.jpg (68993 bytes)